Several people across the country have recently been hospitalised after consuming mushroom gummies distributed by Australian brand Uncle Frog and made in the United States. Their reported symptoms included elevated heart rate, nausea, anxiety and hallucinations.
This has prompted a product recall and warnings from local health authorities not to consume the gummies.
Two varieties are affected: Cordyceps and Lion's Mane. The Cordyceps product purports to offer "natural energy and power", while the Lion's Mane variety "supports memory and focus". Both fungal varieties are infused with hemp.
So what in these products could have made people sick? And how are they regulated in Australia?
Cordyceps and Lion's Mane
The Cordyceps product claims to contain extracts of the fungus Cordyceps militaris. The Lion's Mane product is based on the Hericium erinaceus species.
Both Cordyceps and Lion's Mane have a long history of use in traditional medicine for improving mental function – in particular traditional Chinese medicine.
There's increasing research interest and a very early but emerging body of evidence suggesting these mushrooms may have some positive effects on mood and cognition. My team at Southern Cross University are also researching the therapeutic potential of these ingredients, though our work is not published yet.
Both fungi are available as therapeutic products in Australia, either via the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, which allows the sale of a variety of Cordyceps and Lion's Mane products as complementary medicines, or via practitioner-only dispensing of dried products.
Neither of these fungi appear to be associated with the side effects reported among people who took the Uncle Frog's mushroom gummies.
So why did people get sick?
The product also claimed to be infused with "Earth's finest hemp". Hemp is the term often used for a cannabis plant that contains a smaller amount of THC (the principal psychoactive component in cannabis) than recreational or medicinal marijuana.
While the distributor said the product had been tested to confirm there was no active THC present, many of those affected described symptoms consistent with excessive cannabis use.
One user even claimed THC had shown up on a drug test after they used the product.
This suggests to me the adverse reactions may have been due to the cannabis component, rather than the fungus component of the gummies – and that the cannabis component was stronger than use of the term "hemp" suggests.
