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The Spore PatchPublishing · Evidence · Conservation

Evidence database

Evidence Library

A structured record for every dossier in the Atlas. Each entry is anchored to the intervention actually tested, not to a common mushroom name.

Governing principle

Evidence belongs first to the intervention actually tested.

This principle governs the data model as well as the editorial language. A record is filed against the preparation, strain or compound that was tested, and fields unsupported by the source are left unfilled rather than estimated, with verified absence and non-applicable fields identified explicitly.

Publication status

All 18 currently published records have been checked against their source chapters and approved for publication. Future extracted records remain private until verification is complete.

This is an editorial check that each record faithfully reflects The Fungal Evidence Atlas. It is separate from the strength or certainty of the scientific evidence, which is shown by each record’s grades. How we know →

18 of 18 records currently approved. Unapproved extractions are held in a restricted store and are not served to this page.

18 approved evidence records

  • Atlas chapter 9 · Gastrointestinal

    Saccharomyces boulardii

    Saccharomyces boulardii — probiotic lineage within Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    E5++ — Supports the tested propositionR5
    Proposition / claim
    Clinically studied Saccharomyces boulardii preparations reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea.
    Evidence owner
    Clinically studied, properly characterized probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii preparations within the populations and settings represented by the evidence; not generic Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker's yeast, brewer's yeast or arbitrary yeast products.
    Dominant uncertainty
    How strain- and preparation-specific the mature antibiotic-associated-diarrhoea evidence is, and how consistently the effect transports across populations and antibiotic settings. The evidence context also retains a large negative multicentre randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled study in hospitalized adults that found no significant reduction and was stopped early for futility; the overall direction remains + while this null result stays visible rather than being smoothed away.

  • Atlas chapter 10 · Oncology (adjunctive)

    Turkey Tail / PSK

    Trametes versicolor

    Historical literature: Coriolus versicolor

    E4-H++ — Supports the tested propositionR4

    The strongest clinical evidence here belongs to PSK (polysaccharide-K, Krestin), a defined preparation. It does not transfer automatically to generic Turkey Tail powders, capsules, teas, tinctures or supplements.

    Proposition / claim
    Historical adjunctive benefit from PSK in specified postoperative gastric and colorectal cancer treatment settings.
    Evidence owner
    PSK / Krestin — the defined Trametes versicolor-derived preparation investigated in the historical adjunctive oncology programmes. The biological source is Trametes versicolor; the clinical evidence owner is PSK. PSK evidence is not generic Turkey Tail evidence.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Contemporary incremental clinical benefit. The dominant uncertainty is contemporary clinical transportability. Historical randomized PSK programmes tested the intervention alongside the standards of care of their era. Surgery, staging, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, supportive care and surveillance have since changed substantially. The historical results remain evidence within their original context, but they do not establish what incremental benefit PSK would provide alongside contemporary oncology. The control arm moved.

  • Atlas chapter 11 · Oncology (adjunctive)

    Huaier

    Vanderbylia robiniophila (historical clinical taxa: Trametes robiniophila; Perenniporia robiniophila)

    E4++ — Supports the tested propositionR2 — substantial corroborative human evidence exists, but the grade-determining proposition remains dependent on one landmark randomized programme and lacks comparable independent randomized replication
    Proposition / claim
    Standardized Huaier granules reduced postoperative recurrence risk after curative resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the landmark randomized clinical programme.
    Evidence owner
    Standardized Huaier granules as used in the audited clinical programme. The biological source is Huaier / Vanderbylia robiniophila, but the grade-owning clinical evidence belongs to the standardized granule intervention. E4+ does not transfer automatically to arbitrary Huaier supplements, generic fungal extracts, powders or materially different preparations carrying the Huaier name.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Independent contemporary randomized replication — whether an independent contemporary randomized programme will reproduce the postoperative-HCC recurrence result. The dominant uncertainty is replication, not basic biological plausibility, taxonomy, the size of the landmark trial, or the existence of mechanistic literature.

