Background: Mycelium of the medicinal mushroom shiitake, Lentinus edodes, is a potential source for production of the blood cholesterol reducing compound eritadenine. To increase the mycelial biomass and in turn the production of eritadenine, a potential growth promoting substance in the form of a water extract of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) was added to the culture media. Results: The hot water extract of DDGS was shown to considerably increase the growth of shiitake mycelia in bioreactor cultivations; the mycelial yield was 2-3 times higher than in the control, and the highest final biomass concentration obtained was 3.4 g L -1. Further, by using shake flask cultures as inoculums the bioreactor cultivation time could be reduced by 1 week for some of the experiments. The highest final titer of eritadenine in the present study was 25.1 mg L -1, which was about 2 times higher than in the control, and was also obtained when a water extract of DDGS was added to the culture medium. Conclusion: It was demonstrated that a water extract of DDGS promoted the growth of shiitake mycelia in bioreactor cultivations, along with enhanced eritadenine production