Traditional use
Turkey Tail
Trametes versicolor
Turkey Tail is the striped, fan shaped bracket fungus you have almost certainly walked past on a fallen log. Most of the research on it sits in clinical settings we will not discuss on a food website, so this page sticks to the two studies that speak to everyday use.
What the research shows
Summaries below describe what each study measured and reported. None of them used a Mello product, and none of them is a claim about what Mello will do for you.
Randomised human trial
Effects of polysaccharopeptide from Trametes versicolor and amoxicillin on the gut microbiome of healthy volunteers
Pallav K and colleagues. Gut Microbes, 2014.
View on PubMed (opens in a new tab)A randomised trial in healthy volunteers looking at what Turkey Tail polysaccharopeptide does to gut bacteria, on its own and alongside a course of antibiotics. The researchers reported measurable shifts in the composition of the gut microbiome in the group taking the mushroom extract. It is a small study, and a change in bacterial composition is a measurement, not an outcome.
Laboratory study
The mycelium of Trametes versicolor and its fermented substrate each show immune activating properties in vitro
Benson KF and colleagues. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2019.
View on PubMed (opens in a new tab)Laboratory work testing Turkey Tail mycelium and its fermented substrate on human immune cells in culture. Both fractions triggered immune cell activity, and the researchers described their effects as complementary rather than identical. This is in vitro work, so it describes cells in a dish rather than anything that happened in a person.
How it shows up in Mello
Turkey Tail is one of the six mushrooms in the extract blend listed on the pack. It is the quietest ingredient by taste, with a mild, slightly tannic edge. The studies below used Turkey Tail preparations that differ from ours in dose and form, so read them as background on the ingredient rather than as results you should expect from Mello.