Cordyceps Militaris - energy & endurance!

Cordyceps/ Cordyceps militaris

Ahh, life-enhancing cordyceps. The perfect substitute for caffeine in your daily health regime, offering the energetic buzz that coffee fiends crave, without the crash of the nervous system or the post two-cup anxiety jitters. The all natural, antioxidant dense magic medicinal mushroom that offers a generous boost to energy and can supercharge your athletic performance and sexual health.

Within Traditional Chinese Medicine, cordyceps is used as the ultimate tonic herb to increase endurance. Not just endurance of physical or sexual activity, but also long-term endurance over the course of your lifetime. Longevity and vitality throughout the decades is the energetic intention of this mushroom. Cordyceps has anti-aging benefits, anti-cancer properties, supports healthy digestion, and acts as a natural pre-workout energizer.

Cordyceps Militaris and Sinensis: 2 of many

Cordyceps commonly grows in high altitude mountains of China, Tibet, and Nepal. The genus (or group) of Cordyceps fungi includes hundreds of species. Two of these species have become the focus of health and research in recent years, due to their many purported health benefits and use in traditional Chinese medicine; Cordyceps sinensis and Cordyceps militaris. Cordyceps militaris is the species you’ll find in our signature Flow State blend.

 Most species of cordyceps are parasitic on insects and anthropods, and some are parasitic to other fungi. While chaga is parasitic to their host trees, cordyceps are parasitic to their host insects. There are many incredible scientific accounts of fascinating yet deadly cordyceps, such as the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus.

“The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus has just one goal: self-propagation and dispersal. Researchers think the fungus, found in tropical forests, infects a foraging ant through spores that attach and penetrate the exoskeleton and slowly takes over its behavior.”

Videos are definitely worth the watch.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants/

While incredibly grateful that the species of cordyceps contained in Flow State does not plant itself in your brain and control your behavior, this incredible phenomenon demonstrates the highly motivated nature of fungi to spread their spores, or expand the mycelial network of fungi-aficionados.  It’s no surprise that people who use medicinal mushrooms in their personal wellbeing regime are quick and eager to share their benefits, almost becoming a spokesperson for the mushroom. There is a depth of intelligence we can only begin to understand.

Why we love cordyceps:

• This genus of fungi are well known in the natural kingdom for their lethal mind-controlling power in ants, leading these creatures to their imminent death from high places to spread its spores as widely as possible
• Anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties make cordyceps militaris a potent natural medicine for longevity and endurance
• Libido and energy enhancing; referred to in Eastern medicine as “the Olympic mushroom’. At one point cordyceps was so valuable to people that it was selling for it’s weight in gold!

Our cordyceps is dual extracted in in rice alcohol and hot water extract. It is an 10:1 ratio, meaning it takes 10 kilos of dried cordyceps mushroom to make 1 kilo of the cordyceps extract powder in our blend. The dual extraction process means it can be ingested hot or cold, without removing any medicinal benefits of the fungi.

Benefits of Cordyceps

• Endurance- short term for athletic performance and sexual prowess, and long term for enhancing vitality and longevity in optimal health.
• Energy enhancing- cordyceps has been shown to enhance blood flow and increase oxygen absorption and utilization in the body, making it the perfect supplement to increase alertness and energy.
• Cordyceps militaris is used as a boost when used with other herbal medicines, amplifying the positive effects of other tonic herbs.
• Cordyceps is anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and supports a health immune system.
• Excellent for sexual health: cordyceps support hormonal health and increases libido and stamina.

Like the other mushrooms featured in our Flow State blend, most of the scientific research on Cordyceps militaris has been conducted in lab (in vitro) or animal studies. However, its use is widespread in traditional medicine practices, and is documented for centuries to benefit human health and wellbeing. The results from these studies reinforce traditional uses.

Scientific Studies:

• Medicinal uses of the mushroom Cordyceps militaris: Current state and prospects https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0367326X10001863
• Anticancer Efficacy of Cordyceps militaris Ethanol Extract in a Xenografted Leukemia Model https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2017/8474703/
• The health benefits of Cordyceps militaris: A Review. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319448760_The_health_benefits_of_Cordyceps_militaris_-_A_review
• Cordyceps militaris improves tolerance to high intensity exercise after acute and chronic supplementation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5236007/
• Studies on the Antifatigue Activities of Cordyceps militaris Fruit Body Extract in Mouse Model https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553310/
• Cordyceps as an Herbal Drug https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92758/