Host Defense Mushrooms

What do you get when you combine Paul Stamets’ experience in mushroom taxonomy and cultivation with C. Dusty Yao’s experience in the creation of herbal extracts? The answer is Host Defense, a supplement company with what they refer to as “a myco-mission to spread the power of mushrooms supporting healthy lifestyles”. Host Defense grows all of their own, Certified Organic, mushrooms on their farm, located just up the coast, near the Olympic forest in Washington. They then turn them into liquid mushroom extracts, capsules of freeze dried mushroom powders, or mycobotanical mixtures of mushrooms & herbs, which support various functions of the body and mind.

Medicinal mushrooms can have a wide variety of health benefits. Their ability to support the body’s immune system is where Host Defense gets its name.
Many different mushrooms have been shown to activate the host’s defense mechanism, and in so doing, show potential in stimulating the immune system to exert antitumor activities. Mushrooms can also support stress and fatigue reduction, and provide support for coping with daily metabolic and environmental assaults.

Host Defense uses their knowledge of extraction methods to capture as many of the immunity enhancing effects of mushrooms as possible. Polysaccharides, glycoprotiens, triterpenes, and lipids are well known compounds that contribute to the immunity boosting properties of mushrooms. Host Defense combines water and alcohol extraction methods (which each capture a few distinct compounds) as well as retaining the insoluble material that this extraction creates. By using all these methods together, Host Defense is able to create a functional food whose sum is greater than its parts, leading to greater antioxidant capabilities.

When you buy Host Defense products you are supporting their global mission to protect the environment. In pursuit of this mission, they are fostering and participating in eco-conscious programs and research on mushrooms and fungi, in topics such as: countering Colony Collapse Disorder, using mycoremediation to neutralize or break down toxic waste, developing new biofuel, cleaning water with mycelium, and using beneficial fungi to create rich soil which supports healthy plant and animal food webs. They are also always working to preserve the great biodiversity of fungi and the creatures that rely on them.