Science Says This Mushroom Could Help Keep Your Brain Sharp as You Age

Lion’s mane mushrooms have been having their moment, and the science is starting to back it up. Studies have started to show that eating mushrooms twice a week can lower the risk of mild cognitive impairment, an early, subtle decline in memory and thinking skills that’s a step before dementia, but lion’s mane, or Hericium erinaceus, is stealing the spotlight. Two early placebo-controlled trials, one in 2009 and another a decade later, gave older adults with the same mild memory decline either dried lion’s mane or a fake pill and found real, if modest and temporary, improvement on standard memory and thinking tests, according to the researchers behind both studies.