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Background
Lingzhi polysaccharides, triterpenes and immunomodulatory protein
Lingzhi cannot be broken down by digestive enzymes, and research suggests they act on immune cells in the gut; lingzhi are the source of its bitter taste, with nearly 300 known, found mainly in the fruiting body and very little in mycelium; the immunomodulatory protein LZ-8 is made up of 110 amino acids. The active components obtained differ by species, part and extraction method.
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 chapters on lingzhi’s active components.
What the researchers say
Judging the value of a component starts with confirming that it really comes from lingzhi.
Source
Wu Tingyao, reviewed by Hsu Rey-Shyang, 灵芝，妙不可言 [Lingzhi: Wonderful Beyond Words], People’s Medical Publishing House, 2017, ISBN 978-7-117-24242-4, Ch. 1; 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. 3
The two books agree Last updated: 2026-10-06