Due to its well-known cognitive-enhancing properties and anti-inflammatory effects, Lion’s Mane has found its place as an ingredient in many nootropic supplements.
One of them is Host Defense Lion’s Mane, an all-natural supplement that claims to help boost your focus, memory, and mental clarity. If you search on the internet, you’ll often see Host Defense Lion’s Mane’s pretty high on lists of the best Lion’s Mane supplements. Is this really true, though? How will Host Defense Lion’s Mane work for you? And how does it compare to other leading brain supplements on the market?
Read along, and find out more about Host Defense Lion’s Mane, if it is effective and worth your money. To get an idea of what you can expect from this nootropic supplement, let’s lets start with a short summary.
Host Defense Lion’s Mane Summarized
PROS
- Comes in the form of capsules, powder, or extract (drops)
- Contains an effective amount of Lion’s Mane per serving
CONS
- Doesn’t contain any other nootropic ingredients except Lion’s Mane
- Contains mycelium instead of Lion’s Mane fruiting body
- The amount of Lion’s Mane could have been larger since it doesn’t contain any other ingredients
- A bit pricey
SUMMARY:
Host Defense Lion’s Mane is a nootropic supplement that provides you with 1g-1.5g of Lion’s Mane mushroom per serving. This is an effective dose if you are looking for a way to boost your cognitive function. However, Host Defense Lion’s Mane doesn’t contain any other nootropic ingredient except for Lion’s Mane and contains mycelium instead of the mushroom’s fruit body. This makes it somewhat limited compared to other products on the market. Host Defense Lion’s mane is available in the form of capsules, powder, or extract (drops) which gives you flexibility in how you want to take it.
About Host Defense Lion’s Mane?
| Claimed Benefits: Better mental clarity, memory, and focus; Immunity and Nervous system support |
| Ingredients: Lion’s Mane (mycelium) |
| Manufacturer: Host Defense |
| Available at: hostdefense.com, amazon.com, etc. |
| Price: $19.95-$59.95 |
Dosage Instructions
The great thing about Host Defense Lion’s Mane is that it offers you flexibility in which form you want to take it. It comes in the form of capsules, powder, or extract (drops). This is great if you are not a fan of the taste of the drops or powder, or if you don’t prefer capsules.
How to take Capsules
Once per day, take 2 capsules of Host Defense Lion’s Mane either with food or on an empty stomach. Capsules are available in a bottle of 30, 60, or 90 capsules. This makes it enough for 15, 30, or 45 servings.
How to take the Extract
Take 1ml of Host Defense Lion’s Mane twice per day with food or on an empty stomach. The 1ml is equivalent to approximately 45 drops. Lion’s Mane extract is available at 1oz size (30ml) or 2oz (60ml). At a recommended rate of use, one bottle of Host Defense Lion’s Mane should last approximately 15 days for a 1oz bottle, or 30 days for a 2oz bottle.
How to take the Powder
Take 1/2 of a teaspoon and mix it with your favorite food or beverage. You can take Host Defense lion’s Mane 1-3 times per day.
Ingredients – What’s Inside Host Defense Lion’s Mane?
The ingredient list of the Host defense Lion’s Mane is pretty meager – it contains only Lion’s Mane. The difference is that it doesn’t contain Lion’s Mane fruit body as most other Lion’s Mane supplements do, but rather mycelium – a vegetative substrate on which the mushroom grows.
Lion’s Mane has been thoroughly researched and has proven positive effects on cognition, mental function, as well as being an effective immunomodulator. It is a promising suppressor of inflammation and oxidative stress.
In Host Defense Lion’s Mane, depending on whether you choose powder or capsules, the amount of Lion’s Mane per serving is 1g-1.5g. This is the optimal dose since most clinical trials have shown noticeable benefits when Lion’s Mane mushroom is taken from 500mg-1g per day.
That said, Lion’s Mane is a great ingredient if you are looking for an effective cognitive enhancer and Host Defense Lion’s Mane looks promising as a source of it. However, we have a couple of objections that need to be addressed!
Our Commentary on Host Defense Lion’s Mane Ingredients
First, we are not too excited that mycelium is used instead of the mushroom’s fruit body since the fruit body contains the highest concentration of active ingredients that are known to boost cognition, memory, support the immunity system, and improve mood.
Secondly, this supplement contains only Lion’s Mane as an ingredient. Although it is an effective ingredient, Host Defense Lion’s Mane would be far more effective if it would contain ingredients like L-Theanine, Phosphatidylserine, and L-Tyrosine in addition to Lion’s Mane. All of these ingredients are commonly found in the best and most comprehensive brain supplements. Helping you with focus, mood, memory, and other aspects of brain function that Lion’s Mane alone can’t help with.
Also, in our opinion, there are better Lion’s Mane supplements on the market that will provide you with a higher amount of Lion’s Mane and that use fruit body instead of mycelium. Although 1g of Lion’s Mane is not too bad, since only one ingredient is used and mycelium instead of the mushrooms fruit body, the manufacturers should have been a little more generous with the dose.
User Reviews
Although user reviews aren’t the most reliable way to decide the legitimacy of a product, they can be of great help to get the gist of what to expect. So it’s always a good idea to check user reviews before purchasing the product.
User reviews of Host Defense Lion’s Mane on Amazon are mostly positive. Host Defense Lion’s Mane got an average rating of 4.6/5, with over 80% of people giving it 5 stars.
However, some people are dissatisfied with the product. The most common objection is that users haven’t felt any noticeable difference with their memory or focus and label this supplement as ineffective. Some people have also reported headaches after consuming it.
More experienced Lion’s Mane users are also unhappy that mycelium is used rather than the fruitbody of the mushroom, which is our biggest complaint as well.
Pricing & Other Things to Consider
As already stated, Host Defense Lion’s Mane comes in the form of capsules, powder, and extract.
Which one to choose depends entirely on you, but in our opinion, the best option is to choose powder. It contains the biggest amount of Lion’s Mane per serving (1.5 g) and has the best price to value ratio. For the price of $29.95, you will get approximately 66 servings.
Capsules contain only 1g of Lion’s Mane per serving and are the most expensive option. For 60 servings you will pay $59.95. There are also smaller packages of 15 servings for $19.95 and 30 servings for $31.95.
On the other hand, Host Defense Lion’s Mane drops don’t even have an established dose of Lion’s Mane per serving (hidden in the proprietary blend), which is never a good thing. However, it contains both extracts of Lion’s Mane body fruit and mycelium, while capsules and powder only contain mycelium.
Side Effects
Lion’s Mane should be safe and without negative side effects. Thorough human studies showed Lion’s Mane and its extracts to be very safe and no adverse effects have been reported. This applies to higher doses as well.
However, if you are sensitive or allergic to mushrooms, it is advised to take Lion’s Mane with caution and advise a medical professional first.
Conclusion to Host Defense Lion’s Mane Review
Host Defense Lion’s Mane is not a bad supplement, especially when you look at the positive user reviews. But in our opinion, there are better options on the market within this price range. Whether you are looking for just a Lion’s Mane supplement or an effective nootropic supplement with an array of proven ingredients, you can get more value for a similar price.
