Jeff Chilton, President of Nammex Organic Mushroom Extracts is shaking up the medicinal mushroom supplement business that he helped found over 25 years ago.
Nammex is a producer of medicinal mushroom extracts that they supply as raw materials to the booming medicinal mushroom supplement industry, which was last tracked in 2014 as a $18 Billion dollar industry worldwide.
The difference between Nammex product and most others on the market is that Nammex works in cooperation with organically certified mushroom growers deep in the mountains of China – where 85% of all natural medicinal mushrooms are grown.
Indeed, the Chinese have been consuming medicinal mushrooms like Reishi and Shiitake for centuries - revered for their immune system stimulation capabilities. Recently, mushroom products such as Cordyceps are being recognized by the high performance athletics industry.
Mr. Chilton’s concerns about the industry he helped found are that most nutritional supplements that are labeled and sold as mushroom products in Canada and the USA are in fact a product called mycelium on grain – more like the root of the plant rather than the fruit body of mushroom. The strength of mycelium on grain is significantly lower than a real mushroom extract as a result of the residual grain that remains a dominant part of the product.
Throughout 2015, Nammex has been bringing these facts to light – which has attracted considerable industry backlash. Mr. Chilton remains firm in his goal to educate consumers on the differences between real medicinal mushrooms and mycelium on grain products.