Chaga has excellent antioxidnat properties, has active ingredients that naturally strengthen the immune system and enhance bodily functions, improve metabolism.It also used to detoxify body and improve digestion. Chaga can be used to boost energy and stamina.Chaga helps with normalizing cardiovascular and respiratory functioning. People also drink chaga tea in order to eliminate after lunch slumps.Others use it to reduce nervousness due to common every day overwork and fatigue.
We encourage our customer to do a research to look for other Chaga mushroom benefits on internet.
Why is Siberian Chaga considered to be more potent than Canadian or American Chaga?
Chaga grown in Siberia is much richer in antioxidants than chaga grown in any other region. Perhaps it is the combination of the purity of the Siberian wilderness and extreme cold temperatures that makes Siberian chaga such a powerful antioxidant. There is also research suggesting that it is not simply the cold, but the extreme swings in temperature in the Siberian taiga that produce the strong antioxidant potency that chaga is famous for.
Is Chaga good for the skin?
Yes – Chaga is great for the skin! In fact, Chaga is becoming a popular active ingredient in many anti-aging skin products, in particular in Japan, due to its strong antioxidant properties.
Is Chaga good for improving competitive athletics performace (e.g. football, basketball, etc.)
The short answer is – yes. Chaga is an adaptogen, and by definition, adaptogens are botanical substances that increase your body’s resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. In fact, the first time adaptogens started to be used was during the Cold War era – Soviet athletes were given adaptogenic substances (including Chaga) during the Olympic Games, to improve performance.
What is chromogenic complex?
Chromogenic complex used to be the name for the complex of phenolic connections, the chemical structure for the majority of them now is established (such as Caffeic acid, Syringic acid, 2, 5-Dihydroxyterephthalic acid and Hydroxy benzalacetone and more)
Is it true that chaga extract with polysaccharide content of 40-60% can be considered as good quality whereas chaga extract with a very low polysaccharide content of 10-20% should qualify as average quality?
Unfortunately, the Internet is full of misinformation about the exact composition of water-based Chaga extract. During extraction process polyphenols are dissolved in water first (40-45%), and are responsible for giving the extract its dark color. Sometimes they also are called chromegenous complex. Polysaccharides, however, do not dissolve in water as easily, and therefore Chaga extract contains no more than 10-13% polysaccharides. Authors of other publications typically don’t take into account the amount of polysaccharides, but calculate the composition after combining polyphenols with polysacchardies.
Sayan Health Chaga extract contains:
50-51% Polyphenols (chromogenic complex)
12-13% polysaccharides
1.5% β (1,3) D-glucan
<1% betulinnic acid
It must be noted that polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrate structures.
Measurements of the extract must done using special spectrophotometry methods for carbohydrates (i.e.,polysaccharides) detection, as opposed to the more common methods used by most labs, which typically do not have the markers needed for precise measurement. This is due to the fact that such labs specialize in identifying parameters present in food substances, so ingredients such as proteins and minerals are identified, while everything else is classified as carbohydrates (namely, polysaccharides). Therefore, a laboratory calculation of the amount of polysaccharides (i.e., carbohydrates) in Chaga can reach the levels of 50-60%.
Thus, measurement of ingredients in Chaga extract is not entirely accurate. Our findings are based on calculating the presence of polysaccharides using highly specialized methods.
Note that if you add the results of our analysis of carbohydrates (12-13%) and the polyphenols (40-45%), the resulting sum coincides with what other sources report – 52-58%. Keep in mind that this result is an aggregate of all the organic elements that dissolved in water during the extraction process.
In sum, we recommend that you examine the ingredient list on Chaga extract (in %), as well as pay special attention to the components listed, instead of merely glancing at the percent of polysaccharides.
Is Siberian chaga safe?
Yes. Chaga is a natural food supplement.To date, there are no known interactions or adverse side effects when taking chaga at the recommended dosage. Although no allergic reactions have been documented thus far, please consult your doctor prior to using chaga products if you have a hypersensitivity to mushrooms.
For use with those with any serious health concerns, please consult a qualified medical practitioner, licensed herbalist or nutritionist. No adverse reactions to chaga have been recorded thus far, but we recommend exercising caution whenever introducing new foods to your diet.
When should you NOT take Chaga?
Chaga is non-toxic. We have tested our Chaga extract extensively, and have not yet seen any adverse reactions to it. However, this does not mean that Chaga is safe for everyone. Since it is a mushroom, people who are allergic to mushrooms should not take Chaga. Likewise, if you notice that you are experiencing an adverse reaction to Chaga, please stop taking it immediately and contact your doctor.
