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Tiger Milk Mushroom is a polypore from Malaysia and neighbouring parts of South East Asia, and the part sold is the sclerotium, a dense underground storage body rather than the cap. Indigenous communities in Malaysia have used it for cough, asthma and general stamina for centuries, and the name comes from the story that it grows where a tigress dripped milk. It was effectively unbuyable until the 2010s because it could not be farmed; wild sclerotia were rare enough to be a luxury item. A Malaysian company then succeeded in cultivating it by solid-state fermentation, which is why almost every product on the market is the same cultivar, TM02, and why almost every study names that cultivar too.
- Respiratory and immune signal consistent across cell, animal and human work
- One human study behind the respiratory claim, not just tradition
- Lowered IL-1 beta and IL-8 in that human trial
- Toxicology unusually thorough and genuinely reassuring for a mushroom
- Centuries of Malaysian use for cough, asthma and stamina
- Nearly unbuyable before cultivation cracked it in the 2010s
Mechanism
The active fraction is not a small molecule but a mixture of proteins, polysaccharides and glycoproteins in the sclerotium, which is why extracts are described by molecular weight rather than by a named compound. A high molecular weight fraction carries most of the measured activity in cell work.
The mechanisms reported are immunomodulatory and antioxidant rather than stimulant. In cell and animal work it lowers interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 8, raises antioxidant capacity, and acts on the tumour necrosis factor pathway. In nematodes the lifespan effect ran through the DAF-16 forkhead pathway with changes in SOD-3 and HSP-16.2, which is the same conserved stress-response route several other longevity candidates act on. None of that has been shown to be the operative mechanism in a person.
Evidencehow good the literature is
One open-label human study plus consistent preclinical work; no placebo-controlled trial exists
Safetyrisks and cautions, not medical advice
The toxicology is unusually good for a supplement of this kind. A 180 day rat study found no adverse effect at up to 1000 mg/kg daily, no effect on fertility, no teratogenicity in offspring, and no genotoxicity in the Ames test, giving a no observed adverse effect level above 1000 mg/kg.
That is a statement about the cultivated TM02 sclerotium, not about wild material of uncertain identity, and it is an animal result rather than a human safety database. The human study ran three months in 50 people at 300 mg twice daily without reported harm, which is reassuring and far too small and too short to detect anything uncommon. Anyone on immunosuppressants should treat an immunomodulator as a real interaction question rather than a food.
History
Recorded in Chinese and Malay traditional medicine for more than four centuries, and expensive throughout because it could only be foraged. Successful cultivation by solid-state fermentation in Malaysia is what turned it from an ethnobotanical curiosity into a product with a supply chain, and also what makes the literature unusually coherent: most published work uses the single TM02 cultivar, so results are at least comparable to each other.
Subjective profileweighing the evidence above
The most interesting of the newer medicinal mushrooms, and the evidence is thinner than the enthusiasm. The respiratory and immune signal is real and consistent across cell, animal and one human study, the toxicology is genuinely reassuring, and the traditional use is specific rather than vague. What is missing is the thing that matters most: no placebo-controlled trial exists, the one human study was open-label with no control arm, and a large share of the literature comes from the cultivar's own producer. Reasonable to try for respiratory or immune support at the studied dose; unreasonable to treat the published effect sizes as established.
Where to buy
Suppliers
Vendors carrying Tiger Milk Mushroom, with live product details and codes. Links are affiliate links that support the wiki at no cost to you.
Amazon
Tiger Milk Mushroom
Research
- 2013first citedPreclinical toxicological evaluations of the sclerotium of Lignosus rhinocerus (Cooke), the Tig…
- 2021most active year3 papers
- 2024most recentMedicinal Tiger Milk Mushroom Lignosus rhinocerus TM02® (Agaricomycetes) Sclerotia Supplementat…
- 1.Effect of tiger milk mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus) supplementation on respiratory health, immunity and antioxidant status: an open-label prospective study.
- 2.Preclinical toxicological evaluations of the sclerotium of Lignosus rhinocerus (Cooke), the Tiger Milk mushroom.
- 3.A Status Review of the Bioactive Activities of Tiger Milk Mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis (Cooke) Ryvarden.
- 4.Extracts of the Tiger Milk Mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus) Enhance Stress Resistance and Extend Lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans via the DAF-16/FoxO Signaling Pathway.
- 5.Medicinal Tiger Milk Mushroom Lignosus rhinocerus TM02® (Agaricomycetes) Sclerotia Supplementation Mitigates Hypertension and Alleviates Vascular Dysfunction Partly through Oxidative Stress Modulation in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.
- 6.Immunomodulatory Effect and an Intervention of TNF Signalling Leading to Apoptotic and Cell Cycle Arrest on ORL-204 Oral Cancer Cells by Tiger Milk Mushroom, Lignosus rhinocerus.
- 7.Longitudinal Assessment of the Tiger Milk Medicinal Mushroom, Lignosus rhinocerus (Agaricomycetes), Sclerotium Cultivar: Uniformity of Bioactive Components.
7 listed here; entry last updated August 2026