What cognitive health owes to nutritional balance
Salomé Garreau opens the session with a reminder: brain function depends closely on energy, lipid and redox balance. With age, several processes contribute to cognitive decline, foremost among them oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial alterations and changes in lipid metabolism.
Lipids play a structural role here. They account for more than 50% of the brain's dry weight, are part of neuronal membranes and myelin, and are involved in synaptic transmission, cell signalling and neuronal plasticity. Among them, long-chain omega-3s, particularly DHA, hold an important place in the structure of brain membranes.
The brain also depends on other micronutrients: B vitamins, vitamin D, iron, zinc and certain amino acids. According to Salomé Garreau, current data lend more support to the importance of overall dietary habits than to the isolated effect of a single nutrient: a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in plants, pulses, wholegrains, fish and vegetable oils, is associated in observational studies with better cognitive health, whereas a high intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline.
What mycotherapy covers
The four axes of medicinal mushrooms
Hervé Rose frames the discipline around four axes which, together, mean that a mushroom is not an isolated active ingredient.
The nutraceutical axis. A mushroom can contain more than 400 active compounds, which on its own makes it a complex matrix rather than a single ingredient.
The prebiotic axis. Fungal polysaccharides show a particular affinity for the microbiota and intestinal mucus, without providing bacteria.
The immunomodulatory axis. According to Hervé Rose, mushrooms are neither immunostimulants nor immunosuppressants: they support immune balance, which is a comfortable position for the practitioner.
The adaptogenic axis. Some species are studied for their contribution to resistance to both physical and psychological stress.
Beta-1,3/1,6-glucans, the marker to check on the label
This is the most practical point of the presentation. The polysaccharide family is broad, and not all of its branches fall within mycotherapy. Cereals, rice, sorghum, oats, provide beta-glucans in the 1,4/1,6 form, whose interest relates rather to the microbiota, cholesterol and blood glucose regulation. Bacteria provide yet other forms.
Mushrooms, for their part, provide beta-1,3/1,6-glucans, which are involved in particular in immunomodulation. According to Hervé Rose, the presence of beta-1,3/1,6 on the label is the only entry ticket: without this mention, nothing guarantees that the product falls within mycotherapy.
Mushrooms also provide terpenes and triterpenoids, amino acids including the essential ones, ergosterols that are precursors of vitamin D, fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins, minerals and trace elements, and lectins.
Ergothioneine, a molecule the body does not make
Mushrooms are the main dietary source of ergothioneine, an antioxidant that humans do not synthesise themselves. According to Salomé Garreau, blood levels of ergothioneine decrease with age, which reduces cellular resilience, that is, the cell's ability to withstand stress, and is accompanied by an increase in oxidative stress and a decline in mitochondrial function.
The membrane transporter OCTN1, encoded by the SLC22A4 gene, is described as the main route of entry for ergothioneine into cells and mitochondria, including in the brain.
An observational study from the University of Singapore, published in 2019, followed 663 adults aged 60 and over between 2011 and 2017. Its authors report an association between eating two 300 g portions of mushrooms per week and a lower occurrence of mild cognitive impairment in this cohort. This is an observational association on a food, not a demonstrated effect of supplementation.
Three species documented for cognitive health
Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus)
This is the species attracting the most attention at the moment in the cognitive field. According to Salomé Garreau, it supports cognitive functions and contributes to maintaining memory and cognitive performance. Its compounds are involved in studied mechanisms of brain plasticity, neurogenesis, neuronal survival and the modulation of oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, notably via neurotrophic pathways involving NGF (nerve growth factor).
Two placebo-controlled trials were presented. The first, conducted in 2009 in 30 Japanese adults aged 50 to 80 with mild cognitive impairment, involved 3 g per day of a preparation for 16 weeks: cognitive scores in the supplemented group were higher than placebo at weeks 8, 12 and 16, and fell again four weeks after stopping. The second, conducted ten years later in 31 healthy participants over 50, involved 3.2 g per day of fruiting body powder for 12 weeks, with a significant increase in MMSE scores and a significant difference compared with placebo at the end of the study.
A study conducted by the brand in partnership with the Foltra Foundation, in 40 volunteers with an average age of 53, reports an improvement in memory, immediate recall, concentration, attention, processing speed and visuospatial abilities. Salomé Garreau points out that this study was conducted with the brand, which should be taken into account when reading it.