We also ask those who receive intravenous glucose, or receive penicillin-based drugs or allergic to penicillin do not take Chaga, as penicillin type of drugs are natural antagonists to Chaga mushroom, and may also cause an allergic reaction (although we have not had a single case of such reactions, but safety is always our number one concern).
Chaga is also not recommended for use in pregnant women, nursing mothers, or children under 2 years of age.
Chaga as immune boosting supplement should be used with extreme care or avoid completely in organ transplant patients who take immune suppressive medicine.
Is Chaga safe for children?
No research on using Chaga with children currently exists. We will continue to post updates on our website, however, we recommend that you remain cautious and abstain from using Chaga in kids younger than 2 years of age.
Do Sayan Chaga products contain caffeine?
No - none of our products contain caffeine or any other types of stimulants of any kind.
Can I mix Chaga with coffee?
We’ve done pretty extensive research in this area, and finally decided that we do not recommend mixing Chaga with stimulants such as caffeine (sorry, everyone!). If you think about it, Chaga and stimulants could be considered to have completely opposite properties and may negate each other’s effects. So, as much as we hesitate to say this – try to abstain from caffeine when you use Chaga, although it is tempting, since coffee masks the strong herbal note almost completely!
Are the products vegan and gluten free?
Yes! There are no animal or wheat products in our products
If I just want to take Chaga to improve my health, but have no specific health condition to treat, do you recommend I drink Chaga tea, or Chaga extract?
Generally speaking, there is no single preferred way of adding Chaga to your diet. With Chaga extract, it is must easier to regulate the dosage, so there is no need to drink tons and tons of tea if you wish to increase the amount of Chaga in your diet. We think that just depends on your taste preference. Some people enjoy the relaxing act of sipping a cup of tea, while others prefer mixing the extract with other flavored drinks – the choice is yours!
Why do you recommend using Chaga extract, as opposed to just ground, raw Chaga?
You may definitely use ground, raw Chaga – however, chances are that it will pass through your digestive system with minimal absorption, since humans lack the digestive enzymes to completely break down the raw, woodsy mushroom. It would take us 8-10 hours to absorb all the active ingredients, whereas in reality, it will pass through our gastrointestinal tract way quicker than that. Extract is not technically the raw mushroom – it’s actually a collection of all the active ingredients the Chaga mushroom released while we processed it. Plus, Chaga extract dissolves in water easily, and is therefore much easier to digest, allowing for a much better absorption.
Here’s an example that may help you understand the benefits (other than we just mention above) of using extract chaga powder vs. raw chaga – if you like coffee, there are several ways you can get it. You may plant and grow a coffee tree, harvest the coffee berries, extract the coffee beans, wash them, dry them, roast them, grind them, and brew your coffee with a sense of deep satisfaction, because you just made everything from scratch! You may also save yourself the time by simply buying coffee at the store and drinking it – a much shorter process, though just as effective.
Processing Chaga is not too much different. You could fly to Siberia, harvest Chaga, bring it home, wash it, grind it, and brew it. You could also buy already ground Chaga, pour hot water over it, and let it brew for 8-10 hours. Or, you could buy Chaga extract, dissolve it in some liquid – and you have yourself a Chaga drink. The end result is the same for any of these methods – the time you put in to get to it is really the only difference.
We must note that based on our observations, the active ingredients in raw Chaga mushroom start to degrade after one year (another reason why the extract is better to use – it stays effective for two years). Keep in mind that if you buy raw Chaga mushrooms, it may be hard to estimate how old they are, so the chances of one buying an old mushroom are pretty unpredictable. We have a stringent quality check process in place that we employ when manufacturing our Chaga extract, which helps tremendously to avoid any low-quality/old product. Oddly enough, once in a while we see situations where customers are charged high premium prices for raw Chaga mushroom, although the extract is much more potent, and also priced lower.
You are referring to your Chaga extract as having an exceptional high ORAC score. However, you are showing a level of 1,532, which cannot be considered high at all, this is the level of an apricot. The acai extract has a level of 102,700 and pomegranates 4,479 (105 on your graph). High levels are close to the 200,000 units range, according to ORACvalues.com. Can you explain this? Am I missing something?
We understand your concern about internet overflow with false and exaggerated ORAC claims. Many companies use all kind of tricks to bump ORAC score for their products by using different scale measurements. In your question you are referring to several ORAC score numbers, however this approach is not valid unless you provide the measurements value. This is where many companies try to take advantage of consumers and use measurements value per liter or per kilo. Our measurements value is in micromoles of Trolox Equivalents per 1 gram. The website which you are refereeing to ORAC values.com provides ORAC scores per 100 grams, please see FAQ section, question #4 or click on small blue icon just before the ORAC score.