  • Atlas chapter 12 · Oncology (adjunctive)

    Shiitake / Lentinan

    Lentinula edodes

    Historical taxonomic name: Lentinus edodes

    E4-H++ — Supports the tested propositionR4 — the lentinan-centred proposition was tested across multiple randomized/prospective programmes and synthesized across independent trials. R4 does not mean that eating Shiitake has been replicated as a cancer intervention.
    Proposition / claim
    Historical adjunctive clinical benefit in defined oncology settings, particularly parts of the gastric-cancer literature.
    Evidence owner
    Lentinan, particularly the defined parenteral/intravenous historical clinical intervention. For lentinan, the historical parenteral/intravenous route is part of the evidence owner, not a footnote. Lentinan is not equivalent to eating Shiitake.
    Dominant uncertainty
    There are two separate dominant uncertainties. For lentinan: reconciliation of historical-positive and modern-null lentinan evidence. A later randomized phase III gastric-cancer study tested lentinan alongside a more modern treatment regimen and did not demonstrate a significant overall-survival advantage; why favourable signals from substantial historical programmes coexist with that later null result requires investigation rather than automatic rescue of the historical result. For Shiitake: whether any practical oral whole-mushroom or Shiitake-derived preparation can independently demonstrate a clinically meaningful effect rather than inheriting lentinan's evidence.

  • Atlas chapter 13 · Oncology (adjunctive)

    Split-gill fungus / Sizofiran

    Schizophyllum commune

    E4-H++ — Supports the tested propositionR3 — two randomized cervical-cancer radiotherapy programmes were identified, but independence is limited by shared investigators, country, era and programme context, and the programmes emphasized partly different outcomes. Follow-up publications and secondary restatements are not counted as additional replications. R3 therefore represents meaningful repeated clinical investigation with limited independence and limited geographical/programme breadth.
    Proposition / claim
    Historical adjunctive clinical benefit from sizofiran in defined cervical-cancer radiotherapy programmes. The claim is historical and adjunctive; it is not that Schizophyllum commune treats cancer, nor that beta-glucans treat cancer.
    Evidence owner
    Sizofiran / SPG / schizophyllan, with the clinically studied preparation, dose and route retained as part of intervention identity. The evidence does not belong generically to Schizophyllum commune as food, mushroom powder, oral supplements, generic extracts, or to beta-glucans as a class. The grade-determining cervical-cancer programmes involved defined clinical administration, including intramuscular SPG.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Two layers. (1) Historical programme reconstruction: which publications represent genuinely independent trials and which are follow-ups; what preparation and route were used; how patients were selected; what background treatment was used; and which outcomes actually drive the positive signal. (2) Contemporary incremental benefit: only after the historical genealogy is reconstructed should we ask whether a clinically equivalent sizofiran adds meaningful benefit to contemporary oncology. The immediate uncertainty is therefore not “Does sizofiran work?” but “What exactly was independently demonstrated by the historical clinical programme?”

  • Atlas chapter 14 · Fatigue / wellbeing

    Reishi / Lingzhi

    Ganoderma spp.

    E2-3 ± (proposition-specific)± — Materially mixedR1 — one controlled clinical programme was identified for the grade-owning Ganopoly fatigue/wellbeing proposition in neurasthenia (Tang et al., J Med Food 2005;8(1):53–58; PMID 15857210). Controlled Ganoderma studies in other populations and indications (Klupp 2016; Chu 2012) provide important context for the heterogeneous evidence landscape but do not constitute independent replication of this proposition. Secondary syntheses, preparation-identity studies, taxonomic studies and safety reports are not counted as replications. R1 describes replication depth, not trial quality or effect direction.
    Proposition / claim
    A defined Ganoderma polysaccharide extract (Ganopoly) produced a controlled positive signal for fatigue and wellbeing in a neurasthenia population.
    Evidence owner
    The defined Ganoderma polysaccharide preparation Ganopoly used in the controlled neurasthenia trial; the positive fatigue/wellbeing signal belongs to that preparation, population and outcome, not to Reishi/Ganoderma as a single organism-wide medicine. The trial's source material was reported as Ganoderma lucidum and no modern species authentication is implied.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Biological identity and preparation identity underlying a heterogeneous clinical literature.

