Products · Mushroom supplements · Real Mushrooms
Real Mushrooms 5 Defenders Organic Mushroom Blend Capsules
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A five-mushroom extract capsule (reishi, shiitake, maitake, turkey tail, chaga) in NSF’s Certified for Sport database, with 180 mg of beta-glucan a serving. The label does not split out each mushroom.
Best for People who want one general mushroom capsule from a maker that puts beta-glucan on the label, and who do not take blood thinners or have kidney-stone concerns.
- Our quality rating
- Good (4 of 5)
- Price range
- Mid-range
- Verified marks
- NSF Certified for Sport (capsule, 90 count, lot 051226225), Purity-IQ Certified Authentic (all five species)
- Size
- 90 capsules, 2 capsules (1,000 mg) a serving (200 capsules is approx. $80)
- Made in
- Extracts of organic mushrooms grown in China, per the maker; distributed from Calgary, Canada
approx. $40 for 90 capsules (45 servings)
See it on Real Mushrooms’s site →We are not affiliated with Real Mushrooms. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.
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Your review
Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.
How we evaluated it
Why we chose it What put it on our list
- NSF’s Certified for Sport database lists 5 Defenders: capsule, 90 count, 2 capsules a serving, lot 051226225. Real Mushrooms describes NSF’s check as covering identity, label accuracy, declared amounts and specified contaminants. It is the strongest outside record we found for any mushroom product we reviewed.
- Beta-glucan is on the label: 180 mg of beta-(1,3)(1,6)-glucans in each 1,000 mg serving, which is 18%.
- All five mushrooms are named with Latin names, and Purity-IQ lists each as authenticated by NMR: Trametes versicolor, Grifola frondosa, Ganoderma lingzhi, Lentinula edodes and Inonotus obliquus.
- The maker says every extract is hot-water extracted from organic mushrooms, with no grain or mycelium. The capsule fillers are named: microcrystalline cellulose, silicon dioxide and stearic acid.
- About $0.89 a serving in the 90-capsule bottle, and about $0.80 in the 200-capsule bottle ($79.95).
Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy
- The label shows one 1,000 mg blend total, not the amount of each mushroom, so you cannot tell how much reishi or turkey tail you get. Its 18% beta-glucan is below the 25 to 30% the maker guarantees for its single-species reishi and turkey tail extracts.
- Reishi and chaga may have a blood-thinning (antiplatelet) effect, and chaga is high in oxalate, which may raise kidney-stone risk. Ask a clinician first if you take blood thinners or have had stones. See our reishi and chaga pages.
- NSF’s listing shows one lot and the 90-count bottle. It is not a promise about every lot, and the 200-count bottle is not in the listing we saw. We could not open NSF’s test reports.
- Organic status of the finished capsules rests on the maker: we found no listing for Real Mushrooms in the USDA Organic Integrity Database (its supplier, Nammex, is listed). Human evidence for most of these mushrooms is limited, and none is for this blend.
What to know Details worth knowing first
5 Defenders is Real Mushrooms’ all-round blend: extracts of reishi, shiitake, maitake, turkey tail and chaga. Our mushroom guide explains why we look for fruiting-body extracts with a stated beta-glucan figure, and this capsule gives one: 180 mg per serving.
The reason it is listed is the NSF entry. Most mushroom products rest on the maker’s word. NSF’s Certified for Sport database lists this capsule, and Purity-IQ confirms all five species by NMR. That is as much outside checking as we found for any product in this category.
Know the limits. The five extracts share one 1,000 mg line, so the amount of each is unknown. Reishi and chaga carry cautions for people on blood thinners, and chaga is high in oxalate (see our reishi and chaga pages). The human evidence is thin for most of these mushrooms, and a blend has not been tested as a whole.
