Just add mushrooms: making meals more nutritious

February 1, 2021 – Researchers have identified another good reason to eat more mushrooms. New research, published in Food science and nutrition (January 2021) found that adding a mushroom to the diet increased the intake of several micronutrients, including deficient nutrients such as vitamin D, without any increase in calories, sodium or fat.

Dr. Victor L. Fulgoni III and Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal modeled the addition of mushrooms to the dietary data of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) 2011-2016 on a composite of white mushrooms, crimes and portabella at 1: 1: 1 ratio ; a scenario that includes fungi exposed to UV light; and a scenario that includes oyster mushrooms for both 9-18 year olds and over 19 year olds, based on a serving equivalent to 84g or ½ cup.

The main findings include:

• Adding an 84g serving of mushrooms increased several nutrient-deficient foods, including potassium and fiber. This was true for the white mix, crimes and portabella 1: 1: 1 and oyster mushrooms.
• The addition of a portion (84 g) of mushrooms in the diet led to an increase in dietary fiber (5% -6%), copper (24% -32%), phosphorus (6%), potassium (12% -14%) , selenium (13% -14%), zinc (5% -6%), riboflavin (13% -15%), niacin (13% -14%) and choline (5% -6%) in both adolescents and adults ; but had no impact on calories, carbohydrates, fats or sodium.
• When commonly consumed mushrooms are exposed to UV light to provide 5 mcg of vitamin D per serving, vitamin D intake could meet and slightly exceed the recommended daily value (98% – 104%) for both groups of 9-18 years, as well as for groups over 19 years of age as well as the decrease of the inadequacy of this deficient nutrient in the population.
• A portion of mushrooms exposed to UV light decreased the inadequacy of the population for vitamin D from 95.3% to 52.8% for the age group 9-18 years and from 94.9% to 63.6% for the age group age 19+ years.

“This research validated what we already knew that adding mushrooms to your plate is an effective way to achieve the dietary goals identified by the DGA,” said Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FADA and coordinator of nutritional research at the Mushroom Council. . “Data from surveys such as NHANES are used to assess nutritional status and its association with health promotion and disease prevention and to help formulate national standards and public health policy (CDC, 2020).”

Mushrooms are fungi – a member of the third food kingdom – biologically distinct from plant and animal foods that comprise USDA food patterns but have a unique nutritional profile, providing common nutrients to both plant and animal foods. . Although classified into food grouping systems after their use as a vegetable, the increasing use of mushrooms in the main entries in planting diets is increasing, supporting consumer efforts to follow dietary recommendations based on food to reduce the intake of calories, fatty acids. saturated, and sodium, while increasing the intake of under-consumed nutrients, including fiber, potassium and vitamin D. Often grouped with vegetables, mushrooms provide many of the nutritional attributes of the products, as well as more common attributes in meat, beans or cereals.

According to the USDA FoodData Central, 5 medium raw white mushrooms (90g) contain 20 calories, 0g fat, 3g protein and are very low in sodium (0mg /

Mushrooms are one of the best dietary sources of sulfur-containing amino acids, ergotionein and glutathione tripeptide. The content of ergot and glutathione in mushrooms depends on the varieties of mushrooms, and mushrooms contain more amounts of these antioxidants that contain sulfur than commonly consumed mushrooms: white button, crimes or portabella mushrooms. The addition of a portion of commonly consumed mushrooms and oyster mushrooms would be expected to add 2.24 and 24.0 mg of ergotionein and 3.53 and 12.3 mg of glutathione to NHANES 2011-2016 diets, respectively, based on values ​​published in the literature.

At this time, the USDA FoodData Central database does not include analytical data on ergothionine. However, the Mushroom Council is currently supporting research to analyze bioactive / ergotionein fungi for possible inclusion in the USDA FoodData Central database.

There is still research by the Mushroom Council

As mushrooms grow in awareness and consideration among consumers nationwide, in 2019, the Mushroom Council made a $ 1.5 million multi-annual investment in research to help expand understanding of the nutritional qualities of food and general health benefits.

In addition to the analysis of bioactive / ergotionein fungi for inclusion in the USDA FoodData Central database, approved additional research projects include:

• The effects of health promotion by including mushrooms as part of a healthy eating pattern.
• The relationship of fungi to cognitive health in older adults.
• The impact of fungi on brain health in an animal model.
• The nutritional impact of adding a serving of mushrooms to USDA food models.

Since 2002, the Council has been conducting research that supports a higher demand for mushrooms, discovering the nutrients and health benefits of mushrooms. The published results of these projects form the basis for communicating these benefits to consumers and influencing health.

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For more nutritional information, recipes and links to other Mushroom Council-funded studies, visit mushroomcouncil.org.

NHANES input data are self-reported, memory-based, and therefore subject to reporting bias. The results presented are based on modeling to assess the maximum effect of adding mushrooms and may not reflect actual individual eating behavior; however, such modeling provides a technique for testing the potential nutritional impact of dietary guidance.

About the Mushroom Council

The mushroom board is composed of fresh market producers or importers who have on average over 500,000 kilograms of mushrooms produced or imported annually. The mushroom program is authorized by the Mushroom Consumer Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1990 and is administered by the Mushroom Council under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service. Research and promotion programs contribute to the expansion, maintenance, and development of markets for individual agricultural products in the United States and abroad. These industry self-help programs are requested and funded by the industry groups they serve. For more information, visit mushroomcouncil.org.