  • Atlas chapter 15 · Renal

    Cordyceps-related preparations

    Ophiocordyceps sinensis; Cordyceps militaris; cultured medicinal fungal lineages associated with defined commercial preparations

    NOT ASSIGNABLE AT CATEGORY LEVEL. Individual preparation × indication × outcome programmes approximately E2–4 ±. The absence of a single category-level E grade is itself a conclusion of the audit, not a gap in it.± — heterogeneous / proposition-specific. Potentially meaningful positive signals exist within defined programmes, but direction cannot responsibly be generalized across the Cordyceps therapeutic category.NOT ASSIGNABLE AT CATEGORY LEVEL. Intervention-specific clusters approximately R1–4. Trial count is not replication count. The category contains multiple preparation-specific programmes, and heterogeneous trials cannot be compressed into repeated confirmations of one Cordyceps intervention.
    Proposition / claim
    Cordyceps-related medicinal preparations have a large human clinical literature, including potentially favourable adjunctive renal surrogate outcomes in diabetic kidney disease programmes, but intervention heterogeneity, methodological limitations and evidence-ownership uncertainty prevent a single category-level efficacy conclusion.
    Evidence owner
    Individual defined preparations within preparation × population × outcome programmes. Evidence ownership is unresolved at the Cordyceps category level and must be reconstructed from the underlying trials. No clinical grade transfers automatically between wild Ophiocordyceps sinensis, cultured or fermented medicinal preparations, Cordyceps militaris, or arbitrary commercial Cordyceps products.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Evidence ownership within the enormous heterogeneous literature: which preparation produced which effect, in which population, on which outcome?

  • Atlas chapter 16 · Cognition

    Lion's Mane

    Hericium erinaceus

    E3±± — preliminary mixed-positiveR2 — human investigation extends across several controlled and pilot studies, but these do not constitute several tightly matched independent replications of one proposition. Populations, preparations, durations, cognitive domains and results differ. The field has repeated the topic; it has not yet tightly replicated the experiment.
    Proposition / claim
    Possible improvement in selected cognitive outcomes from defined Hericium erinaceus preparations in particular populations.
    Evidence owner
    Defined Hericium erinaceus preparations studied in specific human populations. The strongest controlled cognition signal belongs to the specific preparation, population, exposure period and cognitive outcomes actually studied. Evidence from fruiting-body material does not automatically transfer to mycelial preparations, erinacine-enriched extracts, whole powders, fermented-substrate products or arbitrary commercial Lion's Mane supplements, and vice versa.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Reproducibility of the cognition signal under standardized intervention conditions.

  • Atlas chapter 17 · Gastrointestinal

    Agaricus subrufescens

    Agaricus subrufescens

    E2-3 ±± — Materially mixedR1 — one controlled clinical programme was identified for the grade-owning AndoSan ulcerative-colitis symptom and quality-of-life proposition (Therkelsen et al., 2016). Multiple publications arising from the same recruitment programme or cohort are not counted as independent replications. The companion Crohn's disease study used the same investigators and preparation and did not demonstrate clear placebo-relative superiority on its principal between-group comparison. Other AndoSan studies and clinical studies of different Agaricus-containing preparations concern different populations, interventions or outcomes and are not counted as replications of this proposition. R1 describes replication depth, not trial quality, effect direction or the wider existence of human investigation.
    Proposition / claim
    Preparation-specific symptom and quality-of-life human signals, strongest in a short controlled ulcerative-colitis study of the mixed formula AndoSan.
    Evidence owner
    The mixed formula AndoSan owns the strongest controlled ulcerative-colitis symptom and quality-of-life signal. Other human findings belong to the particular Agaricus-containing preparation or formulation actually studied. Effects observed with mixed formulas cannot automatically be assigned to Agaricus subrufescens alone, and evidence from one ABM/ABMK-labelled preparation cannot automatically be transferred to another.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Benefit and harm attribution. Benefit: what, if anything, does A. subrufescens itself contribute to effects observed with mixed formulas or defined commercial preparations? Harm: which exact exposure owns the liver-injury signal? These are mirror-image attribution problems and must be resolved using the same evidence-ownership discipline.

