Tag Archive for: press release

Nammex Publishes Study to Clarify Chaga Analytical Techniques

Gibsons, BC, Canada (March 25, 2025) –  Nammex, the premier North American supplier of Certified Organic Functional Mushroom Extracts, is proud to announce the publication of their research article, Comparative Study of Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) Dietary Supplements Using Complementary Analytical Techniques, in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. In this study, the authors establish a multi-analytical framework to identify authentic chaga canker and assess the quality of commercial dietary supplement products.

Chaga mushroom on the left does not equal a white block of cultivated mushroom growth. Text below states, "cannot be grown on grain." Nammex emphasizes the importance of such clarity using advanced analytical techniques.

Chaga is a fungal product, but not technically a mushroom. Chaga is the common name for the sterile canker that forms on birch trees (Betula spp.) as the tree’s response to infection by a pathogenic fungus, Inonotus obliquus. Chaga is rich in antioxidants, and has immune and cardiovascular support properties, among other health benefits. As consumer demand for chaga-based supplements rises, concerns have emerged over quality control, mislabeling, and authenticity. A major issue is the misrepresentation of mycelium fermented grain products as authentic chaga, despite their fundamental differences in composition.

As the study highlights, “[a]uthentic chaga canker was characterized by high melanin content, a high β-glucan to α-glucan ratio, and unique triterpenoid and phenolic profiles. In contrast, fermented grain products contained significant starch and α-glucans, lacked key triterpenoids, and exhibited metabolic profiles closely resembling their grain substrates rather than chaga canker. These findings emphasize a need for rigorous analytical verification to prevent misrepresentation in the marketplace.”

This study demonstrates the utility of robust analytical methods for authenticating fungal-based dietary supplements and detecting misrepresented products. Nammex’s scientific team identified critical chemical markers that distinguish wildcrafted chaga canker from both mycelium fermented grain products and pure mycelium. These methods can assist in the proper labeling of mushroom and other fungal-based dietary supplements.

Nammex has been a pioneer in the adoption and evolution of beta-glucan and secondary metabolite testing for mushrooms and fungal products. Recently, the Nammex-developed HPTLC identity method was adopted by Eurofins, with interest from other labs to do the same. As the industry continues to call for more analytical methods, the company will continue to be supportive and collaborative to those scientific efforts. This paper is open access to share the work freely with those interested in mushroom and fungi science.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(7), 2970; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26072970

About Nammex

Since 1989, Nammex has pioneered the cultivation of organic mushrooms and development of high-quality mushroom extracts to support consumer health and wellness. For over 30 years, Nammex has been a leader in advancing the scientific understanding of mushroom extracts and commercial use of scientifically validated analytical methods for quality control testing of fungal products.  Nammex’s mushroom extracts and concentrates are produced under rigorous quality standards, including growing mushrooms naturally using organic practices, processing the mushrooms following cGMP standards, QC testing in qualified laboratories, and yearly audits of farm and factory. Nammex founder and President Jeff Chilton has deep, longstanding relationships with China’s top researchers and growers of medicinal mushrooms and the current team is cultivating those into the future of the company. https://www.nammex.com/

Trade Press Contact:
Suzanne Shelton +1 847-922-5454

[email protected]

Nammex Receives AHPA Herbal Industry Leadership Award

Gibsons, BC, Canada (March 12, 2025) –  Nammex, the premier North American supplier of Certified Organic Functional Mushroom Extracts, was honored  by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) with the AHPA Herbal Industry Leadership Award at the annual member meeting on March 4, 2025 in Anaheim, California. This award recognizes a company that sets an example of outstanding business practices or an organization that works to move the industry forward above and beyond normal business practices.

skye chilton CEO of Nammex and bill chioffi coo accept leadership award from AHPA at expo west 2025 in anaheim california

In a statement about the awards  AHPA wrote: Since 1989, Nammex has pioneered the development and manufacture of mushroom extracts for the health and wellness industry. Through its commitment to quality and transparency championed by founder Jeff Chilton, Nammex has led the way in advocating for best practices in producing, labeling, and marketing mushroom products, which supports all companies in this growing category. Nammex is now run by Jeff’s sons Skye and Adam and industry veteran Bill Chioffi.

