Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Yeongji is a hard, shiny mushroom used in Korean medicine. Its Latin name is Ganoderma lucidum. You may know it as reishi or lingzhi.
It is taken as a daily tonic. People use it for tiredness, poor sleep, stress and general immune support. It is a single herb, not a blend.
Here is the short verdict. Yeongji has a deep, long place in East Asian tradition. But human trials are few, small and mixed, and long use is not proof that a herb works.
No one knows for sure how Yeongji acts in the body.
Lab tests show that sugars in the mushroom wall, called beta-glucans, can stir up immune cells in a dish. Other lab work suggests the bitter compounds may ease swelling and slow blood clotting.
Most of this work is in test tubes and in animals. It does not prove the same thing happens when you drink the tea.
Yeongji is too woody to chew. It is nearly always taken as a tea, a powder or an extract.
Dried slices are simmered in water for an hour or more. This is the old Korean way. It makes a dark, very bitter drink.
Powders and capsules hold the ground whole mushroom. Tinctures use alcohol and water to pull out the bitter parts.
Some labels say dual extract. That means water and alcohol were both used, so the sugars and the bitter compounds are both present.
Yeongji appears in the oldest Chinese herb books, written more than 2,000 years ago. Korean doctors later listed it in the Dongui Bogam of 1613, a key Korean medical text. It was treated as a rare tonic for a long life, and was often kept for royalty.
Stop taking Yeongji and get medical help the same day if your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow, your urine turns dark, or you feel deeply tired and sick. These can be signs of liver damage.
Get urgent help for bleeding that will not stop, a nosebleed that lasts more than 20 minutes, blood in your urine or stools, or bruises that appear for no reason.
See your doctor soon if you get a rash, swelling of the face or lips, or if you feel faint or dizzy. Also see your doctor before starting Yeongji if you take any daily prescription medicine.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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