Updated
Cauliflower fungus
A pale ruffled mass at the base of conifers, with among the highest beta-glucan content measured in any mushroom. Japan cultivates it for supplements.
A first trial
Where it stands: 1 registered trial in people, which has not reported; 2 randomised trials published since 2013.
What it is taken for
One tile per use. The line under each is how far the evidence for that use actually got, counted rather than argued.
What it has been tried for, and how far that has got
One row per use. The label is counted rather than argued — it is set by how many randomised trials and posted results exist for that use, and nothing else. How that is worked out.
| Use | How far it has got | Trials | With a result | Randomised, published | Reviews | Commonly taken for it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin | A first trial | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | yes |
| Immune function | Being tested now | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | yes |
| Wound healing | Laboratory work | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | yes |
Commonly taken for wound healing. The work there is still laboratory and animal work — often a great deal of it — and the step into a trial in people has not been taken yet.
The doses the protocols actually specify
Taken verbatim from the intervention description each trial filed. These are not recommendations and they are not comparable to each other: some are a whole-mushroom powder, some a purified fraction.
| Dose as filed | Study | Condition | People |
|---|---|---|---|
1g/day | Efficacy and Safety of Cauliflower Mushroom Extract on Promotion of Immunity | Immunity | 60 |
Every registered study that names it
From ClinicalTrials.gov, filtered to studies that name Sparassis crispa or a synonym in the title, summary or intervention. Studies that have posted results come first.
| Register | Study | Condition | People | Status | Result posted | Dose in the protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT01736787 | Efficacy and Safety of Cauliflower Mushroom Extract on Promotion of Immunity | Immunity | 60 | Completed | — | 1g/day |
The compounds the research names
Formula and mass from PubChem. Naming a compound is not a claim that it does anything in a person.
C18H32O16
What it looks like in the field
Research-grade observations, each by a different photographer. Every one links to the record it came from.
In the kitchen
Mild, nutty and faintly almond.
Needs careful washing — the ruffles hold grit and conifer litter. Then simmered in soup or fried; it keeps a pleasant bite.
Where it has been recorded, and when it fruits
38,010 verified occurrence records with coordinates, from GBIF. This is where people have recorded it, which follows where recorders live as much as where the fungus grows — read the shape, not the ranking.
| Netherlands | 18,308 | |
| Sweden | 7,266 | |
| Germany | 2,526 | |
| United Kingdom | 2,471 | |
| Denmark | 1,345 | |
| Austria | 1,023 | |
| Poland | 994 | |
| France | 725 | |
| Norway | 654 | |
| Finland | 411 | |
| Spain | 356 | |
| United States | 352 |
Most records fall in Oct. Northern-hemisphere recorders dominate the dataset, so a southern population would not show here.
iNaturalist separately holds 6,373 research-grade observations of it.
What has been reported going wrong
49 voluntary reports to the US Food and Drug Administration name a product by this mushroom's name. A report is someone saying something happened after taking something. It is not a finding that the product caused it, the FDA says so itself, and nobody knows how many people took the product without reporting anything.
| Diarrhoea | 19 |
| Vomiting | 14 |
| Abdominal Pain | 12 |
| Nausea | 12 |
| Pain | 7 |
| Fatigue | 6 |
| Food Poisoning | 6 |
| Abdominal Pain Upper | 5 |
| Headache | 5 |
| Abdominal Distension | 4 |
| Pyrexia | 4 |
| Abdominal Discomfort | 3 |
| Other Serious or Important Medical Event | 29 |
| Other Outcome | 11 |
| Other Serious Outcome | 6 |
| Visited Emergency Room | 5 |
| Visited a Health Care Provider | 5 |
| Hospitalization | 4 |
| Injury | 3 |
| Allergic Reaction | 1 |
| Disability | 1 |
| Life Threatening | 1 |
The newest randomised trials and reviews
Indexed in Europe PMC. Titles and journals only — follow the link to read the paper where the publisher allows it.
| Year | Study | Journal | Kind | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Effects of <i>Sparassis crispa</i> in Medical Therapeutics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomi open access | Int J Mol Sci | Review or meta-analysis | 19 |
| 2016 | A study of facial wrinkles improvement effect of veratric acid from cauliflower mushroom through photo-protective mechan | Arch Dermatol Res | Randomised trial | 5 |
| 2013 | Sparassis crispa (Hanabiratake) ameliorates skin conditions in rats and humans | Biosci Biotechnol Biochem | Randomised trial | 6 |