You may have heard of “functional fitness” (which trains the body for activities performed in daily life) and  “functional nutrition” (a philosophy that promotes the use of food as medicine to prevent and alleviate diet and lifestyle-related diseases), but have you heard of “functional mushrooms”? If you’ve been down the aisle of a Whole Foods in the last few years, you undoubtedly have, but in case you haven’t, functional mushrooms include strains like Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps, and Chaga that aren’t only a food source but have beneficial properties that can positively impact health. These multitasking mushrooms have been showing up everywhere from coffee to candy bars, and while initially, they were giving cannabis a run for its money as the latest wellness trend, many companies are now blending THC or CBD and medicinal mushrooms to create “super” supplements, edibles, and other products to tempt the health-conscious consumer.

Cookies, an international cannabis brand, just launched Caps by Cookies THC, which is a three-in-one capsule formulation that blends non-psilocybin organic medicinal mushrooms and potent cannabis compounds. The mushrooms for Cookies’ formulation, which are high in beta-glucans, ergosterol, full-spectrum and grown to maturity, are provided by mushroom extract manufacturer Nammex and encapsulated by Blue River. 

But Cookies isn’t the only company marrying mushrooms with cannabis. TerraVita now offers two formulations, Relax CBD capsules and Shroom capsules, which blend mushrooms with CBD. TerraVita’s Shrooms bled contains Reishi, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane in a formula geared towards fortifying the immune system, relieving stress, and boosting cognitive function, while the Relax formula combines Reishi with the ayurvedic herb Ashwagandha, GABA, and L-Theanine to calm and restore.

Pantry’s Good Day Bites are getting attention for their line of superfood bites which contain 5 milligrams 1:1 THC:CBD as well as adaptogens and functional mushrooms. Pantry solicited the culinary expertise of nutritionists, doctors, and Michelin star chef Michael Magliano to come up with their line of medicinal treats. The line also includes Nite Bites and Cacao Keto Bites, which contain mushrooms, adaptogens, and cannabinoids like THC, CBD, and CBN. Pantry’s website has a dosage calculator to help customers figure out how much of these dime-sized chocolates to consume in order to achieve the desired quantity of “good vibes”.

 Buddha Teas, HempWorks, and 7 Wonders Mushrooms are also recruiting functional mushrooms to the cause of optimal health, with more companies rallying to the trend. Consumers can expect to see more products that celebrate the synergy of cannabis and functional mushrooms, as scientists hustle to provide the research to keep up with (and substantiate) the combination’s growing popularity.