What are the health effects of turkey tail mushroom and is it safe?

Written by Meredith Worthington, Ph.D. — Medically reviewed and edited by Tod Cooperman, M.D.

Updated August 24, 2023 ⓘ

Turkey tail mushrooms growing on the side of a tree

Answer:

Turkey tail (Coriolus versicolor or Trametes versicolor) is a mushroom common in parts of Asia, North America and Europe. It has a disc-like shape and brown and tan coloration that resembles the appearance of a turkey's tail.

Turkey tail contains two polysaccharide compounds, polysaccharide-K (also known as PSK or krestin) and polysaccharopeptide (PSP), both of which are thought to have immune boosting effects and anticancer activity based on evidence from laboratory studies (Medicinal Mushrooms (PDQ), In: PDQ Cancer Information Summaries [Internet] 2023; Saleh, Front Immunol 2017). These constituents have been used for decades in Japan and China, respectively, as adjuvant treatments for cancer, but they are not approved for cancer treatment in the U.S.

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