Maitake

Purported Benefits, Side Effects & More
Maitake

Common Names

  • King of mushrooms
  • Dancing mushroom
  • Cloud mushroom
  • Hen of the woods

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For Patients & Caregivers

Tell your healthcare providers about any dietary supplements you’re taking, such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, and natural or home remedies. This will help them manage your care and keep you safe.

Maitake is a fungus that has many nutrients. It’s used to help with health issues in traditional Asian medicine.

It also comes as dietary supplements in capsules, powders, and liquid extracts.

Maitake is used to:

  • Manage diabetes
  • Lower high cholesterol levels
  • Reduce high blood pressure
  • Boost the immune system

Maitake has other uses, but doctors haven’t studied them to see if they work.

It’s generally safe to eat maitake in food. Talk with your healthcare provider before taking maitake supplements. Herbal supplements are stronger than the herbs you would use in cooking.

Supplements can also interact with some medications and affect how they work. For more information, read the “What else do I need to know?” section below.

Side effects of maitake may include:

  • Higher white blood cell count
  • Talk with your healthcare provider if you’re on blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin®, Jantoven®). Maitake can increase your risk of bleeding.
  • Talk with your healthcare provider if you’re taking medications to lower your blood sugar. Maitake can also lower blood sugar so taking both at the same time may not be safe.

For Healthcare Professionals

Grifola frondosa

Maitake is an edible mushroom consumed widely in Asia and used in traditional medicine for diabetes and hypertension. Maitake extracts are sold as dietary supplements to “enhance immune function” and to treat AIDS and cancer. Beta 1,6-glucan, a protein-bound polysaccharide, has been identified as the active constituent.

In preclinical studies, various formulations showed protective effects against parasites (32), high insulin and lipid levels (12) (34), and inflammation (19). Antitumor potential (13) (16) (20) (30) (31), enhanced bone marrow colony formation, reduced doxorubicin toxicity (11), and enhanced interferon activity (18) have also been reported. In murine models, orally administered extracts promoted maturation of hematopoietic cells to functionally active myeloid cells, enhanced peripheral blood leukocyte recovery following chemotoxic bone marrow injury (17), and protected against cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression (33).

Clinical data are limited. In a small case series, tumor regression or significant improvements in symptoms were observed in some subjects who took maitake extract (5). In small trials, oral maitake extract had immunomodulatory effects in postmenopausal breast cancer patients (14); enhanced neutrophil and monocyte function in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (25); and reduced concurrent chemo and radiotherapy-related adverse events and improved quality of life in patients with advanced laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers (35). More studies are underway to evaluate maitake’s anticancer potential. Maitake mushrooms may also help improve cognitive function in older adults (36).

Maitake mushroom is an edible fungus. The whole mushroom can be fried or boiled.

  • Diabetes
  • High cholesterol
  • Hypertension
  • Immunostimulation

Preclinical studies showed antidiabetic effects with alpha-glucan via increased insulin sensitivity on insulin receptors and decreased insulin resistance in peripheral target tissues (12). Antilipidemic effects with maitake polysaccharides occurred by modulating gut microbial phylotypes and regulating genes involved in hepatic lipid and cholesterol metabolism (34).

In other experiments, maitake activated various effector cells such as macrophages, NK and T cells, IL-1, and superoxide anions (2) (3) (4) (13). It may also modulate antigen presentation by protecting against tumor implantation following transfer of dendritic cells from tumor-bearing mice treated with maitake (15). Maitake D fraction demonstrated antitumor activity by upregulating proapoptotic BAK-1 (23), blocking tumor invasiveness, and reducing angiogenesis (26). It also enhanced growth and differentiation of mouse bone marrow cells treated with doxorubicin (11). Maitake polysaccharides induced apoptosis via the mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway in human breast cancer cells (27). The beta glucan GFPBW1 activated macrophages via the Dectin-1/Syk/NF-κB signaling pathway (24), and oral alpha-glucan activated dendritic cells and macrophages in small intestine lymphoid tissue, inducing a systemic antitumor T-cell response (28).

Maitake may not be appropriate for those taking hypoglycemic medications because it can have synergistic effects (9).

