Article produced in partnership with Applied Food Sciences, a leading functional ingredient manufacturer. Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) has become one of the leading ingredients in cognitive health, yet independent human trials show its effects are inconsistent, a gap rooted in how little the species name on a label reveals about a product's actual composition. Applied Food Sciences has published a validated UHPLC-UV method that measures the mushroom's key marker compounds

A Polish research and production centre Instytut Urządzeń Ekstrakcyjnych is applying pharmaceutical-grade supercritical CO₂ extraction to functional mushrooms, producing standardised ingredients with verified bioactive profiles. Their flagship Lion's Mane extract is standardised to 10% hericenones and 22% ergosterol, setting a new benchmark for ingredient transparency. Research conducted with Warsaw's SGGW university confirms that CO₂-extracted oils achieve oxidative stabili