“For decades, Nammex has been a trailblazer in the development and manufacture of mushroom extracts for the health and wellness industry,” said Amber Bennett, AHPA VP of Marketing & Engagement. “Their commitment to producing high quality mushroom products and advancing industry standards benefits both the fungi industry and the wider natural products community. We are honored to recognize Nammex for their dedication and leadership.”

Examples of this leadership include the decades Nammex founder, Jeff Chilton, spent advocating for transparency and accuracy in labeling and marketing fungi. Nammex, now run by Jeff’s sons Skye and Adam and industry veteran Bill Chioffi, is committed to truth-in-labeling and ensuring that all ingredients in dietary supplements are accurately listed and declared on labels. Efforts include ongoing industry education and advocacy, involvement in trade groups, and calling for action by regulatory agencies. To obtain data on consumer understanding of this issue, Nammex commissioned a study on what consumers think when they read the word “mushroom”: a survey of 10,000 consumers found that people think of mushrooms as the fungal part commonly eaten as food, and the majority do not know what mycelium is. More recently, Nammex made its internal fit-for-purpose, validated HPTLC test method for identification and quality control of functional mushrooms freely available to the industry.

“It’s a great honor to receive this award from AHPA and to be recognized by our peers. This is a concerted effort by the entire Nammex team to carry our vision forward,” said Skye Chilton, Nammex CEO. “We pride ourselves on setting the industry standards for the fungi products category and truly appreciate the supportive role that AHPA has served in our quality assurance initiatives.”

About Nammex

Since 1989, Nammex has pioneered the cultivation of organic mushrooms and development of high-quality mushroom extracts to support consumer health and wellness. For over 30 years, Nammex has been a leader in advancing the scientific understanding of mushroom extracts and commercial use of scientifically validated analytical methods for quality control testing of fungal products.  Nammex’s mushroom extracts and concentrates are produced under rigorous quality standards, including growing mushrooms naturally using organic practices, processing the mushrooms following cGMP standards, QC testing in qualified laboratories, and yearly audits of farm and factory. Nammex founder and President Jeff Chilton has deep, longstanding relationships with China’s top researchers and growers of medicinal mushrooms and the current team is cultivating those into the future of the company. https://www.nammex.com/

Trade Press Contact:
Suzanne Shelton +1 847-922-5454

[email protected]

United States Pharmacopeia research study confirms lack of triterpenes and beta-glucans in many Reishi products

In August, 2017, Nature, the worlds most cited scientific journal, published in its Scientific Reports an important analytical study about Reishi mushroom products. United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) sponsored this project with a leading mushroom scientist from China, Dr. Li Shao-ping. In their research, 19 different Reishi mushroom products sold in the USA were tested for the compounds that characterize a real Reishi mushroom (fruiting body). They used scientifically identified and validated Reishi mushrooms as their standard.

In the USP study, they utilized various highly accurate testing methods including HPTLC, Colorimetric method, GC-MS, and High Performance Size-exclusion Chromatography. The results of their study demonstrated clearly that only 5 of 19 samples could be verified as genuine Reishi mushroom. Most of the other products lacked characteristic triterpenoids and also had a starch-like polysaccharide profile that was inconsistent with Reishi mushroom.

During the study, Jeff Chilton, founder of Nammex, was in contact with USP and alerted the researchers to quality control issues including mycelium products that are grown on grain. Many of the samples they had purchased, which were sold and labeled as mushroom, were in fact mycelium on grain. More importantly, because of his long-standing work with mushrooms, Jeff was allowed to submit some Nammex Reishi mushroom extract samples.

USP made the following statement in the abstract of their research.

