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Safety note
Over 20 reports: lingzhi spores in stool mistaken for parasite eggs
More than 20 case reports show that after taking lingzhi preparations containing spores, the spores seen in stool microscopy are easily mistaken for parasite eggs such as liver fluke eggs, which can lead to misdiagnosis and wrong treatment. Another report described 3 patients with gastrointestinal tumors whose tumor marker CA72-4 rose after taking spore powder; follow-up over 6 to 9 months showed no disease progression, so the rise may have been benign.
Book on lingzhiSummarized from a published book; verifiable by title and ISBNPublished book · see title and ISBN in the sourceHow the study was done
Drawn from the section “Lingzhi spore powder interfering with clinical tests”.
What the researchers say
If you take lingzhi spore powder, tell your doctor before having a stool test or tumor marker test.
Source
Lin Zhibin (ed.), 灵芝从神奇到科学 [Lingzhi: From Mystery to Science], 3rd ed., Peking University Medical Press, 2018, ISBN 978-7-5659-1844-5, Ch. 15 (original source for the CA72-4 cases: Yan Bing et al., 2012)
Checked against the book Last updated: 2026-10-06