Quality & testing How it measures up against our checklist
- Third-party tested
- Yes
- Tested by
- NSF (Certified for Sport); Purity-IQ (species identity)
| What we checked | What we found |
|---|---|
| Independent testing Verified | Listed in NSF’s Certified for Sport database as 5 Defenders, capsule, 90 count, 2 capsules a serving, lot 051226225. The listing shows one lot and no certification date. We could not open NSF’s test reports. |
| Fruiting body or mycelium, stated Maker’s claim | The product page says 100% hot-water-extracted mushrooms (fruiting body), with no grain or mycelium. Chaga is a hard mass of fungal tissue (a sclerotium) rather than a cap-and-stem mushroom, so “fruiting body” does not quite fit that one. |
| Measured beta-glucans Maker’s claim | Label: 180 mg beta-(1,3)(1,6)-glucans per 1,000 mg serving. The maker says it measures every lot by the Megazyme K-YBGL method. We saw no report for this product. |
| Starch or alpha-glucan reported Not verified | Not reported. The label says no grain, no starch, no fillers, yet it lists microcrystalline cellulose, silicon dioxide and stearic acid as other ingredients (flow agents, per the maker). |
| Tested for contaminants Maker’s claim | The maker says metals (ICP-MS) and microbes are tested on every lot and finished product. The only Real Mushrooms reports we opened are SGS reports for its lion’s mane and Cordyceps-M powders. NSF’s listing is the outside check for this product. |
| A named species Verified | Five species named on the label. Purity-IQ’s public listing shows 5 Defenders as authenticated for all five by NMR. |
| Origin and organic certification Maker’s claim | The maker says its extracts come from certified organic mushrooms grown in China (supplier Nammex). The page says USDA-certified organic through QAI. No Real Mushrooms listing in the USDA Organic Integrity Database; Nammex Mushrooms Inc. is listed as certified by QAI. Nammex was founded by the father of a Real Mushrooms co-founder, per the maker’s story page. |
| Extract or powder, stated Maker’s claim | Extract blend, hot-water extracted. The label gives no extract ratio and no amount for each mushroom. |
What the labels mean
- Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
- Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
- Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
Sources Where our facts come from
- Real Mushrooms 5 Defenders Organic Mushroom Blend Capsules product page. Maker’s page. Price, sizes and claims, checked 2026-10-22. Open ↗
- Real Mushrooms 5 Defenders bottle label (back). Maker’s page. Supplement Facts: five-extract blend 1,000 mg, beta-glucans 180 mg, other ingredients named. Open ↗
- NSF Certified for Sport listing: 5 Defenders (Real Mushrooms). Certifier or regulator listing. Capsule, package size 90, lot 051226225. Check the lot on your bottle. Open ↗
- Real Mushrooms Cordyceps-M capsule page, on what NSF checks. Maker’s page. Describes NSF’s evaluation as identity, label accuracy, declared amounts and specified contaminants. Open ↗
- Purity-IQ Certified Authentic listing for Real Mushrooms. Certifier or regulator listing. Open ↗
- USDA Organic Integrity Database: Nammex Mushrooms Inc. (NOP 5520030770). Certifier or regulator listing. The extract supplier, certified by QAI. Real Mushrooms itself is not listed. Open ↗
- Real Mushrooms quality assurance page. Maker’s page. Open ↗
- Real Mushrooms our-story page. Maker’s page. Says Nammex was founded by Jeff Chilton, who co-founded Real Mushrooms with his son Skye. Open ↗
Alternatives Other options to compare
- Real Mushrooms Organic Reishi Extract Powder One species, so you set the amount. Dual extracted, at the same price per serving, but we found no lab report posted for it.
- Real Mushrooms Turkey Tail Extract Powder, 45 g One species, guaranteed above 30% beta-glucan, approx. $40. We found no lab report posted for it. See our turkey tail page for the evidence.
- Real Mushrooms 5 Defenders powder, 45 g The same blend as powder, approx. $40, guaranteed above 18% beta-glucan. No capsule fillers.
- Mycelium-on-grain immune blends Often cheaper, but the label may not report starch, so “polysaccharides” can be mostly grain.