More About Mushrooms

In a world filled with a seemingly endless list of environmental pollutants and diets consisting of highly processed chemical filled food, the epidemic of illnesses sweeping our nation will only continue to grow exponentially. The choices we make around food and what we consume can dictate the trajectory and overall quality of our lives. Due to industrial farming techniques we have destroyed the populations of mycorrhizal mushrooms and fungi that allow our crops to uptake the vital nutrients and minerals from the soil needed for our health. As a result, even the healthy foods we consume lack the same amount of nutrients they did just 75 years ago. Finding new sources for minerals, vitamins and even proteins will be vital to combating our nation’s health crises. Mushrooms could be one of those resources to bolster our impoverished diets and help us all start moving forward towards a healthier future.

Although mushrooms are often categorized as plant-based food, they exist as their own kingdom, hosting characteristics of both the animal and plant kingdoms. Each mushroom contains its own unique mixture of vitamins and minerals, however across the board they are high in proteins as well as vitamin D. We are a nation chronically deficient in vitamin D. Mushrooms are the only produce that contains any substantial form of this vitamin. Vitamin D is necessary for the absorption of calcium by our bones, it regulates our immune system, regulates mood, improves heart function by regulating blood pressure and reducing inflammation, lowers risk of diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity, protects our brains’ neuronal structures and regulates their function; the list of benefits goes on. In addition to vitamin D, mushrooms like shiitake, oyster, chestnuts, and lions mane contain vitamins B (B2, B3, folate, B5, B12) and vitamin C. They contain minerals like iron, zinc, selenium, copper, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium.

In addition to their use as a nutrient dense food source, mushrooms boast one of the highest concentrations of scientifically backed nutraceutical treatments. Mushrooms have been used for thousands of years as medicine for the treatment of a wide variety of ailments and illnesses. Mushrooms contain therapeutic compounds from which numerous medications have been chemically replicated and synthesized for the treatment of fungal, bacterial and viral infections, cancers of the colon, lungs, breasts and leukemia etc. Mushrooms like turkey tail, contain compounds known as polysaccharides which act as nonspecific immunomodulators which boost the body’s natural ability to target and eliminate tumor cells as well as free radicals (environmental contaminants) which eventually turn into cancerous cells. Hundreds of peer-reviewed global studies have demonstrated several mushrooms’ ability to contribute to the fight against cancer. They are not a cure-all for cancer, however they are without a doubt powerful tools for mitigating the risks and effects of cancerous growths. With mental degradation diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia on the rise, the lions mane mushroom with its nerve growth factor (NGFs) compounds has been shown in various studies to improve memory, focus, and concentration by protecting the structures of the brain. As a species, we have only begun to scratch the potential of mushrooms to bolster our overall health, but the initial science is proving to be more than promising in the fight to regain our nation’s collective health.