Asymptomatic eosinophilia (25).

Warfarin: A case report suggests maitake can interact with warfarin, resulting in INR elevation (21).
Hypoglycemic medications: Maitake may increase their effects in type-2 diabetic patients (9).

Maitake may lower blood glucose levels (9).

  1. Hobbs C. Medicinal Mushrooms, 3rd ed. Loveland (CO): Interweave Press; 1996.
  2. Adachi K, Nanba H, Kuroda H. Potentiation of host-mediated antitumor activity in mice by beta glucan obtained from Grifola frondosa (maitake). Chem Pharm Bull 1987;35:262-70.
  3. Kubo K, Aoki H. Nanba H. Anti-diabetic activity present in the fruit body of Grifola frondosa (Maitake). Biol Pharm Bull 1994;17:1106-10.
  4. Horio H, Ohtsuru M. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) improve glucose tolerance of experimental diabetic rats. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 2001;47:57-63.
  5. Kodama N, Komuta K, Nanba H. Can Maitake MD-fraction aid cancer patients? Altern Med Rev 2002;7:236-9.
  6. Miura NN. Blood clearance of (1—>3)-beta-D-glucan in MRL lpr/lpr mice. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 1996;13:51-7.
  7. Ohno N, et al. Characterization of the antitumor glucan obtained from liquid-cultured Grifola frondosa. Chem Pharm Bull 1986;34:1709-1715.
  8. Nanba H, Kubo K. Maitake D-fraction: Healing and preventive potential for cancer. J Orthomolecular Med 1997;12:43-9.
  9. Konno S, et al. A possible hypoglycaemic effect of maitake mushroom on Type 2 diabetic patients. Diabet Med 2001 Dec;18(12):1010.
  10. Yamada Y, et al. Antitumor effect of orally administered extracts from fruit body of Grifola frondosa (maitake). Chemotherapy 1990;38:790-6.
  11. Lin H, et al. Maitake beta-glucan MD-fraction enhances bone marrow colony formation and reduces doxorubicin toxicity in vitro. Int Immunopharmacol 2004 Jan;4(1):91-9.
  12. Hong L, Xun M, Wutong W. Anti-diabetic effect of an alpha-glucan from fruit body of maitake (Grifola frondosa) on KK-Ay mice. Pharm Pharmacol. 2007 Apr;59(4):575-82.
  13. Masuda Y, Murata Y, Hayashi M, Nanba H. Inhibitory effect of MD-Fraction on tumor metastasis: involvement of NK cell activation and suppression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 expression in lung vascular endothelial cells. Biol Pharm Bull 2008 Jun;31(6):1104-8.
  14. Deng G, Lin H, Seidman A, et al. A phase I/II trial of a polysaccharide extract from Grifola frondosa (Maitake mushroom) in breast cancer patients: immunological effects. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2009 Sep;135(9):1215-21
  15. Harada N, Kodama N, Nanba H. Relationship between dendritic cells and the D-fraction-induced Th-1 dominant response in BALB/c tumor-bearing mice. Cancer Lett. 2003;192(2):181-7.
  16. Shomori K, Yamamoto M, Arifuku I, Teramachi K, Ito H. Antitumor effects of a water-soluble extract from Maitake (Grifola frondosa) on human gastric cancer cell lines. Oncol Rep. 2009 Sep;22(3):615-20.
  17. Lin H, de Stanchina E, Zhou XK, et al. Maitake beta-glucan promotes recovery of leukocytes and myeloid cell function in peripheral blood from paclitaxel hematotoxicity. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2010 Jun;59(6):885-97.
  18. Louie B, Rajamahanty S, Won J, Choudhury M, Konno S. Synergistic potentiation of interferon activity with maitake mushroom d-fraction on bladder cancer cells. BJU Int. 2010 Apr;105(7):1011-5.
  19. Lee JS, Park SY, Thapa D, et al. Grifola frondosa water extract alleviates intestinal inflammation by suppressing TNF-alpha production and its signaling. Exp Mol Med. 2010 Feb 28;42(2):143-54.
  20. Masuda Y, Ito K, Konishi M, Nanba H. A polysaccharide extracted from Grifola frondosa enhances the anti-tumor activity of bone marrow-derived dendritic cell-based immunotherapy against murine colon cancer. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2010 Oct;59(10):1531-41.