If you use the same measurement value for chaga extract powder than the total value of Sayan Health, Inc. Chaga extract powder should be 153,200 which tops all products listed but spices. Acai level of 102,700 is for fruit pulp/skin powder and this number is for Total ORAC which is sum of H-ORAC with 99,700 and L-ORAC with 3,000 micromoles of Trolox Equivalents per 100 grams respectively. Our testing was also done for both H-ORAC with 151,100 and L-ORAC with 2,200 micromoles of Trolox Equivalent per 100 grams.
Now, let’s take one step forward and see what these high ORAC values really mean. There is probably a reason why 10 out of top 12 products with high ORAC value are spices. We don’t know what the process of manufacturing these spices is or why they have so high ORAC values. But we know that people don’t use a lot of spices in everyday life. Our daily supplement dose of chaga extract powder is 2-3 grams, so it’s almost as high and in some cases higher than top 10 products. We probably use spices in our daily life in milligrams rather grams. Based on this we believe our chaga extract powder is the winner.
We updated our ORAC graph and it is curently has chaga extract ORAC value of 153,200 per 100 grams.
How is Chaga extract prepared, and why is there variation in pricing when compared to other sources of Chaga?
Chaga is first washed, dried, and ground. Then, the extract powder is produced via a hot water, low pressure aqueous solution extraction process. This proprietary process absolutely ensures the maximum preservation of all the active compounds in Chaga.
While you may see seemingly similar quality of Chaga products for lower prices, rest assured that our hand-picked, wild harvested Chaga extract is prepared according to the highest standards, and with a single goal – to preserve all of Chaga’s active ingredients and prepare the extract in a way that allows for maximum absorption (also see question about using raw vs. processed Chaga).
Preparation of Chaga extract remotely resembles the process of making coffee. We do the hard work, which is harvest and prepare the product, so our customers only need to brew it. Customers do not have to process the fresh Chaga mushroom material (which, if not processed, starts losing its healing properties after a year).
Do you sterilize the Chaga extract?
No, Chaga extract is not sterile, as sterilizing may undermine its effectiveness. But we do have a strict quality control process in place that ensures that we never produce or sell Chaga extract powder that has been compromised in any way.
How do you explain the fact that Chaga extract powder comes in different colors – from black to dark brown?
Dried Chaga is pure black in color. During the grinding process, the resulting powder resembles tiny crystals. Bigger grains are black, while smaller ones reflect light differently and therefore look lighter, browner in color. If you were to try grinding the black extract crystals further, you’d see that as the bigger grains are broken down, they will become brown in color.
Do you recommend any specific diets when using Chaga?
Yes – for maximum results we recommend that you keep a healthy vegetable-dairy diet and limit your intake of fatty food and red meats, including smoked, processed, or fried food. The idea here is to let your body heal itself, without overloading your metabolism. We also recommend that you minimize the amount of caffeine and alcohol, and abstain from smoking – but that’s probably a great habit to build even when you’re not taking Chaga.
How much Chaga extract should I take?
Normal daily supplement dose: 0.07 - 00.10 oz (2-3 grams, or about half a teaspoon) of powdered Chaga extract mixed with your favorite beverage, to be taken daily (200-250ml of liquid should be adequate).
A more potent daily supplement plus dose is 0.25 – 0.35 oz (7-10 grams, or about 2 teaspoons) .
While taking Chaga, if you find yourself starting off at a smaller dose, try to gradually increase the daily amount to 2-3 grams a day (or 8-10 grams if a stronger dose is desired).
Chaga extract has an acquired taste - it may even seem bitter as it has a lot of herbal flavor. Feel free to add some sweetener such as honey or sugar to suit your individual preference.
We recommend that you take Chaga 2-3 times daily, 20-30 minutes before or after meals.
Should I take a break from taking Chaga from time to time? Why or why not?
After one month of use, we recommend that you to take a 5 - 7 day break, and then resume taking it again for another 5-6 months. You may repeat this pattern over and over. On the other hand, we do have customers who tell us they’ve been taking Chaga non-stop for years. For example, one of them lives in a Japan and was diagnosed with cancer several years ago – he drinks Chaga extract instead of tea every day, and is able to maintain his health, although at some point, the doctors discharged him from the hospital and said he only has 2 months to live. It just goes to show that human bodies are capable of healing themselves – all you need is the proper fuel!
What does Chaga taste like?
Chaga has a pleasant herbal flavor – some describe it as woody, others even say it has a slight chocolate note. It is rich and earthy, and while it may have an acquired taste, most of our customers enjoy drinking Chaga mixed with just water.
