Mushrooms don’t generally get enough credit. In some countries, to be a fungus is one of the deepest insults possible! In reality, mushrooms are an essential part of our ecosystem, have enormous medicinal benefits, and help the environment in a myriad of ways. Let's look at the most interesting research on mushrooms, mushroom seasonings and mushroom spices in recent times, looking at them from a perspective for the health of the body, and the planet.
Button mushrooms pack same antioxidant benefit as exotics
Exotic mushrooms include dried porcini mushrooms, dried shiitake mushrooms and their close cousin the maitake, and other exotics like oyster mushrooms and matsutake mushrooms. A French team from the Institut National de la Recherche Agrinomique found that button mushrooms had the same (and in some cases better) free radical scavenging abilities as other more expensive and exotic mushrooms. The body was found to be higher in antioxidants than the stalk, also. However, compounds that are specific to exotic mushrooms may make an impact on their ability to fight certain diseases.
Maitakes help in protein identification
Maitake mushrooms are not only healthful in and of themselves, but are helping researchers discover all sorts of things about other organisms. Utrecht University's Prof Albert Heck found a way to identify protein types without knowing an organism's genetic makeup - previously a requirement for protein study. This will be used for exotic animal species, as well a for research into disease that change genetic makeup, like cancer and diabetes.
Mushrooms used as medicine delivery platform
You might be eating mushrooms instead of popping pills to help cure your ailments before long -- and not just because they are naturally rich in antioxidants. The prevalence of new treatments for diseases means that a platform which is reliable, cheap and fast for mass-producing protein based drugs is needed. Dr Romaine from Penn State University thinks that may be mushrooms.
Stay tuned for more research news on how mushroom kits and mushroom powders are improving our lives!
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