Updated
Oyster mushroom
A fast, forgiving wood-rotter grown worldwide as food. It contains lovastatin — the same molecule as the statin drug — at food-level amounts.
Repeated trials
Where it stands: 7 registered trials in people, none of which has reported a result; 18 randomised trials published since 2010.
What it is taken for
One tile per use. The line under each is how far the evidence for that use actually got, counted rather than argued.
What it has been tried for, and how far that has got
One row per use. The label is counted rather than argued — it is set by how many randomised trials and posted results exist for that use, and nothing else. How that is worked out.
| Use | How far it has got | Trials | With a result | Randomised, published | Reviews | Commonly taken for it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mood and anxiety | Repeated trials | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — |
| Immune function | Repeated trials | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | yes |
| Lungs and breathing | Repeated trials | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — |
| Cholesterol and lipids | A first trial | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | yes |
| Gut and microbiome | A first trial | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Viral infection | Being tested now | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Cancer, supportive and adjuvant | Being tested now | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Fatigue and energy | Being tested now | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Blood sugar | Laboratory work | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | yes |
Commonly taken for blood sugar. The work there is still laboratory and animal work — often a great deal of it — and the step into a trial in people has not been taken yet.
The doses the protocols actually specify
Taken verbatim from the intervention description each trial filed. These are not recommendations and they are not comparable to each other: some are a whole-mushroom powder, some a purified fraction.
Every registered study that names it
From ClinicalTrials.gov, filtered to studies that name Pleurotus ostreatus or a synonym in the title, summary or intervention. Studies that have posted results come first.
| Register | Study | Condition | People | Status | Result posted | Dose in the protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT00069524 | Antihyperlipidemic Effects of Oyster Mushrooms | HIV Infections, Hyperlipidemia | 20 | Completed | — | — |
| NCT04989972 | Assessing the Efficacy of Micro-dosed Psilocybin on Reducing Anxiety & Depression Levels in Adults | Anxiety and Depression | — | Withdrawn | — | 1 mg |
| NCT07407777 | Evaluation of Gut-Related Well-Being and Mood Effects of a Daily Nutritional Food Ingredient From the Co-Ferme | Gastrointestinal Discomfort, Digestive Well Being | 80 | Recruiting | — | — |
| NCT07775833 | Study Protocol: The Efficacy of Mushroom to Reduce Cognitive Decline in At-Risk Middle-aged Adults and Young-o | Dementia, Cognitive Assessment | 600 | Recruiting | — | 7.0 mg |
| NCT04821258 | Effect of the Nutraceutical "MICODIGEST 2.0" on the Complications After Surgery for Colorectal Cancer | Colorectal Cancer, Surgery--Complications | 48 | Completed | — | — |
| NCT06846827 | Cognitive, Mood, Anti-Inflammatory and Metabolic Effects of Chronic Oyster Mushroom Intervention in Older Adul | Cognitive Change, Mood | 80 | Completed | — | 9.39g, 6.67g |
| NCT07806279 | Lifestyle Changes, Mushroom Supplementation, and Bupropion to Reduce Adiposity and Cardiometabolic Risk one ingredient in a multi-herb preparation | Cardiometabolic Syndrome, Obesity and Cardiovascular Risk | 250 | Not yet recruiting | — | 150 mg, 60 g |
| NCT05594329 | Neurological, Inflammatory and Metabolic Effects of Acute Mushroom Intervention in Older Adults | Cognitive Change, Mood | 33 | Completed | — | 18.78g, 9.39g |
The compounds the research names
Formula and mass from PubChem. Naming a compound is not a claim that it does anything in a person.
C24H36O5
C18H32O16
C9H15N3O2S
What it looks like in the field
Research-grade observations, each by a different photographer. Every one links to the record it came from.
In the kitchen
Mild, a little aniseed when very fresh.
The one to fry hot and fast in a dry pan first. Shredded and fried they are the basis of most of the convincing vegan 'pulled' dishes.
Where it has been recorded, and when it fruits
48,180 verified occurrence records with coordinates, from GBIF. This is where people have recorded it, which follows where recorders live as much as where the fungus grows — read the shape, not the ranking.
| United States | 8,794 | |
| United Kingdom | 8,378 | |
| Netherlands | 7,989 | |
| Sweden | 4,136 | |
| Denmark | 3,891 | |
| Germany | 3,543 | |
| Belgium | 1,791 | |
| Norway | 1,276 | |
| Russia | 1,168 | |
| France | 988 | |
| Switzerland | 914 | |
| Spain | 816 |
Most records fall in Dec. Northern-hemisphere recorders dominate the dataset, so a southern population would not show here.
iNaturalist separately holds 18,713 research-grade observations of it.
What has been reported going wrong
69 voluntary reports to the US Food and Drug Administration name a product by this mushroom's name. A report is someone saying something happened after taking something. It is not a finding that the product caused it, the FDA says so itself, and nobody knows how many people took the product without reporting anything.
| Diarrhoea | 25 |
| Vomiting | 20 |
| Gastroenteritis Vibrio | 19 |
| Nausea | 14 |
| Abdominal Pain | 13 |
| Headache | 10 |
| Malaise | 10 |
| Tenderness | 8 |
| Fatigue | 6 |
| Feeling Of Body Temperature Change | 6 |
| Myalgia | 6 |
| Body Temperature Increased | 4 |
| Other Serious or Important Medical Event | 23 |
| Other Outcome | 21 |
| Hospitalization | 14 |
| Visited a Health Care Provider | 13 |
| Life Threatening | 7 |
| Visited Emergency Room | 7 |
| Death | 5 |
| Other Serious Outcome | 2 |
| Required Intervention | 2 |
| Allergic Reaction | 1 |
The newest randomised trials and reviews
Indexed in Europe PMC. Titles and journals only — follow the link to read the paper where the publisher allows it.