Cordyceps Benefits: Studies on Energy and Exercise, Dosage

What cordyceps is

A mushroom that grows on a caterpillar.

The most famous cordyceps looks like no mushroom in our forests. On the high plateaus of Tibet and the Himalayas, above 3,000 metres, it parasitises the larvae of a moth buried in the soil. It invades them over the winter, then in spring sends up a small brown stalk that pokes out of the ground. Tibetans call it yartsa gunbu, “summer grass, winter worm”.

Traditional Tibetan and Chinese medicine has used it for centuries, mainly as a tonic: against fatigue, for breathing, and for the vitality of older people. Its very difficult harvest has made it one of the most expensive natural products in the world.

It became famous in the West in 1993, when the coach of Chinese women runners who had just smashed several world records attributed their performances, among other things, to this mushroom. Doping was later widely suspected. The anecdote says it all: cordyceps' reputation was born before the studies. To place cordyceps among the other species, see our list of 12 medicinal mushrooms worth knowing.

Sinensis or militaris

The cordyceps in your capsules is almost never wild.

Behind the word “cordyceps” there are in fact several organisms. Wild Tibetan cordyceps was reclassified in 2007 under the name Ophiocordyceps sinensis, after a genetic revision of the whole family. It is rare, expensive and almost impossible to cultivate on a large scale. It is practically never found in supplements sold in Europe.

What you buy is, in the vast majority of cases, one of these two things:

A label that only says “cordyceps sinensis” without specifying “mycelium” or “fruiting body” does not tell you much. Both cultivated forms are legitimate, but they are not the same products.

So the studies are not all about the same material. Chen's 2010 trial used Cs-4 mycelium. Hirsch's 2017 trial used a mushroom blend dominated by Cordyceps militaris. Bear this in mind before comparing results: we are talking about cousins, not twins. Our cordyceps page brings together what we use and why.

Cordyceps and humans

No, cordyceps cannot infect humans.

Since the series The Last of Us, one question keeps coming up: can cordyceps infect a human being? The answer is no. Cordyceps are highly specialised parasites. Each species attacks a specific group of insects, and their life cycle is tuned to the bodies of those insects.

The fungus that turns ants into “zombies”, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, only parasitises certain tropical ants. The cordyceps in supplements is cultivated, dried, and ground into powder or made into an extract: it is no longer alive when you consume it. And the temperature of the human body, around 37 °C, is far too high for most of these fungi, which are adapted to cold-blooded insects.

• No human infection by a cordyceps has been described in the medical literature.
• Cordyceps is not hallucinogenic: it contains no psilocybin.
• It has no known potential for dependence.
• Its real risks lie elsewhere: interactions, product quality, people who should avoid it (see below).

Cordycepin and adenosine

A molecule that mimics a cell fuel.

The chemical signature of cordyceps is cordycepin, or 3'-deoxyadenosine. Its name says it all: it is a molecule almost identical to adenosine, a building block of ATP, the molecule that stores energy in our cells. Cordyceps also contains adenosine itself, polysaccharides (including beta-glucans), mannitol and sterols.

From this resemblance came the idea that cordyceps “helps produce ATP”, and therefore energy. It is a hypothesis, not a demonstration. Here is where knowledge really stands.

Keep this framework in mind when you read a product page. A mechanism observed in the laboratory does not always translate into an effect in humans. That is precisely why you need to look at the clinical trials, which are few but instructive.

The benefits, clearly

Cordyceps benefits: what holds up, what remains to be proven.

Search for “cordyceps benefits” and you will find lists of fifteen promises: energy, libido, immunity, kidneys, lungs, blood sugar, ageing. They mix traditional uses, animal results and a few human trials. To see clearly, you have to sort them by level of evidence.

This table summarises the state of published research. These are not claims: in Europe, no health claim is authorised for cordyceps.

This sorting takes nothing away from the mushroom's appeal. It explains why most people who take it build it into an overall routine, with sleep, diet and training, rather than expecting an isolated effect. This is also the case for many athletes looking for a natural pre-workout without the caffeine doses of boosters.

