Not all ingredients are created equal
Part 6 of the HANAH series that takes a hard look at the food supplement industry and what we put in our bodies
Whether you're a professional, semi-serious or simply part-time athlete, you’ll do just about anything (within reason) to help you go faster and go harder for longer periods of time. Intense training sessions? Sure. Hiring a coach to get you over a plateau? Money well spent. Investing in better gear? No-brainer.
It doesn’t always take more time, effort, or investment to improve your performance. Planning to ensure you get adequate training stimuli and sufficient recovery is essential if you’re intent on improving, but nutrition and supplements can also have a significant and positive impact.
You’ve likely read your fair share of articles about food supplements and often questioned their accuracy and wondered if the claims being made were actually true. Unlike a lot of other supplements, Cordyceps are an adaptogen you can reap noticeable athletic and mental benefit from. Wait, adapta-what-a...what? Adaptogens. This is a fancy term for any substance that helps your body handle and, as the word suggests, adapt to stress. This can include the cognitive and emotional demands of life, but as an athlete, the most promise shown by adaptogens is on the physical side.
With this in mind, we are excited to introduce our latest offering, Cordyceps+. Just like the ingredients in HANAH ONE, this medicinal mushroom is a powerful adaptogen. And it also has some unique qualities that we believe you’ll benefit from, no matter what “race day” means to you.
Over the past few years, researchers from around the world have investigated the relationship between taking Cordyceps and athlete performance. So far, the results are very positive. A study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine measured several physiological markers as two groups of participants peddled stationary bicycles – one after taking a placebo and the other after taking Cordyceps. The latter group saw an average metabolic threshold increase of 10.5%, while also upping their ventilatory threshold by 8.5%.
In layman’s terms, this means the Cordyceps helped them keep going longer before they were compromised by lactic acid buildup, and enabled their lungs to maintain sufficient oxygen intake and utilization even as fatigue set in. A meta review cited findings from Beijing Medical University’s Sports Research Institute, where researchers discovered that Cordyceps can improve endurance by speeding the clearance of lactic acid. A different group of Chinese researchers found that an active ingredient in Cordyceps increased VO2 max (i.e. maximum oxygen uptake, a key test among endurance athletes). Furthermore, a 2016 Japanese study noted that Cordyceps supplementation resulted in “superior anti-fatigue ability and higher endurance performance.”
More into speed/power sports than endurance activities? Well fear not, because studies also show Cordyceps-related jumps in performance. Several of these, including that Japanese study, relate to the production of ATP, which is vital in delivering energy to muscles for quick, fast activities like weightlifting, sprinting, and jumping. The authors of such research believe that Cordyceps elevates activity levels in mitochondria. For millennia, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners have used Cordyceps to increase patients’ vitality, and a study that appeared in the journal Life Sciences backed up this anecdotal evidence with lab-verified findings linking Cordyceps to elevated cell-level energy production. So while HANAH Cordyceps+ won’t turn you into a world beater or replace hard work in training, it might help you naturally improve your performance.
Learn more about our series on Bhutan and Cordyceps
- Part 1: HANAH's hunt for Cordyceps sinensis in Bhutan
- Part 2: Supporting Bhutanese communities and sustainable Cordyceps sinensis harvesting
- Part 3: The great Cordyceps swindle: the hidden truth lurking in your “mushroom” tea, powder and capsules
- Part 4: The mushroom gold rush – how to avoid a supplement swindle
- Part 5: The Athlete’s Ally: Adding Cordyceps to Your Performance + Recovery Toolkit
Check out our HANAH ONE & Cordyceps+ bundle
Subscribe and save up to 20% off these two powerful products. Learn more here.
Disclaimer
*Individual results may vary. This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.