Yeongji
Quick Facts
- What it is: Yeongji is a hard, bitter mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) used in Korean medicine as a daily tonic.
- Main uses: Tiredness and low energy, Poor sleep and a restless mind, General immune support
- Best for: People wanting a traditional tonic tea, People happy with weak evidence and slow, mild effects
- Active ingredients: Beta-glucans (long sugar chains from the cell wall), Triterpenes (bitter plant compounds) called ganoderic acids, Sterols, Peptidoglycans
- Forms: Dried slices for tea, Powder, Capsules, Liquid tincture, Dual extract (water and alcohol)
- Time to effect: Slow. Allow 2 to 8 weeks of daily use before judging it.
- Side effects: Usually mild dryness or stomach upset; rare liver injury and a real bleeding risk with blood thinners.
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What is Yeongji?
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.
How does Yeongji work?
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.
What forms does Yeongji come in?
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.
Where it comes from:
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.
Who should avoid Yeongji?
- Do not use if you take warfarin, heparin or any other blood-thinning medicine, unless your doctor has agreed to it.
- Do not use if you take aspirin, clopidogrel or another antiplatelet drug (a medicine that stops blood cells sticking together).
- Do not use if you have a bleeding disorder such as haemophilia (a condition where the blood does not clot properly).
- Do not use if you have surgery or dental surgery booked in the next two weeks; stop it well beforehand.
- Do not use if you take medicines that damp down the immune system after an organ transplant, such as ciclosporin or tacrolimus.
- Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, because it has not been tested for safety.
- Do not use if you have liver disease, or if a blood test has shown liver damage.
- Do not use if you are allergic to mushrooms or to mould spores.
- Do not use if you have low blood pressure, or take medicine for high blood pressure, without asking your doctor first.
- Do not use if you are thinking of giving it to a child, unless a doctor has told you to.
When should you see a doctor?
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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