Science-Backed Evidence for Neurogenesis
Eric Puro — Founder and CEO @ KAAPA, Executive Committee of the International Committee for Medicinal Mushrooms
ERIC PURO
Founder and CEO @ KAAPA, Executive Committee of the International Committee for Medicinal Mushrooms
Eric Puro is the CEO and Chairman of KAAPA Biotech, where he's scaling the EU's largest medicinal fungi factory to produce top-quality natural medicines. His career has spanned from corporate consulting in Chicago to building yoga studios in Portugal using only hand tools. Eric's diverse experiences include squatting in abandoned factories in London and embracing solitude in Oregon's remote woods. At his core, Eric is driven by a profound need to solve global issues by emulating best practices observed in nature.
Kappa was founded with a mission to produce the highest quality medicinal mushroom products, driven by transparency, science, and quality. They identified issues in the global supply chain, especially with mislabeling and low-quality imports from China. By using ultrasonication, they increased bioavailability to 92%. They also developed assays to test bioactives, showing their products contain significantly higher active compounds. Their lion's mane study demonstrated superior cognitive benefits over caffeine, indicating structural brain improvements.
That dream was to create the best, highest quality, absolutely excellent medicinal mushroom products that we could.
Summary
Founders aimed to create high-quality medicinal mushroom products. Discovered many market products lacked genuine ingredients. Emphasized transparency, science-backed methods, and quality. Pioneered ultrasonication for 92% bioavailability. Developed testing for key bioactives and achieved superior results.
Article
Medicinal Mushroom Revolution: Finnish Company Raises the Bar for Quality and Science
Finnish startup challenges industry norms with homegrown fungi and cutting-edge research
In a riveting presentation at the Biohacker Summit in Helsinki on Tuesday, Eric Puro, CEO and Chairman of KAAPA Biotech, unveiled startling findings about the medicinal mushroom industry and revealed how his Finland-based company is working to transform it through rigorous science and transparent production methods.
"Our dream was to create the best, highest quality, absolutely excellent medicinal mushroom products that we could," Puro told a packed audience at the three-day biohacking conference, which has drawn health optimisation enthusiasts from across Europe.
Industry plagued by mislabelling and quality issues
Puro's journey into the world of medicinal fungi began with a troubling discovery. Research has shown that approximately 75% of reishi supplements in the US market don't actually contain reishi. More alarmingly, a recent Italian study found that out of 18 top-selling functional mushroom products on Italian Amazon, only six contained the species listed on their labels.
"There's obviously a problem," Puro stated, explaining that 92% of all mushrooms globally are produced in China, with most exported functional mushroom ingredients failing to meet the quality standards consumers expect.
The fundamental issue, according to Puro, is a clash of value systems. "In China, the values around functional mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms are based on traditional Chinese medicine, which has a very different value set than what's important to Western consumers," he explained.
Transparency, science and quality: The Finnish approach
KAAPA Biotech's response to these industry challenges has been to build their business on three guiding principles: transparency, scientific validation, and uncompromising quality.
"We grow all the mushrooms for our Kappa brand in Finland. We do all of our own extraction here in Finland as well," Puro emphasized. "Everything is EU organic."
The company's scientific innovations have focused on bioavailability – the proportion of beneficial compounds that can actually be absorbed by the body. Traditional tea-making methods yield about 5% bioavailability, while alcohol extraction techniques developed in China millennia ago boosted this to around 50%.
"Our company has pioneered and we were the first to use ultrasonication right in our extraction technology," Puro said, noting that this approach increases bioavailability to an impressive 92%.
Funding breakthrough research
Frustrated by the lack of commercial labs capable of testing for specific bioactive compounds in mushrooms, KAAPA Biotech took matters into their own hands, investing "a few hundred thousand euros" to develop new testing methods in collaboration with Turku Biosciences and the University of Turku.
The results, shared publicly for the first time at the summit, were dramatic. Their chaga mushroom products contained eight times more inotidiol (a key bioactive compound) than leading European competitors. Their lion's mane mushroom – prized for cognitive benefits – contained 3,200 times more of its crucial bioactive compounds than the second-place competitor.
The cognitive power of mushrooms
Lion's mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) has emerged as a star in the functional fungi world, with research showing it can improve cognition, mood, and brain structure. The compounds in lion's mane, called hericenones, can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), supporting neurogenesis – the growth of new brain cells.
"I think what this industry needed was a little bit of startup disruption," Puro reflected. "We needed the biohacking community to demand something better and to hold us accountable."
The future of functional fungi
The timing of KAAPA Biotech's quality revolution coincides with what industry insiders call the "shroom boom" – a surge in consumer interest in functional mushrooms, which have become the number one trending ingredient in the US market and number two in the UK.
"Now is the time for us to really take this and ensure that what we take in terms of functional mushrooms is the highest quality humanly possible," Puro concluded.
As the Biohacker Summit continues through Wednesday in Helsinki, KAAPA Biotech's evidence-based approach represents a significant shift in an industry traditionally dominated by marketing claims rather than scientific rigor – a change that may ultimately benefit consumers seeking genuine health benefits from these ancient natural remedies.
Part of Biohacker Summit 2024 Helsinki