  • Atlas chapter 18 · Cognition

    Maitake / Hen-of-the-Woods

    Grifola frondosa

    E3+ narrow+ — Supports the tested propositionR1 — the grade-owning Y10M cognition proposition currently rests on one small randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. No independent replication of the Y10M cognitive signal has yet been established. The study was funded by YUKIGUNI FACTORY Co., Ltd., which manufactured the test foods, and two authors were affiliated with the company's R&D department. This does not invalidate the trial, but independent replication must test both cohort reproducibility and investigative independence. Multiple outcomes, NK-cell analyses, strain comparisons within the same trial and further publications from the same programme are not counted as replication.
    Proposition / claim
    Y10M improved MoCA-J performance relative to placebo over 18 weeks in healthy Japanese adults aged 60-85; cognitive superiority over C5304 was not established.
    Evidence owner
    Y10M Grifola frondosa as administered in the 18-week study food intervention. The evidence owner includes the strain, food matrix, dose, duration, population and cognitive endpoint actually studied. The Y10M cognition signal does not automatically transfer to C5304, generic Maitake, other strains, powders, extracts or arbitrary commercial products.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Independent replication and direct cognitive strain superiority. Two distinct questions remain central: (1) will the Y10M cognitive signal replicate independently? (2) if it does, is Y10M's cognitive effect genuinely different from C5304?

  • Atlas chapter 19 · Metabolic / lipids

    Oyster Mushroom

    Pleurotus ostreatus

    E3Ø — the grade-defining proposition has been tested directly in randomized, double-blind, controlled human evidence. The Ø qualifier records that the controlled evidence did not support the proposed LDL-lowering benefit. E is not downgraded because the result is null: a controlled null is evidence.Ø — Does not support under tested conditionsR2 — limited independent controlled repetition exists for the LDL-lowering proposition. Two genuinely independent randomized controlled programmes — Schneider et al. 2011 and Johnen et al. 2026 — used materially different P. ostreatus interventions and both failed to demonstrate LDL reduction. A third independent controlled study, Sayeed et al. 2014, reported a significant between-group LDL difference favouring P. ostreatus, but allocation was non-random and unblinded, attrition was severe and differential, risk of selection bias was high, statistical evaluation was limited, and LDL did not significantly decline within the mushroom group. The study therefore constitutes low-credibility contradictory controlled evidence rather than a robust positive replication. Multiple outcomes within one trial, post-hoc analyses, mechanistic findings and uncontrolled studies are not counted as independent replications.
    Proposition / claim
    LDL lowering from defined P. ostreatus interventions
    Evidence owner
    The grade-defining LDL evidence belongs to the defined Pleurotus ostreatus interventions actually tested, particularly the 2026 oven-dried fruiting-body powder beverage intervention. The earlier 2011 randomized P. ostreatus soup intervention provides limited convergent LDL-null repetition. Neither intervention automatically transfers its result to generic Oyster Mushroom products, other Pleurotus species, different preparations, doses, matrices or durations.
    Dominant uncertainty
    Whether any defined P. ostreatus intervention can reproducibly produce a clinically meaningful LDL reduction. The burden has shifted toward the positive claim because more than one randomized intervention has failed to demonstrate LDL lowering.

