Chang Chun-ming explains, "The C. sinensis we buy in herbal pharmacies is mostly the fungal growth of the 'summer grass.'" In fact, the nutritients from the larva of the "winter bug" have already been absorbed and transformed by the "summer grass." All that's left of the bug is the woody shell, which offers no more nutrition than dirt.
張純銘則解釋，「我們在中藥鋪所買到的冬蟲夏草，它的主要成分應該是在菌絲體的夏草上」，至於冬蟲的養分早已經被夏草所吸收轉換，所剩的蟲體不過是硬化的蛾蟲軀殼、菌絲體吃剩的營養和一些泥土罷了。