A translucent white jelly fungus long eaten in Chinese cooking, usually in sweet soups, and sold as an extract for skin claims. Its characteristic constituent is a highly water-binding acidic polysaccharide.
Tremella is marketed almost entirely on a comparison — that its polysaccharide holds more water than hyaluronic acid — which is a measurement made in a laboratory about a gel, not a finding about human skin. Human trials are close to non-existent: a small Japanese study reported cognitive improvements in older adults taking Tremella extract, and there is very little else. As a food it is unremarkable and pleasant. As a skin supplement it is a mechanism-only product, and the mechanism is a water-retention property of a polysaccharide that is digested rather than delivered intact to the dermis.
Sold as
Hot-water extract powder, Capsule, Dried fruiting body for cooking, Topical formulations
Standardised to
Occasionally percentage polysaccharide; most products state nothing measurable — a product without this marker may not resemble what was studied.
Also known as
Snow fungus, Silver ear, White jelly mushroom, Yin er
Regulation: Sold as a dietary supplement in the US with no pre-market efficacy review, and eaten as a food across East Asia. Skin claims made for oral tremella are not supported by trials in people.
What the research used
The amounts, forms and durations published trials of Tremella actually administered.
These are the amounts published trials administered — not a recommendation, and not a dose to copy. Trial participants were screened, supervised and given a characterised preparation. What is in a retail bottle is frequently not what was studied, and the amount that suits one person is not general advice.
Studied for Cognitive study in older adults
600–1200 mg
Not enough
Tremella extract, daily · 8 weeks
A small Japanese trial in adults with mild memory complaints. Sample size in the tens, no independent replication, and not designed to test skin outcomes at all.
Studied for Skin and general supplement use
100–1000 mg
Not enough
Extract capsule, daily
What products contain. No human trial has tested oral tremella for skin, so there is no established dose for the use it is mostly sold for.
This is general information about food, not medical advice. It cannot diagnose, treat or replace guidance from a clinician who knows your history.
When it was taken
Each window says whether a trial compared it against an alternative, or whether it is convention and pharmacology. Most timing advice is the second kind.
None of the timings below were directly compared in a trial. They reflect how the research happened to dose, or what the pharmacology implies — which is not the same as a timing being better.
🕐Any time
Not enough
No timing research exists for tremella in any form.
Timing was not directly compared. This reflects convention or how the compound behaves in the body, not a trial showing this window works better.
The evidence in depth
Best supported: Not enough
What each association actually rests on, and the papers behind it. A rating describes the state of the research, not how promising the supplement sounds. How we rate evidence.
The water-holding comparison with hyaluronic acid is a property of the isolated polysaccharide measured in a laboratory. No randomised trial has tested oral tremella for skin hydration, elasticity or wrinkles in people.
What may be going on: Tremella polysaccharide binds large amounts of water in solution. Whether any of it survives digestion and reaches skin is unknown.
Not enough evidence. Not enough human research to say anything useful yet.
No source is attached to this association yet, so it is rated not enough evidenceby default. It is listed because people commonly ask about it — not because there is evidence for it.
Things to know
Interactions, contraindications and dose limits, most serious first. Concentrated extracts interact with medication in ways the whole plant does not, so this section carries more weight here than it does on a food page.
Worth knowing
The hyaluronic acid comparison is a laboratory measurement
Marketing describes tremella as holding many times its weight in water and therefore hydrating skin. The first part is a gel property measured in a beaker; the second does not follow from it, and no human trial has tested it.
Interaction
Possible antiplatelet activity
Interacts withWarfarin, antiplatelet drugs
Tremella polysaccharides have shown anticoagulant activity in laboratory work. Anyone on warfarin or antiplatelet medication, or approaching surgery, should mention it.
Allergy
Fungal allergy and product identity
As with any fungal supplement, allergic reactions occur in sensitised people, and dried jelly fungi sold loose are occasionally misidentified. Cultivated tremella from a known supplier is the safer route.
Worth knowing
No safety data in pregnancy
Eaten as a food it has a long history; taken as a concentrated extract in pregnancy it has not been studied, which is the usual reason to leave it.