Chaga Products: 3 Things to Know Before you buy

1. no Large-Scale Clinical Trials have been Conducted

When you read chaga product descriptions, you’ll see all kinds of purported therapeutic benefits, ranging from immune-boosting, antidiabetic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. Intriguing pre-clinical studies form the basis for these claims. Excitement must be balanced, however, with an appreciation of the type of evidence these studies provide.

Levels of Evidence

Scientists use a schema called the evidence pyramid to explain the level of evidence a scientific study provides with respect to clinical application (see Figure 1 - from the Balkan Medical Journal - 2014 Dec; 31(4): 273–277). Animal studies and in vitro studies are considered ‘basic studies’ and produce the lowest level of evidence. (In vitro studies perform tests with cells, tissues or other biological components that have been removed from the living organism – think petri dishes and test tubes). ‘Randomized Control Trials’ and ‘Systematic Reviews’ produce the highest level of evidence.

These studies can serve as signals of potential effects in humans, but we must be clear they are far from being the gold standard. We don’t have any randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials exploring the therapeutic effects of chaga. Marketers will not tell you this; instead they will conflate the value of the basic studies on which they base their claims. Consumers need to understand the level of evidence on which a claim is made and then make a personal decision about whether to buy a product.

Challenges for Natural Product Research

You might wonder why don’t we see any human clinical trials if the pre-clinical research is so promising. Unfortunately, researchers who want to conduct rigorous trials of natural products like chaga face many challenges: shortages of funding due to lack of patentability, manufacturing difficulties, and lack of product consistency. Consumers shouldn’t necessarily interpret the lack of clinical trials as lack of interest or therapeutic promise. Financial and logistical barriers present real issues.

2. Labs Can’t Test for Levels of Beneficial Compounds…Yet

Chaga has been linked with an incredibly broad spectrum of biological/pharmacological functions, presumably due to its 200+ bioactive compounds which include polysaccharides, terpenoids, phenolics/lignin, melanin, and peptides/protein.

Research exploring mechanisms of action is progressing. For example, chaga’s antidiabetic effects are thought to be due to terpenoids that inhibit alpha-glucosidase. Inotodiol, a triterpenoid, has shown anticancer effects by inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells and inducing apoptosis.

If you’re looking for some sort of quality assurance regarding the levels of a specific compound in your chaga, however, you’ll be disappointed. Labs are able to test for contaminants in chaga (i.e. heavy metals, pesticides, microbes etc.), but not for bioactive compounds like terpenoids.

Eric Puro serves on the Executive of the International Medicinal Mushrooms Society and is the CEO of KÄÄPÄ Mushrooms. Eric says the medicinal mushroom industry has grown so fast that the quality side can’t keep up. In the absence of standards – for example those set by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) – lab testing doesn’t make sense. “There is no AOAC-approved testing for secondary metabolites in fungi. So it’s a little bit like the wild west”.

Chemical standards are materials containing a known concentration of an analyte and provide a reference to determine unknown concentrations (or to calibrate analytical instruments).

KÄÄPÄ sees the important need for standards. 10 months ago they started a project with a local lab in Finland to develop assays for testing secondary metabolites. It’s a costly and complex venture. The KÄÄPÄ team are determined to get it right, however, and are working directly with researchers who discovered each compound.

Until such standards exist, companies can’t provide reliable information about compound levels. Be skeptical of companies that claim they’ve tested for ‘potency and purity.’ On one company’s website, they assure consumers that their products have ‘medicinal doses of active compounds.’ As a consumer, I’d ask which compounds they’re testing and what standards they’re using.

3. cultivated Chaga is not the same as Wild-harvested

Cultivated chaga grown inside on grain or rice substrate is NOT the same as wild-harvested chaga. Important compounds found in wild chaga (i.e. betulin and betulinic acid) only exist because of the relationship between chaga and the birch tree on which is grows. Lab-grown chaga does not contain these compounds. The content and diversity of terpenoids is also very different in wild chaga. The two dominant sterols in wild chaga, lanosterol and inotodiol, are not present in lab-grown chaga. Melanin is also missing.

Some companies claim that chaga grown indoors is safer because it’s free from toxins and pesticides. One astute marketer advises consumers to choose their lab-grown chaga instead of wild-sourced Russian chaga growing downwind of Chernobyl. So yes, I suppose if I were given a choice between consuming radioactive and non-radioactive chaga, I would choose the latter. But for most of us, I suspect we will not have to make this choice.

If you’re worried about contaminants, you can ask about lab testing for specific components (i.e. mercury, lead, e-coli etc.) Reputable companies should be able to produce a recent certificate of analysis.

Final Thoughts

Given the level of evidence for the therapeutic effects and the quality assurance issues, should you buy chaga products? Annoyingly, it comes down to personal choice/values. From a scientific standpoint, we don’t have strong evidence for medicinal effects in humans, but we might never have this given the financial and systemic barriers to conducting clinical trials. In a few years, thanks to companies like KÄÄPÄ, we may at least have standards that can inform us of the quality (i.e. compound levels) of chaga products.

If you want to try chaga products:

Clear it with your doctor first (to ensure it won’t interfere with any conditions you have or medications you’re taking).
Look for wild-harvested chaga from a company that is transparent about their foraging practices, does third-party lab testing for contaminants (and is able to provide a certificate of analysis), and offers educational mycology resources
Consider learning about foraging, finding chaga (if it exists in your area), and making your own chaga tea!

Additional Resources

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