The compounds used to standardise cordyceps do not identify it
Cordycepin and mannitol turned up in all ten samples, the five authentic and the five substitutes alike. Mannitol alone ranged fifty-sevenfold across them.
What the study found
Two newly identified glycosides were all that told real from fake
Cordycepin and mannitol, the two compounds most often used to standardise these products, turned up in all ten samples alongside phenylalanine, in the five authentic and the five substitutes alike. Mannitol ranged from 0.33 to 18.9 percent across them, a fifty-sevenfold spread.
The caveat · Two authors sell authenticity tests
Ten samples in total, five per group, which is small for a statement about a market. Two of the authors work for a company selling authentication testing, which is a commercial interest in the standard markers failing. The paper set out to propose better markers, so that failure is its starting premise rather than a measured rate.