{"id":381472,"date":"2025-12-31T00:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T00:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381472\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T00:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T00:24:16","slug":"medicinal-mushrooms-blur-the-line-between-health-and-skincare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381472\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicinal mushrooms blur the line between health and skincare"},"content":{"rendered":"

While some brands around the world have relied on their benefits for years, the enthusiasm surrounding medicinal mushrooms in Israel is a relatively new phenomenon, and their use in skincare products on the local market is only beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the years go by and more studies are published, companies are starting to understand the power and benefits of mushrooms,\u201d says Idan Bar-Shalit, training manager for the brand Origins, which has a 20-year-old product line called Mega-Mushroom based on medicinal mushroom extracts. \u201cThey are better known in the world of dietary supplements, but slowly there is a growing understanding of the impact they can also have on the appearance of the skin. That\u2019s why we\u2019re suddenly seeing them cross over into cosmetics.<\/p>\n

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(Photot: Shutterstock\/ASPA creative)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis line was created in 2005 through a collaboration between the brand and Dr. Andrew Weil, a physician who specializes in integrative medicine, meaning a combination of Western and natural medicine. He began researching mushrooms back in the 1970s, and today he is considered something of a mushroom guru. He believes that problems begin with inflammation, so the goal is to calm that inflammation first from within, through nutrition, proper hydration and maintaining inner calm. Cosmetic products help us treat the skin from the outside as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chaga mushroom <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shutterstock\/ASPA creative)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a general rise in awareness of the benefits of medicinal mushrooms,\u201d explains Tal Weiman, vice president of marketing at MycoSpring, a company that develops, cultivates and enhances mushrooms in cooperation with research institutes and universities in Israel and abroad. \u201cThis is largely because today\u2019s consumer culture is far more conscious, and also because the reality we live in pushes us into lives filled with stress, overload and anxiety. People are looking for natural, high-quality solutions, and we see the same trend in the beauty world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The cordyceps mushroom <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shutterstock\/ASPA creative)<\/p>\n

Until recently, MycoSpring focused on cultivating and researching medicinal mushrooms and marketing dietary supplements. About two months ago, it launched a new skincare brand called SENE (the Latvian word for mushrooms), featuring a product line enriched with the much-discussed cordyceps mushroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur beauty brand grew out of an evolution of a therapeutic cream developed by Rea Sofer, the company\u2019s founder and vice president of research, development and cultivation,\u201d Weiman says. \u201cHe had a skin irritation that wouldn\u2019t go away, and he thought mushrooms could surely help. He ran various experiments and eventually applied cordyceps extract to the irritation, and it cleared up.<\/p>\n

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The new skincare brand SENE <\/p>\n

(Photo: Asaf Karela)<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobally, the use of mushrooms in skincare hasn\u2019t exploded yet, but it\u2019s not new. There are a few cosmetic companies that incorporate mushrooms in one way or another into their products, but it\u2019s fairly marginal, usually a very limited line within a broader portfolio or the inclusion of mushrooms as an ingredient to align with current trends. We\u2019re coming at this from a different angle. We know the qualities and benefits of medicinal mushrooms, and out of our vision that medicinal mushrooms are a way of life, we wanted to make them accessible at the skincare level as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the benefits of medicinal mushrooms in skincare?
\n\u201cMedicinal mushrooms contain powerful active compounds that support the body\u2019s systems and the skin,\u201d Weiman says. \u201cThey are rich in antioxidants, polysaccharides and adaptogenic substances that balance, protect and renew. Simply put, they help the skin cope better with stress, pollution, dryness and hormonal changes. Cordyceps, for example, is an extraordinary antioxidant mushroom. It helps balance environmental damage and is an excellent moisturizer for the skin. Because it balances and soothes, it is suitable for all skin types. For us, it was important that the mushroom not be just one ingredient in a formula, but that the products be built around it, so the other ingredients support the cordyceps and place it at the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReishi is considered the \u2018mushroom of immortality\u2019 and a symbol of longevity,\u201d Bar-Shalit adds. \u201cIt is an adaptogen, meaning the body recognizes it as part of itself and therefore does not fight it. It helps combat irritation, strengthens the skin barrier and soothes the skin. Another key mushroom in our line is fermented chaga, known as the \u2018queen of mushrooms.\u2019 Fermentation helps fight environmental damage and prevents both immediate and future reactive irritation in the skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

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5 View gallery <\/p>\n

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The reishi mushroom <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shutterstock\/ASPA creative)<\/p>\n

Do you believe this is a trend that will continue to grow?
\n\u201cYes. The boundaries between internal health and external care are becoming blurred,\u201d Weiman concludes. \u201cPeople are looking for synergy between what they consume and how they look, \u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da a holistic approach. In cosmetics and beauty, we are no longer operating under an \u2018anti-aging\u2019 mindset that focuses on treating existing signs, but rather a \u2018prejuvenation\u2019 approach that emphasizes prevention and preservation before aging damage occurs. People want to live healthier lives for longer and are willing to invest in that. Mushrooms are perceived as a preventive solution for healthy people who want to maintain their health and vitality, and this approach is also being applied to skincare: preventing aging and improving the appearance of the skin.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While some brands around the world have relied on their benefits for years, the enthusiasm surrounding medicinal mushrooms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-381472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}