6 Scientifically Validated Reasons To Eat Mushrooms

[Music] greetings everyone I'm Adam Harrington and in this video I'm going to cover six scientifically validated reasons while you may want to consider eating more mushrooms now I've been eating mushrooms for several years typically wild mushrooms at a forage from forests and fields and over the years I've come to realize that mushrooms are really impressive not only do they impart flavor and texture to meals it can also influence our health in many positive ways what's interesting though is that at least here in North America mushrooms are seriously overlooked when it comes to health and nutrition and that's unfortunate because there is ample research suggesting that adding a few servings of mushrooms to our meals on a weekly basis can lead to significant health outcomes so in this video we are going to take a look at some of the benefits of edible mushrooms from a nutritional standpoint we will not be focusing on medicinal mushrooms in this video even though a lot of the reported health benefits attributed to fungi are attributed to medicinal mushrooms like turkey tail and cordyceps and we will not be focusing on hallucinogenic mushrooms in this video even though there's ample research on the therapeutic benefits of compounds derived from these fungi instead we will be focusing exclusively on the nutritional profiles and associated health benefits of edible mushrooms and we are going to do this by taking a look at the latest information published in the scientific literature before we begin there were three things that I want to mention first no two mushrooms are alike there are thousands of edible mushroom species each one is undoubtedly unique from a nutritional standpoint and each mushrooms nutritional composition can vary depending on which part of it is eaten the time of year that it is harvested the conditions in which it is growing and it's post harvest treatment so when possible I'm going to try to provide as much specific information as possible but if I have to resort to generalizations I apologize upfront second no edible mushroom that I'm aware of is a magic bullet now some mushrooms might be closer to magic bullet status than others but no edible mushroom on its own can make up for or diet and poor lifestyle choices we cannot neglect their health and expect two to three weekly servings of mushrooms to fix us but a few servings of mushrooms a week in addition to quality sleep quality relationships proper hydration movement practices nightly journaling practices a willingness to be of service to others and living with a sense of purpose can all make a difference over time and third this video will not cover every single nutrient found within every single mushroom the topic is obviously too vast and the research is constantly being updated so rather than offer you a comprehensive exposition on the subject I will narrow down the list to six features that I think will be most relevant to you sound good let's begin we are going to start with one of the most well known and well studied nutrients found within mushrooms vitamin D vitamin D is essential for human health as it is associated with proper bone mineralization reduced cancer risk and improvements in immune system disorders now of course we can manufacture our own vitamin D specifically vitamin d3 when our skin is exposed to sunlight without adequate sun exposure we instead have to acquire vitamin d3 through food as it turns out though there are relatively few food sources that are very rich in vitamin d3 fortunately vitamin d3 is not the only form of vitamin D that our bodies can use we can also use vitamin d2 and some of the best sources of vitamin D to include mushrooms especially mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light and here's how this works mushrooms have high concentrations of a compound in their cell membranes that acts like cholesterol in animals and this mushroom compound is known as ergo sterile when exposed to ultraviolet radiation like sunlight ergo sterile through various chemical reactions eventually transforms into ergo Calcifer all which is also known as vitamin d2 now all mushrooms contain ergo sterile in their cell membranes but the vitamin d2 content generated through sunnix Bossier can vary significantly depending on length of sun exposure time of day weather conditions and latitude what this means is that you can manipulate this process at least to some degree and you can increase the amount of vitamin d2 in mushrooms by exposing them to the Sun or to UV lamps to generate the most vitamin d2 I recommend exposing your mushrooms with the gills or pores facing up toward the Sun and slicing your mushrooms thinly beforehand the reason we're doing this is to increase the surface area of our mushrooms more surface area means more ergo sterile in the Sun and more Sun treated ergo sterile means more vitamin D - now how effective is this process well there are many studies on this subject including a study published in the Journal of nutrition and food sciences researchers discovered that treatment for as little as 15 minutes on a clear or partly cloudy day consistently increased vitamin D - by at least 25% of the Dietary Reference intake per 70 gram serving and more than 100% of the Dietary Reference intake in many cases and just as a reference the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin D for most people in the United States is currently set at 600 international units if we look a little more closely at this research we see just how effective sun exposure can be in increasing the vitamin d2 content of 5 mushrooms in particular all mushrooms that were not exposed to sunlight provided less than 10% of the Dietary Reference intake of vitamin D - while all sun-exposed mushrooms had much greater levels of vitamin D - with oysters and enoki mushrooms providing over 100 percent of the Dietary Reference intake of vitamin D - now here's a big question is vitamin D - from mushrooms useful for humans and the answer is yes a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that vitamin d2 and chanterelle mushrooms increased vitamin D levels in humans as effectively as did vitamin d2 supplements another study found that adults who ingested vitamin d2 for mushrooms for 3 months were able to raise and maintain their body's vitamin D status similar to adults who ingested vitamin d2 or vitamin d3 supplements containing the same amount and a randomized controlled trial published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that vitamin d2 enhanced button mushrooms were effective in improving vitamin D status in adults and while it is important to note that some researchers claimed that vitamin d3 is much more effective than vitamin d2 in raising overall vitamin D status there are studies that suggest