Cordyceps is often combined with other ingredients in the same formula. In Energy, it is combined with maca, ginger and vitamin C, which contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Only the latter has an authorised claim.

Dosage and timing

Cordyceps: what dose, and when?

There is no official dose for cordyceps. The benchmarks come from clinical trials and common use. They depend mainly on the form: a fruiting body powder is less concentrated than an extract.

Always stick to the dose shown on the label of the product you take. The ranges above are benchmarks taken from the literature, not a prescription.

Timing. Most people take cordyceps in the morning or early in the day, with breakfast or coffee. It contains no caffeine, but some people find it slightly stimulating and prefer to avoid it in the evening. Before exercise, trials show no effect from a single dose: what counts is consistency over several weeks.

Duration. The positive trials lasted from three to twelve weeks. A four- to eight-week course, followed by an honest review, is a reasonable way to see whether cordyceps suits you. If you notice nothing after two months, there is no point carrying on out of principle.

Choosing well

Controlled cultivation rather than wild, and a readable label.

Wild cordyceps poses two problems. It is very often counterfeited, given its price. And it can contain contaminants: in 2016, the Chinese food and drug authority warned against excessive arsenic levels in products made from wild cordyceps. Cultivated cordyceps, on substrate or in a fermenter, makes it possible to control what goes into the product.

At Mush n Go, our recipes are blended in Toulouse and made in France, from mushrooms grown outside France. A cup of Brainstoorm provides 1,000 mg of fruiting body cordyceps, with 1,000 mg of Lion's Mane and 1,000 mg of Chaga, making 6,040 mg of active ingredients per cup with the maca and ashwagandha. For Energy, the detailed composition is on the product label. Our batch results can be viewed on our lab analyses page.

Genuine Trustpilot reviews of Brainstoorm, which contains 1,000 mg of cordyceps per cup, quoted as written.

A training routine

Where cordyceps fits in a training week.

Cordyceps is not a last-minute product before a session. The trials suggest a background effect instead, over several weeks. Here is a simple routine for someone who trains three to four times a week.

For focus during the day, cordyceps is often paired with lion's mane, which has also been studied in humans. Our guide lion's mane: benefits and dosage covers it in full. And if your fatigue persists despite everything, read our guide on persistent fatigue before piling on supplements.

Precautions

Who should avoid cordyceps?

Cordyceps is generally well tolerated in trials, mostly with mild digestive upsets: nausea, bloating, dry mouth. But its presumed action on blood clotting, blood sugar and the immune system calls for caution in several situations.

These precautions apply to most medicinal mushrooms. Our article on the risks of mushrooms and adaptogenic plants details them species by species. And if you want to discover all the species we use, see our mushrooms.

Sources

1. Chen S., Li Z., Krochmal R., Abrazado M., Kim W., Cooper C. B. (2010). Effect of Cs-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) on exercise performance in healthy older subjects: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(5), 585-590.
2. Parcell A. C., Smith J. M., Schulthies S. S., Myrer J. W., Fellingham G. (2004). Cordyceps sinensis (CordyMax Cs-4) supplementation does not improve endurance exercise performance. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 14(2), 236-242.
3. Hirsch K. R., Smith-Ryan A. E., Roelofs E. J., Trexler E. T., Mock M. G. (2017). Cordyceps militaris improves tolerance to high-intensity exercise after acute and chronic supplementation. Journal of Dietary Supplements, 14(1), 42-53.
4. Sung G. H. et al. (2007). Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi. Studies in Mycology, 57, 5-59.
5. Tuli H. S., Sharma A. K., Sandhu S. S., Kashyap D. (2013). Cordycepin: a bioactive metabolite with therapeutic potential. Life Sciences, 93(23), 863-869.
6. China Food and Drug Administration (2016). Warning on the consumption of Cordyceps sinensis products (arsenic content).

Keep reading

Further reading.

Cordyceps is just one of the mushrooms studied for energy and focus. Explore our other guides, or our Energy formula.