# Dietary Use of Hericium coralloides for NAFLD Prevention

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the potential of Hericium coralloides as a dietary supplement for preventing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease due to its bioactive compounds.

## Contribution

The paper highlights the use of pure metabolites from H. coralloides for targeted therapeutic effects in functional foods.

## Key findings

- H. coralloides contains bioactive metabolites like lovastatin and ergothioneine effective against NAFLD in vitro and in vivo.
- Dietary supplements using pure metabolites allow for standardized dosing and targeted therapeutic benefits.
- H. coralloides is a rare species, so in vitro cultivation is necessary for industrial applications.

## Abstract

Introduction: Today, scientists are searching for alternative approaches to preventing metabolic diseases, particularly non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which reduces the healthy life expectancy of the working population. Fungi, such as Hericium coralloides (Scop.) Pers., are promising raw materials for extracting bioactive substances with preventative potential. Materials and Methods: This review covered review and research articles published over the last 42 years and indexed in the databases of the eLIBRARY.RU, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and Scopus. Results and Discussion: It has been established that H. coralloides is valued for its nutritional properties due to its rich protein, fat, and mineral composition. It is in demand for pharmaceutical purposes due to its content of bioactive metabolites. The most studied metabolites are lovastatin and ergothioneine. The activity of these biologically active substances against NAFLD has been confirmed by studies in vitro and in vivo. Market analysis revealed that most dietary supplements contain fungal mycelium or its extract. It is preferable to use pure metabolites of H. coralloides as nutrients in dietary supplements and functional foods, since it allows the scientists to standardize their doses, target the therapeutic effect (immunity, neuroprotection, or antitumor), and reduce the required intake of the product. Since this fungus is a rare species in nature, its biomass should be grown in vitro for industrial use. Conclusions: Further research will focus on developing methods for extracting H. coralloides metabolites and assessing their biopotential in vivo and clinical studies.