Rejuveno Worldwide Inc.
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Reishi Products Found to be Extremely DifferentAugust 17, 2000 Different brands of Reishi have been found to contain extremely different amounts of active ingredients! In view of the rapid proliferation of Reishi products on the market, Hong Kong Consumer Council published a report on Reishi (Lingzhi) products on Aug. 15, 2000. An official abstract of the report is available on-line at: Details of the report are published in Choice Magazine #286 available at newstands in Hong Kong. According to the report, Among the 26 samples, only 4 were labelled with the percentage of Polysaccharides on the packaging. But 2 of them were found to contain substantially less than their claims - only about 3/5. The report also concluded that it is less expensive to obtain polysaccharides
from capsules than boiling your own Reishi soup using raw Reishi mushrooms from
herbal medicine shops. Besides 26 Reishi products, the council also tested 6 Reishi spore products, but could not draw a conclusion on their quality because "the active ingredients of Reishi spores are to be studied" and that it was not possible to check the percentage of breakage of the spores. Rejuveno's Reishi Deluxe contains 41% polysaccharides, which is 11% higher than the best product analyzed by the council. In terms of weight, each capsule contains 220mg polysaccharides. The amount has been verified independently by an internationally recognized lab with ISO9002 certification. Moreover, the council did not distinguish between active and inactive polysaccharides. Among over 200 polysaccharides identified in Reishi, only about 15 are active. Reishi Deluxe contains at least 7.3mg per capsule of the most active polysaccharides, which are often missing or lacking in other Reishi products. In terms of price per gram of polysaccharides, Reishi Deluxe is the least expensive, costing HK$29.40 per gram at retail and HK$22.60 at member prices, which are (respectively) 14% and 34% less expensive than the least expensive product analyzed by the council. Many Reishi products contain other herbs or mushrooms or different colors of Reishi mushrooms mixed together. The suppliers of such products often claim that the mixture offer a wider range of health benefits. To verify their claim, the wise consumer would ask for references on what specific benefits are not covered by red Reishi alone and the relative potency of each herb or mushroom for each benefit. As red Reishi is considered by many top scientists to be the most important elixir among Oriental medicinal plants, with the widest range of health benefits, anything else mixed into capsules of the same size would usually dilute (reduce) the amount of active ingredients per capsule. So if some of your friends are using such mixtures, advise them to request analytical reports from their suppliers on the amounts of Reishi polysaccharides (measured directly instead of calculated from carbohydrates) in their products. In some cases, they can get a rough idea from the number of capsules recommended per day. More potent products usually recommends 1-2 capsules twice per day while less potent products recommends 2-4 capsules twice per day for normal health maintenance. If the number of capsules per bottle are the same, and the prices per bottle are similar, that means the less potent products are at least double the cost! After all, if they do not check the amount of Reishi polysaccharides, they may be spending up to 80 times more than they should, or reducing the protection level for their health without knowing it! Besides polysaccharides, triterpenoids are extremely valuable active ingredients which are mainly produced in Reishi fruitbodies. They give Reishi its adaptogenic properties --- the ability to normalize body functions. Reishi Deluxe contains at least 7.7mg triterpenoids. © Copyright 2000 by Rejuveno Worldwide Inc. All rights reserved. |