Shop capsules
Lion's Mane has been treasured across China, Japan, and Korea for centuries, where it has long been valued as a distinctive medicinal mushroom. Today, scientific research is investigating its naturally occurring compounds and their potential benefits for cognition, focus, and overall wellbeing.
No hype.
Just the science.
Supplement marketing is full of impressive-sounding claims. We believe you deserve better. You deserve to know exactly what you're putting into your body.
We believe a natural supplement should be grounded in real science. Our Lion's Mane is an organic fruiting-body product, selected with the existing scientific literature in mind, from human clinical trials to research investigating the mushroom's naturally occurring compounds.
Nature, studied by science.We use the fruiting body because it contains a distinctive profile of naturally occurring compounds, including hericenones that have been identified specifically in Lion's Mane fruiting bodies. Research has shown that certain hericenones can stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis in experimental models, making the fruiting body an important focus of Lion's Mane research.
Known as houtougu in China and yamabushitake in Japan, Lion's Mane has a long history as both food and an ingredient in medicinal cuisine across China, Korea, and Japan. Modern research approaches that tradition with new tools. Human studies remain relatively small, while clinical and laboratory investigations continue to examine cognition, mood, stress, and naturally occurring compounds such as hericenones and erinacines.
One reason Lion's Mane has attracted scientific interest is its relationship with nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein involved in the growth, maintenance, and function of certain nerve cells.
Laboratory research has identified compounds in Hericium erinaceus—including hericenones and erinacines—that may influence NGF-related pathways. These findings have helped drive interest in Lion's Mane and its potential role in supporting the nervous system.
Human research is still developing, so we distinguish between what has been demonstrated in laboratory and animal studies and what has been studied clinically in people.
Lion's Mane naturally grows on wood, and scientific research has demonstrated its ability to grow on lignocellulosic materials including sawdust and agricultural byproducts. Our mushrooms are grown using reclaimed, upcycled wood waste shavings rather than relying on virgin materials.
Organic Lion's Mane fruiting body. No unnecessary blends. No unnecessary ingredients. Just the mushroom, grown with care and produced with a focus on quality and consistency.
Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Phytotherapy Research, 23(3), 367–372.
Reduction of depression and anxiety by 4 weeks Hericium erinaceus intake. Biomedical Research, 31(4), 231–237.
Lignocellulosic and proximate based compositional changes in substrates during cultivation of Hericium erinaceus mushroom. Scientia Horticulturae, 258, 108779.
Uncovering Hericenones from the Fruiting Bodies of Hericium erinaceus through Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Journal of Natural Products, 88(1), 80–85.
Unveiling the role of erinacines in the neuroprotective effects of Hericium erinaceus: a systematic review in preclinical models. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 16, 1582081.
Long before humans learned to cultivate them, fungi were already helping shape the world around us.
For hundreds of millions of years, fungi have lived at the intersection of life and its environment—breaking down organic matter, cycling nutrients, forming partnerships with plants, and helping ecosystems function. Modern research continues to reveal just how important they are to the planet.
Fungi are extraordinary decomposers. They break down complex materials that many organisms cannot, returning nutrients to ecosystems and driving the flow of carbon and energy through soil. Their relationships with plants have also played an important role in the development of life on land.
We are only beginning to understand what fungi can do.
Fungi have given us foods, fermentation, medicines, and some of modern medicine's most important discoveries. Today, researchers are exploring their potential far beyond nutrition—from new pharmaceuticals and biomaterials to environmental technologies capable of breaking down pollutants, including certain plastics.
The fungal kingdom contains an extraordinary diversity of species and biological compounds, many of which remain poorly understood.
That is what makes fungi so fascinating to us.
At FUGO, we start with one: Lion's Mane.
We grow it as an organic fruiting body and bring it to you in its simplest form—while continuing to learn from the science behind this remarkable kingdom.
Fungi are microscopic, monumental, and remarkably versatile. They build partnerships, recycle the dead, produce molecules that can change medicine, and quietly connect entire ecosystems.
Here are a few places to start exploring.
01Beneath almost every forest is a hidden network.
Mycorrhizal fungi grow alongside plant roots, forming intimate partnerships in which fungi help plants access nutrients and water while receiving carbon from their plant partners. These relationships are so widespread that scientists estimate mycorrhizal associations occur with the majority of terrestrial plant species.
The result is an underground biological network connecting plants to the wider ecosystem.
One organism provides. Another receives. Both thrive.
02Dead wood, leaves, and other organic material contain complex molecules that many organisms cannot break down efficiently.
Fungi can.
Their enzymes allow them to decompose materials such as lignin and cellulose, releasing nutrients back into ecosystems where they can be used again.
Without decomposers, nutrients would remain locked inside dead organic matter.
Fungi don't just live in ecosystems. They help keep them running.03What we call a mushroom is only the visible reproductive structure of many fungi. Most of the organism exists as a network of microscopic filaments called hyphae, collectively known as mycelium.
Individual hyphae can be microscopic, yet their networks can extend through enormous areas of soil, wood, or other substrates.
Small pieces. Extraordinary networks.
04In 1928, Alexander Fleming observed that a mold of the genus Penicillium could inhibit the growth of bacteria. That observation ultimately contributed to the development of penicillin, one of the most important antibiotics in medical history.
But penicillin is only one example.
Fungi produce an extraordinary diversity of molecules, many of which have been investigated or developed for pharmaceutical applications, including compounds with antibacterial, immunomodulatory, cholesterol-lowering, and other biological activities.
The fungal kingdom is a chemical library we are still learning to read.
05Bread, beer, wine, soy sauce, cheese, and other fermented foods all rely on fungi or fungal-derived processes.
And mushrooms themselves have been part of human diets and traditional practices for thousands of years.
Today, scientists are also exploring fungi as sources of alternative proteins, flavors, textures, and functional ingredients.
One kingdom. An astonishing range of uses.06Fungi produce powerful enzymes capable of breaking down complex materials.
Researchers are investigating their ability to degrade difficult pollutants and synthetic materials, including certain plastics. Some fungi have demonstrated the ability to break down components of plastics under laboratory conditions.
This field is still developing, but the idea is extraordinary:
Using biology to help clean up what humans created.07Fungi interact with plants, bacteria, animals, and other fungi in relationships ranging from cooperation to competition.
Some fungi help plants obtain phosphorus and nitrogen. Others provide protection against pathogens. Some live inside plants without causing disease. Others break down dead organisms so their nutrients can return to the ecosystem.
The fungal kingdom is not a collection of isolated organisms.
It is a web of relationships.08Hericium erinaceus, commonly known as Lion's Mane, is one member of this enormous kingdom.
It has a long history of use in East Asian traditions and has become the subject of modern research investigating compounds including hericenones and erinacines, as well as their potential biological effects.
Some laboratory research has focused on their relationship with nerve growth factor (NGF) and pathways involved in the nervous system.
The human evidence is still developing.
And that's exactly why we think it's worth looking closer.
The more we learn about fungi, the more there is left to discover.
Our Lion's Mane is grown using 100% renewable energy and reclaimed, upcycled wood waste shavings, turning existing resources into a natural growing medium.
Better for you, better for the planet.We're still discovering what they're capable of.
This is only the beginning.