Erinacines or hericenones: what novel food status changes in Europe
Two families of compounds coexist in lion's mane. Erinacines are found mainly in the mycelium, hericenones in the fruiting body, the upper part of the mushroom. Salomé Garreau offers a French mnemonic: érinacine contains racine (root), hence mycelium.
Dried Hericium erinaceus mycelium was classified as a novel food during the 2019 European consultation: the history of consumption of the fruiting body before 1997 was not extended to the mycelium. Obtaining the status would require a costly European dossier, for a short patent. In practice, the products available in the European Union therefore come mainly from the fruiting body.
An important point according to Salomé Garreau: the absence of quantified erinacines in a product does not mean an absence of neuroactive interest, since hericenones and other fruiting body compounds are also documented on neurotrophic pathways.
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
Salomé Garreau describes chaga as strongly antioxidant, with a high ORAC score. It contains polysaccharides, polyphenols and triterpenes, including lanostanoids, which are involved in modulating inflammatory mechanisms and antioxidant defences.
A 2022 study isolated ten secondary metabolites from chaga and tested them on neuronal cells subjected to oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide, then in a zebrafish model. 2-alpha-hydroxy-inotodiol showed the strongest neuroprotective activity among the compounds studied, with a reduction in reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial damage, via the NRF2 pathways and the BDNF-TrkB-ERK-CREB axis.
A 2025 study conducted on microglial cells and in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease looked at an inotodiol-rich extract. The authors report lower expression of several cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-alpha), reduced microglial activation and improved spatial memory assessed in the Y-maze. These are preclinical data, not directly transferable to humans.
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
Reishi is not the species that comes to mind for cognition, and that is precisely Salomé Garreau's point: it supports nervous balance and contributes to good sleep quality, two factors essential to maintaining cognitive performance. Its richness in polysaccharides and triterpenes, notably ganoderic acids, involves it in modulating mechanisms linked to neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.
A 2021 study on ganoderic acid A, conducted on LPS-stimulated microglial cells, reports reduced microglial activation and fewer pro-inflammatory cytokines, increased BDNF expression and involvement of the FXR receptor. A second study, on deacetyl ganoderic acid F, reports a reduction in nitric oxide production and inhibition of the NF-kB pathway, in mice as well as in zebrafish embryos.
A 2025 study on Ganoderma lucidum spore polysaccharides, in a mouse model, reports after two months of supplementation an improvement in cognitive performance, a reduction in beta-amyloid plaques and tau protein, lower oxidative stress and activation of NRF2. Here again, these are preclinical data.
What the speakers take away on synergies
According to Salomé Garreau, compounds differ from one species to another but the mechanisms overlap, and several studies show a broader action when species are combined rather than used alone. The value of a synergy is to act on several cellular pathways at once, rather than focusing support on a single mechanism.
Hervé Rose adds a remark from the field: mycotherapy long suffered from the idea that it lacked studies. He stresses that scientific output over the last ten years exceeds that of the previous century, and that Western research now complements a literature that was long mainly Asian.
Precautions for use and points of vigilance
Drug interactions. A study conducted by the Medina Foundation on the brand's extracts reports no significant interaction on the main cytochrome P450 isoforms (CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP2C9) at the doses used. Salomé Garreau points out that this result concerns those particular extracts and cannot be extended to just any product on the market.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. In the absence of studies, use is suspended.
Children. No use under the age of 3, for lack of studies in Europe. This is a precaution for use, not a safety signal.
Reishi and surgery. Reishi has a blood-thinning effect comparable to that of omega-3s. Hervé Rose recommends stopping it 48 to 72 hours before surgery or a tooth extraction.
Individual terrain. According to Salomé Garreau, a small minority of people do not tolerate a given species while another suits them: the response is individual, and clinical observation remains central.
Timing and duration. Mushrooms are taken on an empty stomach, with no food in the stomach for about four hours, not necessarily in the morning. Hervé Rose recommends setting up a course of at least three months, pointing out that kinetics differ between compounds: triterpenes act quickly, beta-glucans after four to five days.
Watch the webinar
The full replay (in French), presentation and practitioners' question hour, is available on the Simplycure YouTube channel and in the Simplycure Academy.
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