According to Himalayan legend, herdsmen in ancient Tibet discovered cordyceps after noticing their yaks becoming energised and sexually active after chewing on a strange fungus found in the grasses! Cordyceps is best known as a natural energy and performance booster, and in recent years has become very popular with athletes. Cordyceps has been shown to increase our body’s production of ATP, which delivers energy to the working muscles and improves the way our body uses oxygen during exercise. This mushroom shot to fame in the 1990s, when the Chinese Olympic women’s team were investigated for performance-enhancing drug use after breaking so many records in such a short period. Their results were clean, and it turned out their ‘secret weapon’ was cordyceps! In more recent years, cordyceps has been investigated for its unique antioxidant properties and potential anti-tumor effects. In test tube studies, cordyceps has been shown to inhibit the growth of many human cancer cells, including lung, colon, skin and liver cancers.