  • Atlas chapter 20 · Cognition

    Tremella

    Tremella fuciformis

    E3++ — Supports the tested propositionR1. One evidence-owning Tremella-alone controlled cognition programme exists (the 2018 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled supplementation trial). Independent Tremella-alone replication remains absent or insufficient. A 2023 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cognition study of a multi-component formula containing fish roe, snow fungus and yeast is not an independent replication of the Tremella-alone proposition: the formula owns its own evidence, and ingredient presence is not replication. Multiple dose arms, multiple outcomes, neuroimaging findings, systematic reviews, mechanistic evidence and further publications from the same programme likewise do not constitute independent Tremella-alone replication. R1 therefore sits beside E3+.
    Proposition / claim
    Placebo-relative improvement in subjective memory complaints and selected short-term-memory/executive-function measures in adults with subjective cognitive impairment
    Evidence owner
    2018 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled supplementation trial: 600 or 1200 mg/day for eight weeks
    Dominant uncertainty
    Independent replication and effect robustness

  • Atlas chapter 21 · Immune biomarker

    Sanghuang

    Sanghuang (traditional medicinal category) / Sanghuangporus (modern genus of particular importance) / Sanghuangporus sanghuang (frequently invoked modern species) / Phellinus linteus (historical research identity under which the controlled human material was labelled). Historical P. linteus-labelled material does not automatically map to modern authenticated S. sanghuang; reassignment must be earned through preserved cultures, vouchers, sequence data or host/provenance evidence.

    E3+ for the biomarker proposition+ — Supports the tested propositionR1. Why R1: exactly one research programme currently provides a VERIFIED positive placebo-relative controlled NK-cytotoxicity signal — the 2022 main randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in which the 12.5:1 effector-to-target comparison is a genuine between-group comparison. The 2006 Eom programme (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled; 62 participants, 31/31; 3.3 g/day Keumsa sangwhang extract; 8 weeks; Jurkat target-cell assay) remains important controlled human evidence. It establishes a statistically significant PRE-VS-POST increase in NK-cytotoxic activity within the active arm with no corresponding change in placebo, and no significant between-group difference in CD56+ NK-cell NUMBER. However, an explicit placebo-relative treatment effect has NOT been verified from the currently recoverable record: no explicit treatment-versus-placebo NK-cytotoxicity test is reported in the recoverable material, and the full text is NOT RECOVERABLE in the present audit. It is therefore NOT classified as a verified positive placebo-relative programme, and it is NOT classified as a negative trial. Atlas rule applied: within-group significance is not a between-group treatment effect. Absence of recoverable evidence is not evidence that the analysis was absent from the inaccessible full text; if the Eom full text is later recovered and establishes a valid explicit between-group effect, replication may be reassessed. The 2022 randomized pilot is a distinct participant cohort but belongs to the same broader Ku/Kang research programme as the main trial (same investigators, same site, same funding stream, main trial powered from pilot variance). Its reported per-protocol analysis did NOT establish a significant between-group NK-cell activity effect: it is null/inconclusive for the narrow between-group NK proposition — neither a positive replication nor proof of no effect. Distinct cohorts within one programme do not constitute independent programme-level replication. Ratio-specificity and multiplicity qualification: NK-cell activity was the prespecified primary outcome of the main trial. Three effector-to-target ratios were analysed and only the 12.5:1 between-group comparison was significant; 25:1 and 50:1 were not. No multiplicity correction across the three ratios is reported in the verified main paper, and whether 12.5:1 specifically was prespecified as the confirmatory ratio is NOT REPORTED. The 12.5:1 placebo-relative result is genuine as reported, but its robustness as the uniquely positive result among multiple tested ratios requires qualification. This is not a basis for inferring the result is false, nor for inferring it would fail a correction that has not been performed. Therefore R2-qualified is not presently earned. This is an evidence-verification downgrade, not evidence that the 2006 result was false.
    Proposition / claim
    Defined Sanghuang-related preparations labelled Phellinus linteus have produced controlled human signals involving NK-cell cytotoxic activity. The proposition is owned by those specific preparations and by that biomarker; it is not a claim of generalised immune enhancement, infection prevention, cancer benefit, or species-wide S. sanghuang effect.
    Evidence owner
    Defined P. linteus-labelled / Sanghuang-related preparations
    Dominant uncertainty
    Two linked uncertainties, neither of which resolves the other. 1. CLINICAL TRANSLATION — does a reproducible NK-cell cytotoxicity change produce any patient-important benefit? A real biomarker movement is not a demonstrated clinical effect. 2. EVIDENCE OWNERSHIP — which authenticated fungal identity and which specific preparation owns each controlled result? Historical labelling and preparation heterogeneity mean the evidence is not yet attributable to one authenticated organism-plus-intervention pair.

