Host Defense Fungi Perfecti, Stamets 7, 120 Veggie Caps Fpi-03703

Great brand, definitely effective

Everything Stamens makes is 100% worth it

Very effective with nice scent.

I have ordered this several times, and feel it adds overall to my body's immunity and well-being. The last bottle had several empty capsules in it, which was disheartening. Hope I'm getting full contents. I was halfway through the bottle before I found empty capsules, so I couldn't ascertain whether I got the full amount.

As much as I would like to eat 7 distinct species of whole mushrooms daily -- even weekly would do much for my health and happiness -- it just isn't practical for me to grow or ethically source all of these mushrooms fresh. I have read all of Paul Stamets' books -- I must have bought one of the first copies of Mycelium Running sold on Amazon a dozen years ago or so -- and I consider him a real champion of mycology. He’s approached it in a way that most biologists haven’t the time or mindset to pursue even if they wanted to. What he has done out in Washington State with his company, and on the international mycological PR world, is just wonderful. It seems to me that every mushroom has its own "magic," whether realized in famously conspicuous ways like the poisonous or mind-altering species, or in more subtle ways. The striking appearances and striking effects that mushrooms have on other organisms might fascinate and draw us in initially, but subtleties, I think, are what keep so many of us hooked for years. This Host Defense product is an example of the subtleties...it's not an herbal product that makes most people feel, act, or perceive that anything's changed in their lives…it's more likely to start out for you as more of a heart-and-soul thing. As this particular blend-of-seven product has become more affordable, I find myself returning to it again. Within Stamets' lifetime, the value and diversity of carbohydrates in signaling, disease prevention, etc., has gone from an area of interest admittedly shrouded in mystique, speculation, and tradition, to a somewhat formal area of research that's attracting funding from the evidence-based and hope-to-be-evidence-based investigative communities. Each of us can take that for what it's worth – maybe it matters and maybe it shouldn’t – but it's no secret that some of the links are finally showing up in the mainstream. No surprise to me there. I put stock in Paul's hypothesis that the mycelia that his company, Fungi Perfecti, grows for this product may do as much, or more for us, than cooking up the seven fruitbodies and eating them. Taking mushrooms as a capsule leaves out the experientially fun part of cooking and eating a delicious mushroom; I, for one, will never shy away from eating a mushroom, wild or tame, when I get the chance. One should embark on that experience of culinary joy at every opportunity to do so safely! Also, it's a pretty great community of people who go out and pick these wild and/or grow them at home. (Mushroom-growers are farmers too!) It will bring you together with people you might never have known -- like the very networks of mycelia -- but you really needn’t, and probably shouldn’t, go that route until and unless you’re inherently drawn to it. Fungi Perfecti has made it all much simpler for you...as the makers of Ragu used to say, "it's in there!" Paul's philosophies and products are well worth your investigation, and when you have the extra money to spend, this product, Host Defense, is one that's surely worth your dollars, too. There is no one quite like Fungi Perfecti...where would consciousness be without cheerleaders of reason like Stamets and Andrew Weil too, for that matter...with their equal parts of level-headed goodness and entrepreneurship?