Cordyceps Extract

Two entirely different organisms trade under the word "cordyceps", and getting the species wrong on a purchase order is the most expensive mistake in this ingredient. Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora, family Ophiocordycipitaceae, is the wild Himalayan caterpillar fungus that parasitises ghost-moth larvae of the family Hepialidae at 3,000–5,000 m; it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, has never been successfully farmed on its host, and carries a price no supplement format can absorb. Cordyceps militaris (L.) Fr., family Cordycipitaceae, order Hypocreales, is farmed indoors on a cereal substrate, produces a bright orange club-shaped stroma, and is the article behind essentially every commercial "cordyceps extract" on the market. A third material sits between them: the submerged-fermentation mycelium long sold as Cs-4 and labelled C. sinensis has since been genetically identified as Samsoniella hepiali, earlier described as Paecilomyces hepiali. Thovek's default supply is the cultivated C. militaris fruiting body, separated from its substrate before extraction. The chemistry follows the species. Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine, CAS 73-03-0, C10H13N5O3, MW 251.24) is an adenosine analogue in which the 3'-hydroxyl of the ribose is replaced by hydrogen; it is the signature constituent of C. militaris and is what the HPLC assay is written against, alongside adenosine (CAS 58-61-7) and ergosterol (CAS 57-87-4) as a fungal-biomass marker. Commercial standardisation runs at 0.2% or 0.3% cordycepin by HPLC on 8:1 to 10:1 native extracts, with beta-glucan at a 20%, 25% or 30% minimum. The single QC point worth insisting on is the glucan method. Beta-glucan must be measured enzymatically as total glucan minus alpha-glucan, on the Megazyme K-YBGL principle, because a mycelium-on-grain article carries residual cereal starch that reads high on a crude alcohol-precipitation "total polysaccharide" test. Two documents both saying 30% can describe completely different materials. Note also that the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020 controls fermented Cs-4 on adenosine and ergosterol rather than on polysaccharide, so a Cs-4-type grade is specified differently again. Regulatory status and origin both have to be settled before an order is placed. In the EU Novel Food Catalogue the mycelium and fruiting body of Cordyceps militaris are listed as an unauthorised novel food requiring pre-market authorisation under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, while Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps) sinensis and Samsoniella hepiali have been confirmed not novel for food supplement use; an EU-bound buyer therefore needs the sinensis-type or S. hepiali fermented grade, not the militaris fruiting body. On origin, C. militaris is commonly supplemented with silkworm pupae to raise yield and colour, and sericulture by-products are used for commercial culture in India; that is an insect input and it voids any vegan claim. Thovek's default substrate is brown rice with a plant-protein supplement, which keeps the article vegan, vegetarian and free of cereal gluten. Wild O. sinensis is a different matter entirely, since the dried moth larva is physically part of the article and can never be declared vegan or vegetarian.