The Rise of the Humble Mushrooms

Mushroom is not only a savory food but is also beneficial for cognitive health in elderly and reduced prevalence of fatty liver disease.

A recent article published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease assessed the cross-sectional association between mushroom consumption and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in 663 individuals aged ≥60 years from the Diet and Healthy Aging (DaHA) study in Singapore. The researchers successfully concluded that participants consuming >2 portions of mushroom per week were less likely to develop MCI (OR= 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.78, p= 0.006) compared to participants consuming mushrooms <1 portion per week¹.

Zhang et al.² in their prospective cross-sectional study included 24,236 Chinese adults with a mean age of 40.7 years and examined the association of mushroom intake and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The prevalence of NAFLD decreased with increased consumption of mushroom, whether 2-3 times/week (OR= 0.95, 95% CI 0.86-1.05, P= 0.01) or ≥4 times/week (OR= 0.76, 95% CI 0.63-0.92, P= 0.01) compared to participants who consumed ≤1 time/week (reference= 1.00), and it was independent of age, sex and BMI.

Mushrooms are popular among vegetarians due to their high nutritional value; they are rich in proteins and amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamine, glutamic acid, leucine, and valine), carbohydrates (chitin, glycogen, mannitol and trehalose), fiber (β-glucan, hemicelluloses and pectin), polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins (folates, niacin, vitamin B2 and traces of vitamin, B1, B12, C, D and E) and minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc) and are low in fat and calories³.

Additionally, mushrooms are also considered a functional food (nutraceutical) and this property is attributed to their bioactive compounds including secondary metabolites (acids, alkaloids, lactones, metal chelating agents, nucleotide analogs, polyphenols, sterols, sesquiterpenes, terpenoids and vitamins), polysaccharides (mainly β-glucans) and glycoproteins³.
For more than 5000 years the traditional Chinese medicine has utilized mushrooms bioactivities, which include antioxidant property, anti-inflammatory activity, immunomodulatory activity, anticancer property, antimicrobial (antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal) activity, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antihypertensive and anti-hypercholesterolemia activities. These properties render them useful in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases⁴.

The distinction between edible and medicinal mushrooms is extremely difficult due to the nutraceutical properties of many edible mushrooms. Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom), Agaricus blazei (sun mushroom), Agaricus subrufescens (almond mushroom), Auricularia auricular-judae (ear), Coprinus comatus (shaggy mane), Flammulina velutipes, Grifola frondosa (maitake), Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s head), Lentinus edodes (shiitake), Lentinus polychrous, Lepista nuda (blewit), Pleurotus species (oyster mushroom), Pholiota nameko, Panellus serotinus (Mukitake), Tremella fuciformis, Tremetes versicolor and Volvariella volvacea (straw) are examples of some of the edible mushrooms. Whereas medicinal mushrooms include Ganoderma (Lingzhi/Reishi), Huitlacoche, Cordyceps species and Antrodia cinnanomea^3,5.

The use of mushrooms is not only limited to the food and biomedicine industry but also encompasses industries such as cosmetics, agriculture, wastewater management and environmental protection⁵.

This fungus has garnered worldwide recognition and appreciation not only in the culinary department, but its bioactivities and various health benefits have made it a superfood. The medicinal properties of mushrooms are directing novel researches into deriving bioactive extracts from them and formulating medicines for various chronic diseases.