“ The results showed that the measured ingredients of only 5 tested samples (26.3%) were in accordance with their labels, which suggested the quality consistency of G. lucidum dietary supplements in the U.S. market was poor, which should be carefully investigated.”

3 out of the 5 samples (60%) that passed USP’s testing standards were Nammex reishi mushroom extracts.

The USP research has now confirmed what Jeff Chilton has demonstrated in his published 2015 White Paper, Redefining Medicinal Mushrooms, and his presentation to the International Society for Mushroom Science symposium in 2016.

Nammex commends USP for initiating this study and assisting the health and wellness industry with the validation of quality standards for mushroom products.

USP Research Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06336-3 (Nature Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 7792(2017)

Nammex Beta-glucan Research Highlights 2016 International Society for Mushroom Science Conference

Jeff Chilton, President of Nammex Organic Mushroom Extracts, recently presented his groundbreaking beta-glucan research in Amsterdam to the International Society for Mushroom Science (ISMS), a worldwide organization of which he has been a member for 40 years.

Held every four years, ISMS presents current research from around the globe on all aspects of mushrooms: genetics, innovations in cultivation equipment and techniques, spawn making, and nutritional and medicinal aspects.

For years, mushroom scientists and advocates have been searching for a means to quantify the active compounds in medicinal mushrooms. Mr. Chilton has solved this problem with the development of the Nammex Testing Protocol™, a series of three or more tests that provide a fingerprint for mushroom quality.

Based around the groundbreaking Megazyme beta-glucan test, this testing protocol is relatively inexpensive and very accurate. In fact, a number of members at the conference also presented research that used the Megazyme method.

According to Mr. Chilton, the Megazyme beta-glucan based protocol sets a new standard and revolutionizes the assessment of medicinal mushroom products.

“There can no longer be any doubt as to medicinal mushroom product quality. The Nammex Testing Protocol gives all companies the tools to evaluate and verify claims made by their mushroom supplier.”

Medicinal Mushroom Pioneer Challenges Mycelium Potency

With over forty years in the mushroom industry, Jeff Chilton knows the science of mushrooms. In fact, the Nammex founder helped pioneer the now rapidly expanding market for medicinal mushrooms.

But Mr. Chilton is concerned that the common practice of growing mycelium on a grain medium – a methodology which Jeff helped popularize in the 1990’s before abandoning it in 2005 – has now flooded the market with less than optimal ingredients.

Mr. Chilton has confirmed through scientific research that mycelium grown on grain produces lower amounts of beta-D-glucans, the primary active compound in medicinal mushrooms. Not only that, the residual grain in the form of starch dominates these products.

Jeff has proven his findings by using a new, highly specific testing method developed by Megazyme International, an award-winning, world leader in testing technologies – especially carbohydrates and polysaccharides. Megazyme’s method is specifically designed to measure (1>3)(1>6)-beta-glucans from mushrooms and yeast. The test is now utilized by researchers worldwide and is becoming a standard.

The Megazyme test results clearly show that mushrooms, the “fruiting body”, produce measurably greater amounts of beta-glucans compared to mycelium, “the vegetative body”. And because mycelium is typically grown on grain, mycelium products can contain as much as 70% starch. Mushrooms contain less than 5% starch on average.

Furthermore, secondary metabolites like triterpenoids, recognized as key medicinal compounds, are mostly absent in mycelium on grain products due to lack of precursors. Not so in organically grown mushrooms.

NAMMEX first organized organic mushroom production in China in 1997. Their long-term business development efforts have paid off with their Kosher and Certified Organic mushrooms being grown in pristine mountain valleys deep in China – the traditional home of medicinal mushrooms.

NAMMEX now guarantees the potency levels of active compounds in their organic mushroom products. They sell twelve primary medicinal mushrooms, which include Reishi, Shiitake, Cordyceps and Chaga. All are tested and shipped with guaranteed amounts of beta-D glucans. Certified organic and Kosher.