Functional fungi: Britain embraces mushroom coffee as the latest ‘healthy’ food trend

Sipping mushroom coffee may sound like an odd anecdote on a camping trip, but more and more Brits are embracing this alternative morning pick-me-up as ‘mushroom mania’ sweeps the high street.

With the food industry eager to tap into demand for “functional foods” that promise extra health benefits, medicinal mushrooms – not the kind of bud you put in a stew – are popping up in hot drinks, supplements and even beer.

While the British appear receptive – Holland & Barrett says searches on its website for ‘functional mushrooms’ are up 50% this month compared to a year ago – a recent survey by Which? place the products in the category of “health products you don’t need”.

“There is not yet enough evidence to suggest they work and the vast majority have no authorized health claims in Britain,” the consumer champion concluded about products made from mushrooms, including reishi, lion’s mane and chaga.

A close reading of the packaging revealed that the benefits often came from other ingredients with authorized health claims, such as omega-3 and vitamins B12 and D. Although mushrooms may contain beneficial nutrients such as antioxidants and beta-glucan, the researchers say they were essentially ‘incidental’ in many of the supplements.

Mushroom-based hot drinks appeal on one level to people looking to reduce their caffeine intake, but also to the 35% of consumers, and half of 16 to 34 year olds, who told Mintel they were interested in food and drinks with “healthy ingredients based on ‘ancient wisdom’ such as Ayurveda and Chinese medicine,” says Kiti Soininen, category director of UK Food and Drink Research.

Demand for these products is growing thanks to social media advertising, word of mouth, and the fact that they are being offered more widely. Although consumers often buy directly from brands such as Dirtea, Spacegoods and Reformed, they can increasingly be seen in pharmacies and health food stores, including Boots and Holland & Barrett.

“Functional mushrooms are a growing category at H&B as our customers look for the latest on-trend health and wellness products,” a Holland & Barrett spokesperson said. “There is increasing awareness of the benefits of mushrooms for both internal and external use, and mounting evidence suggests that the natural adaptogens they contain can support general well-being.”

The company said it had just added 13 new products to its range. “All the products we sell have been carefully selected by our team of experts and comply with food labeling legislation and permitted claims.”

Neil Marrakchi, co-founder of Reformed, says people often get confused and think about magic mushrooms, asking questions like “am I having weird dreams?” The answer is no”. The young entrepreneur set out to create “the healthiest coffee in the world”, resulting in a heavily fortified blend containing mushrooms (lion’s mane, chaga, maitake and shiitake), collagen and MCT oil, and costing £40 per pack costs.

Its more established rival Spacegoods is growing rapidly and expects to turn over £10m this year as customers are attracted to its chocolate-flavoured Rainbow Dust, which comes in technicolor packaging and promises “zero jitters/crashing”.

Matthew Kelly, the founder of Spacegoods, says the coffee substitute, loaded with 15 supplements and recently included in Boots, avoids the need to ‘stack’ vitamins. Currently the customer base is split between men and women, but in the long term he expects the “Lululemon crowd” of 25- to 45-year-old women to be the sweet spot.

Spacegoods hasn’t done its own clinical trials yet, but would like to do so in the future, Kelly says, adding that there is a lot of evidence about the specific ingredients it uses. “If it was fake, we wouldn’t have 15,000 subscribers buying the products every month and telling us how great it is.”

While many of the brands share the testimonials of ‘happy’ customers and promote positive reviews on their websites, the scientific community is chipping away at the scientific basis for the latest in a long line of wellness trends.

Some experts point out that many people feel better when they switch to a mushroom mixture, not because of the fungal feel-good effect, but because they are generally lower in caffeine, with a large portion of the population being very sensitive to the stimulant .

Professor Nicholas Money, a mycologist at Miami University in Ohio, who previously told the Guardian that some of the claims were “without scientific basis and amounted to little more than snake oil”, told a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s Sliced ​​bread program dedicated to the topic that was “complete BS”.

“Mushrooms probably contain some very, very useful substances, but I want to see the science,” says Money, who published a review about medicinal mushrooms in 2016 and whose book Fungi, mushrooms and medicines came out this year.

“Show me the proof – that’s my starting point for all these products. On the plus side, these products are unlikely to harm any consumers. The placebo effect is so powerful if someone feels better after drinking mushroom coffee, go for it.”