Mushrooms are power packed nutrition. Both wild and cultivated mushrooms have been consumed by humans for their nutritional and medicinal benefits. Nutritionally, mushrooms are low in calories and fat but high in protein, carbohydrate, and dietary fiber. Mushrooms contain a variety of minerals and trace elements such as potassium, and copper and vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, and folates. Apart from being recognized as a nutritious food, certain mushrooms are also an important source of biologically active compounds with potential medicinal value in Chinese medicine. Bioactive secondary metabolites found in mushrooms include phenolic compounds, sterols and triterpenes. In vitro and in vivo studies with mushrooms and isolated bioactive constituents have purported many pharmacological effects such as anti-tumour, antioxidant, antiviral, hypocholesterolemic and hypoglycemic effects. Consumption of mushrooms or mushroom products in our daily diet may provide health benefits.
Mycophagy, the act of consuming mushrooms, dates back to ancient times. Edible mushroom species have been found in association with 13,000-year-old archaeological sites in Chile. The Chinese value mushrooms for supposed medicinal properties as well as for food. Ancient Romans and Greeks, particularly the upper classes, used mushrooms for culinary purposes. Food tasters were employed by Roman emperors to ensure that mushrooms were safe to eat.
Mushrooms are cultivated in at least 60 countries with China, the United States, Netherlands, France and Poland being the top five producers in 2000.
Mushrooms are an edible fungi. They grow in fields and pastures, occasionally in open, grassy woods, abound in the early autumn, may be found throughout the summer. They are cultivated for the market both outdoors and in caves, cellars and other dark, cool places. Their food-value is not high, but they are prized as a table delicacy. Poisonous toadstools are frequently mistaken for mushrooms, and great care must be used when gathering the fungi. In the Agricultural Year Book, Washington, 1897, researcher Farlow says: “Avoid fungi when in the button or unexpanded stage, also those in which the flesh has begun to decay, even if only slightly. Avoid all fungi which have stalks with a swollen base surrounded by a sac-like or scaly envelope especially if the gills are white. Avoid all fungi having a milky juice, unless the milk is reddish. Avoid fungi in which the cap or pileus is thin in proportion to the gills, and in which the gills are nearly all of equal length, especially if the pileus is brightly colored. Avoid all tube-bearing fungi in which the flesh changes color when cut or broken or where the mouths of the tube are reddish; and in cases of other tube-bearing fungi experiment with caution. Fungi which have a sort of spider-web or flocculent ring around the upper part of the stalk should in general be avoided.”
A commonly eaten mushroom is the white mushroom (Agaricus bisporus). Agaricus mushrooms provide 22 calories and are 92% water, 3% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and 0.3% fat. They contain high levels (20% or more of the Daily Value, (DV) of riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid (24-33% DV), with moderate content of phosphorus. Raw white mushrooms generally have low amounts of essential nutrients. Although cooking (by boiling) lowers mushroom water content only 1%, the contents per 100 grams for several nutrients increase appreciably, especially for dietary minerals.
Vitamin D
The content of vitamin D is absent or low unless mushrooms are exposed to sunlight or purposely treated with artificial ultraviolet light, even after harvesting and processed into dry powder.
Mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light produce vitamin D2 before or after harvest by converting ergosterol, a chemical found in large concentrations in mushrooms, to vitamin D2 is synthesized after exposure to sunlight. Note: the 2 should be smaller case, but I don’t have the option to obtain it to be placed here.
Testing showed an hour of UV light exposure before harvesting made a serving of mushrooms contain twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s daily recommendation of vitamin D, and 5 minutes of artificial UV light exposure after harvesting made a serving of mushrooms contain four times the FDA’s daily recommendation of vitamin D.
Many mushrooms have been used as foods and medicines for a long time. Mushrooms contain polyphenols, polysaccharides, vitamins and minerals. Studies show that mushrooms possess various bioactivities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective and antidiabetic properties, therefore, mushrooms have attracted increasing attention in recent years, and could be developed into a functional food or medicines for prevention and treatment of several chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative disease.
The antioxidant activity, including inhibition of lipid peroxidation, reduction of human low-density lipoproteins, scavenging of free radicals, etc. has been extensively studied. Polysaccharides in mushrooms are generally considered to be the main contributors to the antioxidant activity. Polysaccharides are immunomodulators. It is this compound that can stimulate the immune system, depending on what your body needs. Caring for your immune system before you get sick is important to life.
Did you know there are about 1.5 million different types of fungi? There are 6 times more mushroom varieties than plant varieties.
Mushrooms are one of the most natural and accessible types of medicine on the plant. The reason is that they are so effective when taken for medicinal purposes is because humans share 30-50% of the DNA found in mushrooms. This DNA similarity allows us to absorb and use the healing properties found in medicinal mushrooms. Namely, the ribosomal DNA found in mushrooms is the same DNA that allows humans to synthesize protein.
Some experts say that up to 40% of all pharmaceuticals are derived from fungi, penicillin being the most notable. There is extensive research on the healing properties of mushrooms, which is good news for people looking for natural alternatives to medication in order to support their health.
Easily cultivated and common wild mushrooms are often available in markets, and those that are more difficult to obtain (such as the prized truffle, matsutake and morel) may be collected on a smaller scale by private gatherers. Some preparations may render certain poisonous mushrooms fit for consumption. NOTE: Don’t go picking up just any mushroom that you might find growing in your yard or out in nature. Stay to those sold in grocery stores and health food stores. Wild mushrooms must be identified as safe before consuming any of them.
Accurate determination and proper identification of the species is the only safe way to ensure edibility, and the only way to safeguard against possible accident or allergic reaction. In some individuals, and old or improperly stored specimens can cause food poisoning. Great care should be taken when eating any fungus for the first time, and only small quantities should be consumed in case of individual allergies. Even normally edible, than to experiment indiscriminately. Moreover, even normally edible species of mushrooms may be dangerous, as mushrooms growing in polluted locations can accumulate pollutants such as heavy metals.