otherwise including this one published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and metabolism so in summary mushrooms are able to synthesize vitamin d2 when ergo sterile which is a cell membrane molecule is exposed to sunlight increasing the surface area of our mushrooms by slicing them thinly and exposing the gills or pores to the Sun can facilitate this conversion vitamin d2 from mushrooms can be effective in improving vitamin D status in the human body moving forward let's discuss a lesser-known and a quite underappreciated nutrient ergo thiamine ergo thiamine is an amino acid that was first discovered more than a century ago in recent years numerous studies have been published on Ergo Theo needs role as an important nutrient with some researchers even suggesting that this amino acid should be promoted to vitamin status now there are two really interesting things about ergo thiamine the first is that it cannot be created in the human body if we want it we have to eat it and there are few food sources relatively speaking that contain ergo thiamine the list of organisms that create this amino acid is restricted to fungi and a few microorganisms the second interesting thing about ergo thiamine and this is something that suggests that humans have a real need for the amino acid is that our bodies contain unique transport systems that move ergo theanine into our cells so what exactly does a growth I mean do well in the organisms that create it like in mushrooms ergo theanine is an antioxidant and in the organisms that consume ergo theanine like humans consuming mushrooms ergo thymine may act as an antioxidant by protecting our cells and our DNA against damage now it's important to note that most studies on the effects of ergo thiamine have been conducted on human cell cultures and on animals rather than on living breathing human beings however a few studies have been conducted on actual humans including a randomized controlled trial analyzing the bioavailability of this nutrient in this study researchers noted a significant increase in ergo thiamine content within the red blood cells of participants who consumed mushroom powder with their meals interestingly as mushroom consumption increased the participants triglyceride response was blunted suggesting that ergo thiamine containing mushrooms may help to reduce cardiovascular disease risk another study found that ergo thiamine levels in Parkinson's disease patients were significantly lower than the levels found in individuals without Parkinson's disease these results suggest that higher Ergo thiamine levels in the body could be protective against the development of parkinson's disease and that inadequate intake of ergo thiamine could predispose someone to the onset of neurodegenerative disorders now an important question to ask ourselves is do all mushrooms contain similar levels of ergo thiamine already certain mushrooms outperform others well levels certainly vary within the fungal Kingdom but there are a few mushrooms that really stand out mushrooms with high levels of ergo thiamine include shiitake oyster maitake and King oyster mushrooms and although portobello cremini and white button mushrooms contain ergo thiamine the levels in these mushrooms are much lower so in summary ergo thiamine is an amino acid produced by fungi this compound acts as an antioxidant and the fact that a specific transporter for its uptake is found in our bodies suggests that ergo theanine may be positively associated with human health next up B vitamins now many edible mushrooms are great sources of B vitamins and here's why this is important among other things B vitamins of which there are many are responsible for the metabolism of carbohydrates fats and proteins in our bodies without sufficient levels many enzymatic processes involving the metabolism of food would be disrupted and because B vitamins are water-soluble we have to eat foods that constantly replenish them so which edible mushrooms are great sources of which B vitamins well let's start with vitamin b2 which is also known as riboflavin one particular study discovered that riboflavin contents and mushrooms were higher than those generally found in vegetables and in white button mushroom varieties the contents of riboflavin were as high as those found in eggs and cheese mushrooms including white button mushrooms oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms are good sources of vitamin b3 which is also known as niacin and these levels were found to be similar to those found in many vegetables additionally there's a lot of good research showing that many edible mushrooms are very good sources of folate now things get really interesting when we start to talk about b12 because this is an absolutely essential nutrient that's mostly concentrated in foods derived from animals deficiencies of b12 can lead to impaired cell division and permanent nerve damage now it's not always easy to tell which foods contain a form of vitamin b12 that's usable by the human body some nutrition labels may say that a particular food contains vitamin b12 but what many products actually contain is a biologically inactive form of ID be 12 known as pseudo b12 vitamin b12 and pseudo b12 are not the same thing only the former vitamin b12 is biologically active and therefore able to correct deficiencies in the human body and while many mushrooms contain little to no vitamin b12 - mushrooms actually contain adequate amounts research has shown that certain species of black trumpet and chanterelle mushrooms contain considerable amounts of biologically active vitamin b12 and while an adult person would need to eat a lot of mushrooms to reach the RDA for b12 researchers concluded that moderate mushroom intake may slightly contribute to prevention of severe b12 deficiency in vegetarians so certain mushroom species can be good sources of many B vitamins particularly riboflavin niacin and also folate additionally b12 is found in black trumpet and chanterelle mushrooms generally speaking B vitamins play significant roles as important cofactors in a wide variety of metabolic processes in the body next up let's talk about fiber because although fiber is not technically considered to be a nutrient it's still something found within mushrooms that's associated with positive health outcomes simply stated dietary fiber is comprised of non digestible carbohydrates that do not break down in the intestinal tract there are two broad categories of fiber the first being soluble fiber which dissolves and thickens in water and then there's insoluble fiber which is the roughage which speeds a passage of food through the digestive tract now here in North America many people do not consume enough fiber as part of their diets and that's unfortunate because there's a lot of good research suggesting that fiber intake