Are fungi good for you?
Daniel Commane 27/04/23
Love them or loathe them the humble mushroom is somewhat overlooked when we think about foods for health. Are we missing a trick?
Our ancestors seemed to think so! Mushrooms, and not just the psychedelic variety, featured heavily in traditional medicine, and the ancients may have been on to something. From a nutritional perspective, mushrooms can be a good source of selenium, potassium and various B-vitamins, and antioxidants such as glutathione. Some varieties of wild or sun exposed mushrooms can also be rich in vitamin D.
Data from a large study in the US suggests that people consuming the most mushrooms might live longer. Part of the reason for this might reside in the cell wall of the fungi. Like plants, fungi have a cell wall rich in fibre, in the case of fungi this is largely in an interesting form of biologically active β-glucan. The bugs in our guts love β-glucan, and regular consumption may help keep that microbial community healthy, which in turn is good for us.
Moreover, our own immune cells may talk to this β-glucan recognising it as a component of fungi that often live in the gut.
Fungi are an important feature of a normal gut microbiome, however when that cross-talk between our immune system and gut fungi breaks down we are at risk of inflammatory disease.
Whether or not the fungi that we eat as food keep the communication between us and our resident fungi on track is the subject of an exciting new research project at Northumbria. It is early days for this work, but investigators note that “the umami properties and their culinary versatility may make mushrooms a valuable addition to any diet” and they may just be doing us some good.
How to eat, for a quick and sustainable blast of B vitamins and fibre: Saute chestnut mushrooms with baby spinach and flaked almonds, add dried chilli and pepper to taste, add the juice of half a lemon and stir through with a spoonful of ricotta.
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