G. lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi), found in many herbal supplements and nutraceutical commercial products, is touted to provide several health benefits, including decreasing fatigue levels, increasing immune system strength and treating various conditions. These claims of health benefits have become popular over time.

Ganoderma lucidum has been shown to exhibit antihypertensive and hypoglycaemic properties. These effects are thought to be caused by components found within its fruiting bodies, mycelia, and spores such as triterpenes and polysaccharides (Wachtel-Galor et al. 2011).

1. Dizziness

Ganoderma lucidum is a widely revered medicinal mushroom known for its triterpenoid compounds (lucidenic acids, ganoderals and gamma-ganoderatic acid) and polysaccharides that exhibit antioxidant, antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, diabetic prevention and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity. Additionally, its bitter taste varies depending on strain, cultivation conditions and manufacturing processes (Wachtel-Galor et al. 2011).

Studies performed in vitro have demonstrated the ability of G. lucidum extracts and polysaccharides to possess powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and radical scavenging activity. Unfortunately, only limited clinical trials have investigated its potential as a way of managing CVD risk factors, making results from different trials using different products difficult to compare.

The current review and meta-analysis demonstrate the potential of G. lucidum supplementation to improve several key health-related indicators, such as BMI, creatinine levels and GPx activity; however, due to low quality evidence no strong recommendations can be made at this time. Future research should prioritize large-scale multicenter RCTs with long-term follow up across diverse populations to measure the effects of G. lucidum on these outcomes while using standard protocols so as to ensure comparability and standardization between interventions and measurements of outcome measurements and outcome measurements.

A systematic literature search was performed encompassing MEDLINE (via PubMed), Scopus and EMBASE databases as well as relevant article reference lists to retrieve 4224 articles. Few trials reported the use of Ganoderma lucidum for treating cardiovascular disease risk factors; most were conducted in East Asia. As some trials had relatively small sample sizes and variability in study design, supplement forms, and outcomes measures can erode the strength of evidence available, the low quality evidence necessitates further and comprehensive investigation of G. lucidum’s therapeutic properties and components to inform future clinical applications.

2. Diarrhea

Ganoderma lucidum, commonly referred to as lingzhi or reishi mushroom, is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory medicinal mushroom with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. It contains polysaccharides, oxygenated triterpenes and bioactive proteins that provide cardioprotective benefits in animal models, decrease blood sugar and lipid levels while improving liver, kidney and lung functions – although clinical studies have been inconclusive with some reporting hypoglycaemic and lipid-lowering properties while others found no significant effects; this may be due to differences between products used and their extracts not standardisation by active components or simply being non-standardised during testing procedures.

Some Ganoderma polysaccharides, including the b-D-glucans containing chains of xylose, mannose and galactose have been shown to reduce cholesterol by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase – just like statin drugs. Other compounds from Ganoderma such as LZ-8 peptide and Ganodermin were shown to enhance insulin secretion within cells.

G. lucidum polysaccharides supplementation was shown to lower glycosylated haemoglobin, blood glucose levels, HbA1c levels and HOMA-IR while increasing protein phosphatase PTP1B activity, leading to decreased glycosylated haemoglobin, blood pressure, heart rate, triglycerides and LDL-C levels as well as reduce production of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1b and TNF-a in BV2 microglial cells (Lasukova et al. 2015).

However, excessive consumption of Ganoderma may cause diarrhea and stomach upsets; the side effect could become more serious if taken in combination with antibiotics or blood thinners. If you have preexisting medical conditions it is always a good idea to consult your physician prior to beginning any new supplement regimens.

3. Heartburn

Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi) is an edible mushroom belonging to the Ganodermataceae family that can be found across Asia, North America and Europe. Historically used as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and vitality booster. Additionally, studies have demonstrated its positive benefits on heart function among those suffering coronary artery disease as well as post acute or chronic heart attacks; additionally it protects against chemotherapy toxicity for cancer patients while simultaneously increasing survival rate and quality of life.