  • Atlas chapter 22 · Metabolic / lipids

    Wood Ear

    Auricularia heimuer (clinical label: Auricularia auricula-judae)

    E2-3+ signal / causal grade unresolvedunresolved — Not assignable / unresolvedR1-2 related evidence
    Proposition / claim
    Within-group triglyceride and waist-circumference signals from a Korean Wood Ear functional-food trial; randomized causal contrast unresolved in the displayed analysis
    Evidence owner
    A specific Korean Wood Ear functional-food product
    Dominant uncertainty
    STATISTICAL: Is there a real randomized between-group triglyceride effect? TAXONOMIC: Which authenticated Auricularia species owned the clinical intervention?

  • Atlas chapter 23 · Skin / hydration

    Enoki / Enokitake

    Flammulina filiformis (trial-reported identity: Flammulina velutipes)

    E3+ narrow+ — Supports the tested propositionR1
    Proposition / claim
    Improved cheek hydration over four weeks from the tested dried-powder product
    Evidence owner
    Cultivar Oki-Shirayuki 919, as a tested dried-powder product
    Dominant uncertainty
    Independent hydration replication

  • Atlas chapter 24 · Sleep

    Poria / Fuling

    Wolfiporia hoelen (alternative generic treatment: Pachyma hoelen); historical/applied names Poria cocos, Wolfiporia cocos

    E2+ (Poria alone) / E3+ (formula)+ — Supports the tested propositionR1
    Proposition / claim
    Poria alone: preliminary human sleep improvement, including objective sleep findings (E2+). Formula (Poria + Ziziphus + GABA): sleep benefit (E3+).
    Evidence owner
    A defined Poria extract for the Poria-alone proposition; a Poria + Ziziphus + GABA formulation for the formula proposition
    Dominant uncertainty
    Direct Poria-alone causal sleep effect

  • Atlas chapter 25 · Safety signal

    Chaga

    Inonotus obliquus

    E1unresolved — Not assignable / unresolvedR0-1
    Proposition / claim
    Major advertised therapeutic claims lack mature direct human validation
    Evidence owner
    No mature human therapeutic evidence owner; the safety signal belongs to specific commercial preparations
    Dominant uncertainty
    Therapeutic: human translatability. Safety: preparation-specific oxalate exposure and risk quantification.

  • Atlas chapter 26 · Oncology (adjunctive)

    Taiwanofungus camphoratus

    Taiwanofungus camphoratus (historical names: Antrodia camphorata, A. cinnamomea)

    Cancer E3Ø; liver-related programme E3±, proposition-dependent; narrow selected controlled outcomes E3+ where a valid preparation-specific between-group signal is demonstratedØ — Does not support under tested conditionsR1-2
    Proposition / claim
    No significant survival/disease-control benefit in the audited randomized advanced-cancer trial
    Evidence owner
    Specific audited preparations in the randomized advanced-cancer trial
    Dominant uncertainty
    Wild-versus-cultivated clinical relevance

Schema

A database, not a summary

Each record carries organism, tested intervention, evidence owner, proposition, population, comparator, outcome, evidence maturity, direction, historical flag, replication, claim gap, Evidence Transfer Vector, Taxonomic and Intervention Transfer Confidence, dominant uncertainty, next best experiment, primary references and the source chapter it came from. Fields not yet transcribed are shown as not yet entered rather than filled in.