[Lotus]

i ordered reishi  liquid extract from hawaiinphrams on amazon. not sure how much more or less powerful it is vs the powder.  i would imagine the extract would be a bit more powerful, since its concentrated? i am going to try it sublingual. would it be better to let the liver handle it?

Extracts are typically more potent. Extracts in there nature, pull more out. Reishi Extract is amazing when its in alcohol, showing to be the most potent when it comes to DHT inhibition. Even Saw palmetto in extract form( containing equal or more than 85% fatty acids and sterols) as been shown to be more potent than pharmaceutical level DHT blockers.

Not all extracts are the same, concentrations may differ (see chart below). Careful what you buy, always make sure supplements are standardized when possible, that way at least there's some (not always) reassurance you're getting what's stated on the bottle. We've all seen the investigations into big box retail stores being caught selling supplements with very little of the labeled ingredients…Saw Palmetto being one of them. Even at best with Saw Palmetto being in Liquid Extract form I still wouldn't trust it over pharma class 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors (bicalutamide, finasteride, spironolactone, dutasteride…etc). 

Studies I've posted on Saw Palmetto berry lipid extract (SPLE) are in combination with something else because SP isn't strong enough on its own. Other research I've seen on SP is similar…Saw Palmetto isn't stronger than Pharma anti-androgens, why?...because Saw Palmetto can never be 100% guaranteed to contain its ingredients.

A preliminary investigation of the enzymatic inhibition of 5alpha-reduction and growth of prostatic carcinoma cell line LNCap-FGC by natural astaxanthin and Saw Palmetto lipid extract in vitro.

J Herb Pharmacother. 2005;5(1):17-26.
Abstract
Inhibition of 5alpha-reductase has been reported to decrease the symptoms of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and possibly inhibit or help treat prostate cancer. Saw Palmetto berry lipid extract (SPLE) is reported to inhibit 5 alpha-reductase and decrease the clinical symptoms of BPH. Epidemiologic studies report that carotenoids such as lycopene may inhibit prostate cancer. In this investigation the effect of the carotenoid astaxanthin, and SPLE were examined for their effect on 5alpha-reductase inhibition as well as the growth of prostatic carcinoma cells in vitro. These studies support patent #6,277,417 B1. The results show astaxanthin demonstrated 98% inhibition of 5alpha-reductase at 300 microg/mL in vitro. Alphastat, the combination of astaxanthin and SPLE, showed a 20% greater inhibition of 5alpha-reductase than SPLE alone in vitro. A nine day treatment of prostatic carcinoma cells with astaxanthin in vitro produced a 24% decrease in growth at 0.1 mcg/mL and a 38% decrease at 0.01 mcg/mL. SPLE showed a 34% decrease at 0.1 mcg/mL.
CONCLUSIONS: Low levels of carotenoid astaxanthin inhibit 5alpha-reductase and decrease the growth of human prostatic cancer cells in vitro. Astaxanthin added to SPLE shows greater inhibition of 5alpha-reductase than SPLE alone in vitro.

PMID 16093232 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Anti-cancer potential of flavonoids: recent trends and future perspectives
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824783/

Reishi info
Anti-androgen effects of extracts and compounds from Ganoderma lucidum
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19235153
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When the ratio of the extract is listed on the label  1:1 or 1:5  it's referring to the weight of the herb/plant and volume of the solvent used (alcohol/water). 

Manufacturers use different extraction processes, some might use solvents (alcohol) or high pressure cold water. Or some will go with CO2 extraction or Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE). You'll also get different explanations on how these results are obtained. For instance, this one comes from herb inc. 

Liquid Extract Strength

The strength ratio listed on liquid extracts is a weight to volume ratio (gram:ml)

1:1  = 1 gram (1000 mg) per 1 ml (20 drops)
1:2  = .5 grams (500 mg) per 1 ml (20 drops)
1:4  =  .25 grams (250 mg) per 1 ml (20 drops)
1:5  =  .2 grams (200 mg) per 1 ml (20 drops)
2:1  =  2 grams (2000 mg) per 1 ml (20 drops)

Note: Simply because a company used 1 gram of plant to 1 ml of alcohol does not mean you are necessarily getting 1 gram worth of plant matter per 20 drop dose - this depends on how readily the active constituents of a plant dissolve in alcohol.

Also, Fresh Extract and Dry Extract strengths cannot be compared. Fresh Extracts will often appear to have a stronger ratio because the company must compensate for the water mass of a fresh plant by adding more of the plant. Thus, a 1:5 Dry Extract is frequently stronger than a 1:1 Fresh Extract, depending on the plant in question.  Herb Pharm extracts tend to follow Pharmacopoeia guidelines for selecting fresh or dried plant, Gaia tends to follow a "fresh is better" approach; there is most likely validity to both arguments.

Gaia brand extracts use a method known as "double maceration" - a 1:1 extract from Gaia is a 1:2 extract in which the plant material is replaced with fresh plant material after the first extraction. This may or may not make an extract stronger depending on the plant and the solubility of the plant's active constituents.
In summary, it is nearly impossible to tell how strong an extract will be until you try it yourself.  "Standardized" extracts, in which a company tells you the concentration of active constituents (most companies will only test their product once despite seasonal crop variations), are not necessarily stronger than a normal extract.  The best advice we can offer is to find a brand you like and stick with it.