G. lucidum water extract has been shown to prevent carcinogen-induced mammary tumors in rats. Additionally, it was also discovered to lower levels of tumour necrosis factor and other inflammatory mediators in mice. Furthermore, this extract induces interferon production in human cells, activates immune surveillance mechanisms, enhance natural killing cytoplasm in cancer patients, increase white blood cells and platelets count and provide strong analgesia effects.

LZ-8 extracted from G. lucidum fruiting bodies has been shown to act as an immunomodulatory compound. It increases expression of heme oxygenase in peripheral blood leukocytes while increasing activity of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase; furthermore it appears to reduce triglycerides and cholesterol in T2DM patients while its effect on their metabolism remains uncertain (Taskinen and Boren 2015).

As the Ganoderma Lucidum mushroom matures, its spores are collected for use in ORGANO Premium Gourmet Organic King of Coffee. Harvesting them at precisely the moment they are ready can be costly; harvesting methods determine how many spores will be produced – approximately 900 kg are needed to create 1 kilogram of powder!

4. Nausea

Ganoderma lucidum, more commonly known by its Chinese names Lingzhi and Reishi, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. This adaptogen boasts numerous health-related advantages that include its antioxidative, antihypertensive, hypoglycaemic, lipid-lowering and immunomodulating activities (Bishop et al. 2015; Klupp et al. 2016). Unfortunately, its clinical effects remain unpredictable owing to differing formulations used across trials (Bishop et al. 2015; Klupp et al. 2016).

Studies conducted both in vitro and animal models have demonstrated the anticancer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant effects of G. lucidum polysaccharides are promising. A water-soluble extract has also been tested in seven clinical trials to examine its efficacy in treating chronic hepatitis B, advanced lung cancer, T2DM, CHD, and neurasthenia symptoms. A significant reduction in platelet aggregation was also seen compared with placebo controls when treated with polysaccharide treatment compared with placebo controls (Gao Zhou Chen Dai and Ye 2002; Wu and Wang 2009).

One study involving 80 patients with T2DM and metabolic syndrome demonstrated that supplementation with G. lucidum and Cordyceps sinensis could significantly lower triglycerides and total cholesterol in their blood (Klupp et al. 2016).

PRISMA and GRADE methodologies were applied in an extensive review and meta-analysis of RCTs that assessed the effects of G. lucidum supplementation on multiple health outcomes, using RCTs from multiple countries to investigate its benefits for prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases. Subgroup analyses indicated that results varied depending on health condition, dosage duration age at intervention country sample size publication year; although overall evidence quality was low. Further large-scale clinical studies are necessary to substantiate g. lucidum’s benefits in terms of prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic conditions.

5. Vomiting

Inhalation of Ganoderma Lucidum coffee may result in vomiting due to its high content of beta-glucans which can wreak havoc with your digestive system. Beta-glucans are beneficial carbohydrates with many health advantages; however, when taken in excess they can become harmful; with inhaled Ganoderma Lucidum Beta-Glucans increasing acidity levels in your stomach which could potentially lead to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea symptoms.

Ganoderma lucidum, more commonly known by its Chinese and Japanese names Lingzhi or Reishi, has long been used as traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines. Considered a tonic herb with numerous health benefits; rich in polysaccharides and triterpenoids known to inhibit oxidative stress in vitro while possessing anticancer and immunomodulatory properties;

Studies on G. lucidum extracts have demonstrated their antioxidant capabilities through studies utilizing their extracts, showing reducing power, scavenging capacity and chelation capacities as well as anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties (Mau et al. 2002). G. lucidum phenolic compounds exhibit strong 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activities as well as superoxide dismutase activities in human liver microsomes but low -hydroxylase activity (Kozarski et al. 2003).

Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the hypoglycaemic and glucose-reducing effects of G. lucidum on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. One such trial found that when combined with metformin, Ganoderma lucidum effectively decreased glycosylated haemoglobin level, fasting plasma glucose, postprandial plasma glucose, insulin levels, HOMA-IR index score and overall HOMA-IR score when compared to placebo treatment. Furthermore, an extract methanol extract of G. lucidum spores fruiting bodies and mycelia showed significantly greater inhibitory effects against a-glucosidase activity than did Acarbose (Fatmawati et al. 2009 2010).