Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus) is an edible mushroom, called Yamabushitake in Japan. It is sold as a dietary supplement, as powdered fruiting body or mycelium, mostly for memory and focus. Human trials so far are small.
Also known as: Hericium erinaceus, Yamabushitake, lion's mane mushroom.
Lion's mane has no intake value. Trials used four 250 mg tablets (96% dried mushroom) three times a day for 16 weeks (Mori, 2009), 1.8 g a day for 28 days (Docherty, 2023), and three 350 mg capsules of mycelium a day for 49 weeks (Li, 2020). Products differ a lot (fruiting body or mycelium, extract strength). These are study protocols, not a recommendation.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
In a 16-week trial in 30 Japanese adults aged 50 to 80 with mild cognitive impairment (Mori, 2009), thinking scores rose more than on placebo, then fell again within 4 weeks of stopping; lab tests showed no adverse effects. A 49-week pilot trial in people with mild Alzheimer's disease (Li, 2020) used mycelium enriched in erinacine A and reported better scores than placebo; four people dropped out with stomach discomfort, nausea or skin rash. In 41 healthy young adults (Docherty, 2023), the results were mostly null, with faster scores on one test after a single dose. Authors of the Mori and Li trials worked for companies that make mushroom products.
We could not find a published human half-life or time to peak for lion's mane that we could check against a primary source, so we do not list one. It is a whole mushroom with many compounds, not a single drug.
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