If you prefer to add more flavor to the extract, feel free to mix it with a beverage you enjoy, or perhaps consider adding some syrup or honey to bring a hint of sweetness to the mixture.
Why is there variation in how raw Chaga or Chaga extract tastes?
Chaga’s active ingredients are actually a product of the Chaga mushroom and birch tree on which it grows. Siberia is home to more than a dozen types of birch trees of various shapes and colors (for instance, some have darker bark than others), which inevitably has an impact on the taste of the Chaga mushroom. In fact, Chaga mushroom from the Far Eastern region tastes different from its counterpart in the Siberian region, which tends to grow on birch trees with lighter bark color. However, while the taste of the Chaga mushroom varies, its effectiveness remains the same, regardless of the type of birch tree it was harvested from.
How long does it take to feel/see any results from taking Chaga?
Overall strengthening and immune support effect should be evident within 15-30 days, assuming you’re using it as recommended, and hopefully keeping a healthy diet. But remember – every individual is different, therefore, results will somewhat vary. It also depends on how you define a “result”. Is it relief from a symptom? Better sleep? More energy? Some of our customers tell us that they could tell Chaga was “working” when they made it through a cold/flu season without getting sick – so be aware of any changes that your body is going through, and celebrate the small victories along the way!
How is Chaga tea with Guelder Rose different from pure Chaga tea? How do I know which one is better to take?
There is some evidence that Guelder Rose might have anti-spasmotic and nerve tonic properties in some people, so depending on your health needs and/or taste preference, you may decide which one works better for you.
Is one Chaga tea bag enough for two cups of Chaga tea? Or, can I use one Chaga tea bag more than once?
For optimal results, we recommend that you steep each tea bag for up to 4 - 5 minutes, however, please try to only use each tea bag once. If you do try to re-use the tea bag again, you will most likely find that not only the woody flavor of Chaga will be much stronger, but the number of active ingredients released will be much lower. Each tea bag has the recommended dose of Chaga extract, so if possible, please refrain from splitting it into two cups, as that will make it less effective.
Can I brew Chaga in boiling water?
Chaga extract and Chaga tea can be brewed using boiling water, since both are already processed and thus their effectiveness should not be impacted. However, we do not recommend using boiling water with raw Chaga, since the hot temperature may corrupt the melanin complex and the polysaccharides, among other active ingredients. We recommend using water below 50C or 122F to brew raw Chaga.
What is the shelf life of Chaga, and how should I store it?
Chaga extract will remain effective for 24 months (2 years) at about 24C, or 75F. We suggest keeping it in a cool, dry, and dark place – some of the active ingredients can degrade after exposure to direct sunlight. Also, moisture will undermine the quality of Chaga, and may even cause mold, so make sure it’s always dry.
Can you make a Chaga tinctures by mixing equal parts of Chaga extract and alcoholic spirits such as vodka?
We strongly advise against it, since what we have IS already a potent Chaga extract, and making a tincture from chaga extract is redundant and reduces the amount of ingredients your body could potentially benefit from. Tinctures are typically made from Chaga mushroom, not Chaga extract. Furthermore, a Tincture of Chaga mushroom based on vodka or any other spirits is not as effective as a water-based Chaga mushroom extract, as alcohol does not extract nearly as many ingredients from Chaga as water. The only benefit of using alcohol to make a Chaga Tincture is product sterilization, which is actually the byproduct of this process. However, this is mostly done by pharmacies or other pharmaceutical organizations, seeking to increase the product’s shelf life. In case of chaga extract powder, you already have a product that is ready to use – you probably wouldn’t want to mix your instant coffee with alcohol, and this is quite similar.
How far does Chaga grow from populated regions?
Chaga practically never grows close to any populated regions, since Siberia is not densely populated to begin with (only 40 million people live in this immense region that takes up 13.1 million square kilometers, or over 8 million miles).
Does the birch tree die after the Chaga mushroom is harvested?
No, the birch tree does not die. In fact, quite the opposite is true - Chaga can only remain alive as long as the birch tree is alive. If the birch tree dies, Chaga mushroom will release spores into the air to reach other birch trees, after which it dies itself as well.
Does Chaga come from just one Siberian region or several?
Chaga comes from several Siberian regions, with majority of the supply from the Baikal lake region.We do not harvest chaga from Altai mountains region.
What is the meaning of the word 'Sayan'?
Sayan is the name of the mountain region in Siberia where Sayan Health, Inc. harvests chaga and other herbs and berries. The beauty, serenity and purity of the place inspired us to use this name the company.
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