is associated with weight loss increase at IOD positive effects on our gut microbiome and reduced risks of some types of cancer so how do mushrooms fit into all of this well mushrooms certainly contain fiber including chitin and beta glucans which are component the cell walls of fungi now there's plenty of research on the immuno supportive and anti-cancer properties of beta glucans derived specifically from medicinal mushrooms for our discussion however we want to talk about the benefits of fiber derived from the consumption of edible mushrooms so first how much fiber is found in mushrooms well according to this study the total fiber content in some mushrooms ranges from 2 to 12 grams per 100 grams of edible weight and 100 grams equals about one and a half cups of mushrooms bolete mushrooms contain the highest amount of fiber with around 12 grams per 100 grams of edible weight and just as a reference the daily recommended intake here in the United States is at least 25 grams for adults interestingly the amount of insoluble fiber was much higher than the amount of soluble fiber in all mushrooms and studies have shown that insoluble fiber intake may be associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and just to provide one more example of the benefits of consuming fiber for mushrooms let's look at a study on wood ear mushrooms wood ear mushrooms are known to be very high in fiber in this particular double-blind study found that in participants with constipation symptoms improves significantly after taking fiber supplements containing wood ear mushrooms so in summary mushrooms are great sources of fiber particularly insoluble fiber these fibers include chitin and beta glucans which are components of the cell walls of fungi adequate fiber intake is associated with increased satiety a healthy gut microbiome and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes bolete mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms contain higher amounts of fiber compared to other edible mushrooms so up until now we've been talking about the nutritional compounds and molecules found specifically within edible mushrooms I want to shift gears for the next couple of minutes and talk about some of the research involving general edible mushroom consumption and the reduced risks of disease at the population level and for number five let's talk about cognitive impairment and dementia now when many people think about mushrooms and mental health they might be thinking about lion's mane which is a medicinal and edible mushroom or people might be thinking about psilocybin containing species but what affects what positive effects might general edible mushroom consumption just as part of her daily or weekly meals have on mental health well in this prospective cohort study which looked at the relationship between mushroom consumption and dementia in over 13,000 individuals over the age of 65 researchers found that after controlling for other variables mushroom consumption was associated with a decreased risk of developing dementia this association was dose dependent meaning those who consumed mushrooms on three or more occasions per week had a lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who consumed mushrooms fewer times per week researchers concluded that habitual mushroom consumption may have a preventive effect against the incident risk of dementia and in a large study looking at the dietary habits of over 600 participants aged 60 and above researchers found that participants who consumed more than two portions of mushrooms per week had reduced risks of experiencing mild cognitive impairment compared to participants who consumed less than one portion of mushrooms per week so generally speaking there seems to be a correlation between mushroom consumption and reduced risk of dementia and cognitive impairment and as we saw with the latter two studies risks of disease were lower as the frequency of mushroom consumption was increased and for number six while we're still on the topic of general mushroom consumption at the population level let's look at mushroom consumption and its association with reduced cancer risk so similar to what I said about mushrooms and cognitive health a lot of the studies involving mushrooms and cancer involve medicinal mushrooms all that research is valuable and I strongly encourage you to look into it but we're not going to dive into the anti-cancer effects medicinal mushrooms in this video instead we are going to look at the association between edible mushroom consumption and reduced risk of cancer and we're going to do that by briefly analyzing three large studies the first study was conducted using the same data showing that mushroom consumption was associated with a reduced risk of dementia this time more participants were evaluated bringing the number to over 35,000 individuals all men what the researchers found was that mushroom consumption was associated with a reduced risk of developing prostate cancer men who consumed mushrooms three or more times per week had less of a risk compared to men who consumed mushrooms on average less than once per week when it comes to mushroom consumption and breast cancer two particular studies are relevant a study published in nutrition and cancer found that high consumption of mushrooms was associated with lower risks of breast cancer among pre menopausal women and in this study the most commonly eaten mushrooms were oyster mushrooms shiitake mushrooms button mushrooms and enoki mushrooms and in a meta-analysis which included 10 studies with over 6,000 cases evaluated researchers reported that mushroom intake may be inversely associated with risk of breast cancer now of course there are limitations to some of the studies referenced in this video especially the observational studies concerning cancer and dementia but when we put all the research together and we consider just how many more studies there are that I didn't reference in this video it's difficult to imagine that there would be absolutely no positive health outcomes associated with mushroom consumption I didn't even mention the presence of minerals like selenium and copper and the fact that many edible mushroom species have been shown to be great sources of the powerful antioxidant glutathione all this to say there's a great deal of research suggesting that adding a few mushrooms to our meals on a daily or weekly basis or adding more mushrooms to our diets if we're consuming them weekly is something easy we can do to support our health the question is what will you do with the information that was presented it's one thing to study it's another thing entirely to act thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 104,647

Keywords:

Id: cn0-DQgImi4

Length: 23min 3sec (1383 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020