Comparison between Wild and Cultured Cordyceps

As mentioned in the life cycle of wild cordyceps earlier, there are many distinctive points to differentiate between wild and cultured cordyceps, and to highlight why are cultured cordyceps better than the wild.

Most important point is, wild cordyceps (Cordyceps Sinensis) is one of the most expensive Chinese traditional herb in the global market. Lately it has become almost extinct as well as continually being manipulated by traders (almost 95% of the wild cordyceps sold in Malaysia are fake). Cultured cordyceps (Cordyceps Militaris) is produced as an alternative.

Below is a table of comparison of the nutritional values between wild and cultured cordyceps:

Wild Cordyceps (Cordyceps Sinensis)	Cultured Cordyceps (Cordyceps Militaris)
Expensive, almost extinct	Reasonably priced, quantity is cultured according to needs
Quality is influenced by factors such as soil, species of larva, harvesting period, temperature and contamination problems	Culturing is done under tightly controlled conditions with modern biotechnology culturing methods of rice and soy
Quality of nutrients is inconsistent, difficult to assess	Quality of nutrients is stable, easy to assess from time to time
Possible contamination with heavy metals	Free from heavy metal contamination

Scientists have also proven that by utilizing biotechnology, the main amino acid components are much higher in cultured cordyceps compared to the wild. Various species of wild cordyceps from Yushu, Huangzhong and Tibet were compared, which comparisons have shown that cultured cordyceps is much more concentrated in adenosine (A), guanosine (G) and uridine (U).

The table below shows the comparison between the 3 sources of wild cordyceps with respect to their amount of active ingredients cordycepin and adenosine:

Active Ingredients/Source of Cordyceps	Tibet	Huangzhong, Qinghai	Yushu, Qinghai
Cordycepin (mg/g of cordyceps)	4	4	3.6
Adenosine (mg/g of cordyceps)	0.12	0.015	0.01

Source: Wild Cordyceps (Li,  S.P et. al., 2003, phytomedicine vol.11, 684-690 & S.J. Das et. al., 2010, Filoterapia vol. 81, 961-968)

In addition, other types of nutrients are also higher in cultured cordyceps, as shown in the table below:

Active Ingredients/Type of Cordyceps	Biotechnogically Cultured Cordyceps	Wild Cordyceps
Adenosine	1.905 mg/g	0.1 mg/g
Cordycepin	6.9 mg/g	4.0 mg/g
Polysaccharides	21.0%	4.6%
SOD	3000u/g	36u/g
Cordycepin Acid	4.11%	3.54%
Protein	33.4%	28.0%
Other Nutrient Elements	High	Low

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