  21. Hanselin MR, Vande Griend JP, Linnebur SA. INR elevation with maitake extract in combination with warfarin. Ann Pharmacother. 2010 Jan;44(1):223-4.
  22. Chen JT, Tominaga K, Sato Y, Anzai H, Matsuoka R. Maitake mushroom (Grifola frondosa) extract induces ovulation in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a possible monotherapy and a combination therapy after failure with first-line clomiphene citrate. J Altern Complement Med. 2010 Dec;16(12):1295-9.
  23. Soares R, Meireles M, Rocha A, et al. Maitake (D fraction) mushroom extract induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells by BAK-1 gene activation.J Med Food. 2011 Jun;14(6):563-72.
  24. Fang J, Wang Y, Lv X, et al. Structure of a β-glucan from Grifola frondosa and its antitumor effect by activating Dectin-1/Syk/NF-κB signaling. Glycoconj J. 2012 Aug;29(5-6):365-77.
  25. Wesa KM, Cunningham-Rundles S, Klimek VM, et al. Maitake mushroom extract in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS): a phase II study. Cancer Immunol Immunother. (2015) 64:237–247.
  26. Roldan-Deamicis A, Alonso E, Brie B, Braico DA, Balogh GA. Maitake Pro4X has anti-cancer activity and prevents oncogenesis in BALBc mice. Cancer Med. 2016 Sep;5(9):2427-41.
  27. Zhang Y, Sun D, Meng Q, Guo W, Chen Q, Zhang Y. Grifola frondosa polysaccharides induce breast cancer cell apoptosis via the mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway. Int J Mol Med. 2017 Oct;40(4):1089-1095.
  28. Masuda Y, Nakayama Y, Tanaka A, Naito K, Konishi M. Antitumor activity of orally administered maitake α-glucan by stimulating antitumor immune response in murine tumor. PLoS One. 2017 Mar 9;12(3):e0173621.
  29. Bao H, Ran P, Sun L et al. Griflola frondosa (GF) produces significant antidepressant effects involving AMPA receptor activation in mice. Pharm Biol. 2017 Dec;55(1):299-305.
  30. Mao G, Li Q, Deng C, et al. The synergism and attenuation effect of Selenium (Se)-enriched Grifola frondosa (Se)-polysaccharide on 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) in Heps-bearing mice. Int J Biol Macromol. 2018 Feb;107(Pt B):2211-2216.
  31. Zhao F, Zhao J, Song L, Zhang YQ, Guo Z, Yang KH. The induction of apoptosis and autophagy in human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells by combined treatment with vitamin C and polysaccharides extracted from Grifola frondosa. Apoptosis. 2017 Nov;22(11):1461-1472.
  32. Sultana SS, Ghosh J, Chakraborty S, et al. Selective in vitro inhibition of Leishmania donovani by a semi-purified fraction of wild mushroom Grifola frondosa. Exp Parasitol. 2018 Sep;192:73-84.
  33. Meng M, Guo M, Feng C, Wang R, Cheng D, Wang C. Water-soluble polysaccharides from Grifola frondosa fruiting bodies protect against immunosuppression in cyclophosphamide-induced mice via JAK2/STAT3/SOCS signal transduction pathways. Food Funct. 2019 Aug 1;10(8):4998-5007.
  34. Li L, Guo WL, Zhang W, et al. Grifola frondosa polysaccharides ameliorate lipid metabolic disorders and gut microbiota dysbiosis in high-fat diet fed rats. Food Funct. 2019 May 22;10(5):2560-2572.
  35. Hu Q, Xie B. Effect of Maitake D-fraction in advanced laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers during concurrent chemoradiotherapy: A randomized clinical trial.  Acta Biochim Pol. 2022 Sep 7;69(3):625-632.
  36. Jogi EM, Kato MC, Masuda Y, et al. Maitake Mushroom (Grifola frondosa) Enhances Cognitive Function in Healthy Older Japanese: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.  J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2026;72(2):163-175.
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