NOW Foods Cordyceps 750 mg Review

Not 'worse', but different — and lower on the spec a knowledgeable buyer prioritises. NOW's Supplement Facts panel declares 'Organic Cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis) (Mycelium)'; it doesn't print a specific strain name like 'CS-4.' Commercial sinensis mycelium (often marketed under strain names such as CS-4) is grown in liquid culture because real wild sinensis is astronomically expensive, and it carries little to no cordycepin, the marker compound that Cordyceps militaris accumulates (Tuli 2014). So on active content, a militaris fruiting body ranks higher. The interesting wrinkle: the older human exercise trials used this same category of cultured sinensis mycelium — Chen 2010 tested CS-4 sinensis and found improved sub-maximal exercise thresholds (though not VO2max), and NOW's product sits in that same lineage. So it isn't inert; it's just the lower-cordycepin category.

Price, reliability, and trust. NOW is a high-volume brand with in-house and third-party (Intertek) GMP-audited manufacturing and a long track record of consistent quality control, and the raw unit price is low at around $0.19 a capsule. Just note the label serving is 2 capsules (1,500 mg), and the directions call for 2 capsules 2 to 3 times daily — so the real cost runs about $0.76–$1.13 a day, and a 90-count bottle lasts roughly 15–22 days at full label dosing, not the bargain a single-capsule read implies. It's organic-labeled Cordyceps sinensis mycelium, it's vegan, and it's stocked everywhere. You're buying a dependable, reasonably priced sinensis-mycelium product from a trusted name — not a concentrated, disclosed-potency militaris extract. For a value-focused buyer who's fine with that trade, it's a sensible choice.

No — neither the label nor the listing publishes a beta-glucan or cordycepin number, so we record 'not stated on the label' rather than estimating one. And because it's cultured sinensis mycelium rather than the militaris fruiting body, the expected cordycepin content is low regardless. If a disclosed active-content figure matters to you, the fruiting-body extracts disclose them: Real Mushrooms (>8% beta-glucans), FreshCap (32%), Double Wood (7% total polysaccharides).

Follow the label exactly: 'Take 2 capsules 2 to 3 times daily.' That's 4–6 capsules — 3,000–4,500 mg — a day, not a single flexible capsule. A 90-count bottle holds 45 of the label's 2-capsule servings, so at full label dosing it lasts roughly 15–22 days. Because any cordyceps effect builds over weeks rather than acting acutely, consistency matters more than timing — take it daily and give it several weeks. Note that the older sinensis-mycelium exercise trial (Chen 2010) used roughly 1,000 mg/day for 12 weeks before measuring changes — a lower dose than NOW's own label directs — so patience is appropriate.

Possibly modestly, over weeks — and notably this is cultured sinensis mycelium, the same category with actual (if mixed) human exercise data behind it. Chen 2010 found CS-4 sinensis mycelium improved sub-maximal metabolic and ventilatory thresholds in older adults over 12 weeks at roughly 1,000 mg/day, though it did NOT change VO2max — a lower dose than NOW's own labeled 3,000–4,500 mg/day. The militaris evidence (Hirsch 2017) is on a different, higher-cordycepin form. So expectations should be measured: take it consistently, pair it with training, and treat any improvement in exercise economy as a bonus rather than a guarantee.

1. [1] Chen 2010 PMID 20804368 — Effect of Cs-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) on exercise performance in healthy older subjects: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 20 healthy older adults, 12 weeks: CS-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) at 333 mg ×3/day raised the metabolic threshold by 10.5% and ventilatory threshold by 8.5% versus no change on placebo — but VO2max did NOT change. This is the same cultured sinensis-mycelium category as NOW's product, though NOW's label doesn't state the specific strain and directs a higher daily dose (3,000-4,500 mg vs. this trial's ~1,000 mg/day); the evidence is for improved sub-maximal exercise economy, not peak aerobic power.
2. [2] Hirsch 2017 PMID 27408987 — Cordyceps militaris Improves Tolerance to High-Intensity Exercise After Acute and Chronic Supplementation. Cited as the contrast: a Cordyceps militaris blend improved VO2max and time-to-exhaustion after 3 weeks. The stronger endurance signal is on the militaris form, not the sinensis mycelium form NOW uses — the reason militaris fruiting-body extracts rank above sinensis mycelium on this axis.
3. [3] Tuli 2014 PMID 28324458 — Pharmacological and therapeutic potential of Cordyceps with special reference to Cordycepin. Review of cordycepin, the principal bioactive of Cordyceps militaris. Explains why sinensis mycelium (which carries little cordycepin) ranks below a militaris fruiting body on active content.