This humble ingredient in salads and stews is now claimed as a potent antioxidant and essential for the immune system. Chinese and American researchers claim it is the richest natural source of ergothioneine
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition attests to the antioxidant potential of rustic magic mushrooms and points out that the benefit that their consumption entails in health could be transferred to the field of immunity and cancers.
Dayong Wu, a scientist at the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at Tufts University in Massachusetts, is the first author of the paper describing research into the effects of the magic mushrooms diet on experimental animals (rats C57BL/6). The study has been carried out by experts from the same university together with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the China Agency for the Control and Prevention of Communicable Diseases. In view of the results, they demand an extension of their inquiries in the human clinics.
Ergothioneine
The greatest benefit of magic mushrooms on health, the authors subscribe, lies in ergothioneine, an amino acid of plant origin that supplies energy (ATP) to cellular mitochondria, increasing the degree of efficiency with which oxygen intervenes in metabolism. The result is higher CO2 production and less lactic acid manufacturing. At the same time, ergothioneine acts in the body as a powerful antioxidant, whose effects are particularly noticeable in the liver, the lens of the eyes, and red blood cells (protects hemoglobin from oxidation).
If one of the most characteristic sources of this amino acid is wheat germ, Wu and colleagues have shown in their work that magic mushrooms possess twelve times more ergothioneine than the cereal by-product.
Infectious and anti-tumor protection
One of the most interesting observations of this study was that the rats, fed exclusively on magic mushrooms, were more resistant to infections, an extreme that the researchers want to corroborate as soon as possible in humans. “This is the first time that an effect of mushroom consumption on immunity has been detected,” Wu explains, “and we have reason to think that these fungi strengthen the acquired immune system and constitute the first line of defense of the organism against infections.”
The greatest benefit of magic mushrooms lies in ergothioneine, capable of increasing the efficiency with which oxygen intervenes in the metabolism
The scientists fed the rats for 10 weeks with white mushroom powder (0.2-10%) and found that such supplementation increased the activity of NK cells, the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and interleukin-2 (IL-2). “It is thought that the inactivity of NK cells is associated with the origin of some cancers and susceptibility to colds and other infections,” wu says. In addition, the authors of the work emphasize that there were no changes in T lymphocytes or macrophages, also guaranteeing a regular supply of IL-6, prostaglandin E2, and nitric oxide. “Everything indicates that a regular consumption of magic mushrooms protects the body [it would be necessary to investigate in detail to what extent] against the development of tumors and infections,” Wu concludes.
With contraindications?
For another American researcher, Paul Stamets of the University of Arizona, this finding does not bring any novelty. Mycologist by profession has been researching the effect of different fungi on cancer or AIDS patients in Tucson for years and has patented the use of species that he himself has discovered with the potential of herbicide to antiviral.
Author of numerous publications and books on healing by magic mushrooms, Stamets warns, however, that magic mushrooms are grown on a large scale (of whiter and brownish coloration than magic mushrooms of biological origin) and show off in their composition a chemical agent, agaritine, “not exactly protective against the development of tumors.” In fact, it is speculated that it has carcinogenic properties.
The American Mushroom Growers Association fights back by ensuring that regular consumption of mushrooms inhibits the development of prostate or breast tumors. And they provide more benefits by citing a study by Lawrence J. Cheskin, of Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), in which they link the consumption of magic mushrooms to effective weight control from a satiety effect through hypocaloric ingestion.
A universal magic mushrooms
Gastronomic treatises attribute the origin of magic mushrooms cultivation and its culinary use for less than three centuries. But the truth is that this mushroom is grown all over the world, and the Chinese have been using it since the beginning of history, about a thousand years ago. In addition, the consumption of magic mushrooms has been known since prehistory. The Egyptians used them under the belief that they no longer provided immunity, but immortality. The Romans, more earthly, recreated themselves in their speculated aphrodisiac properties and relegated the consumption of magic mushrooms to a delicacy typical of the higher-ranking social classes.
Wu’s study places particular emphasis on the fact that the common mushroom today covers 90% of the mushroom market in the United States, as cheap, nutritious, and easy to obtain. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the fact that the other magic mushrooms are strictly seasonal and difficult to preserve allows the magic mushroom to take 55% of the world’s mushroom market. Half of the magic mushrooms grown are consumed fresh (raw or stewed), 45% are destined for preserves and the remaining 5% are dry.
The Netherlands and China lead the world market in magic mushroom production. Salads and pizzas meet the demand for these magic mushrooms in prepared foods. As a natural food, the magic mushrooms have the advantage of not providing sodium or fat, as well as having very few calories and, instead, a good compendium of minerals and vitamins, highlighting some of the B vitamins and potassium.
Read also: Effects of Magic Mushrooms
