There's an enormous amount of considerations when it comes to herbal supplements to ensure that you're actually getting what you're looking for out of the products that you choose, and what you need to know for optimum results can vary from ingredient to ingredient. Some of the basics you'll need to consider include: 

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1. Is the plant or mushroom ingredient a concentrated extract? Or is it just a 1:1 powder or tincture? The amount of desired active ingredients can vary enormously depending on this; you could potentially get the same results out of 10 mg or 1000 mg depending on the concentration.

2. If it's a concentrated extract, is it standardized to a percentage of a particular molecule so you know you're getting consistent and strong servings? If it's not standardized, the reality is that neither you or the company really knows. 

 

3. Are there particular anatomical parts of the plant or mushroom in question that produce more desirable molecules and results, and does the product use these parts? Sometimes it's only the root, sometimes it's only the leaves or the fruiting body. If the company doesn't know or say, it could just be random parts of the plant or mushroom that they're using, which may or may not give the results you're looking for. 

4. Does the product address the issue of absorption across the gut lining and survivability of the so-called first pass through the liver, both of which can drastically reduce the amount of active compounds your cells are actually getting?

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Additionally, you might need to consider the differences between whole plant and mushroom powders, or some form of concentrated extractions, both of which have their pros and cons, and both of which you'll need to understand in order to determine if you're receiving what you're looking for.

 

Whole plant and mushroom powders are cheaper and easier to produce and source, and contain the widest variety of synergistic compounds that work to enhance one another's effectiveness, but they also tend to be weaker and inconsistent in their chemical profiles, and only effective in large enough doses that consumers rarely ever see and probably wouldn't want to take. On the other hand, concentrated extractions tend to be more expensive to produce and source, and contain much more potent and effective amounts of bioactively desirable compounds in a miniscule volume, but they tend to leave out some of the synergistic variety of whole plant and mushroom powders, and unless they're "standardized" to a percentage of certain reference molecules, you still don't know exactly how much potency you're getting. Ideally, you would combine both whole plant and mushroom powders with standardized extracts in order to maximize the natural synergistic variety of compounds as well as increase the strength and effectiveness in a measured and calculated way. 

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We looked extensively out there for a natural, caffeine-free, multi-ingredient brain supplement based on the principles above, but we honestly couldn’t find what we were looking for; instead, we spent upwards of $300/month to buy each separate ingredient that we currently house in our formula! Couldn't there just be a single herbal supplement that includes all of these principles and isn't going to be ridiculously over-priced? So we decided to make what we couldn't find...

 

Welcome to the ultimate all-in-one herbal supplement for your mind.