Just add mushrooms: make the 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 serving of mushrooms to the diet increased the intake of several micronutrients, including deficient nutrients such as vitamin D, without an increase in calories, sodium, or fat.

Dr. Victor L. Fulgoni III and Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal modeled the addition of mushrooms to dietary data from the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), which examined a compound of white mushrooms, crime, and portabella in 1: 1: 1 ratio; a setting that includes mushrooms exposed to UV light; and a scenario that includes oyster mushrooms for 9-18 year olds and 19+ year olds based on a ration equivalent to 84 g ½ cup.

The main conclusions include:

• Adding a 84 g serving of mushrooms increased the lack of nutrients, including potassium and fiber. This was true for the white, crimson and 1: 1: 1 mix and oyster mushrooms.
• The addition of a serving (84 g) of mushrooms to the diet resulted in 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 it 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 slightly exceed the recommended daily value (98% – 104%) for both groups of 9-18 years as for 19 years as well as decrease the insufficiency of this deficient nutrient in the population.
• A ration of mushrooms consumed habitually exposed to ultraviolet light decreased the insufficiency of the population for vitamin D from 95.3% to 52.8% for the age group of 9 to 18 years and 94.9% at 63.6% for the age group 19 years or older.

“This research validated what we already knew that adding mushrooms to your dish is an effective way to achieve the dietary goals identified by the DGA,” said Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FADA and Mushroom Nutrition Research Coordinator. Council. “Survey data such as NHANES are used to assess nutritional status and its association with health promotion and disease prevention and to assist in the formulation of national standards and public health policies (CDC, 2020) “.

Mushrooms are fungi, a member of the third food kingdom, biologically different from plant and animal foods that are part of the USDA’s food patterns, but have a unique nutritional profile that provides common nutrients to both plant and animal foods. . Although classified into food grouping systems for use as a vegetable, the increasing use of mushrooms in the main entries of advanced plant diets is growing, supporting consumer efforts to follow dietary recommendations based on in foods to reduce the intake of calories, saturated fatty acids and sodium, while increasing the intake of poorly 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 attributes most commonly found in meat, beans, or grains.

According to FoodData Central of the USDA, 5 medium-sized 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 antioxidant amino acids containing sulfur ergotionein and tripeptide glutathione The ergot and glutathione content of mushrooms depends on the varieties of mushrooms and oyster mushrooms contain more amounts of these antioxidants they contain suffers than the mushrooms that are commonly consumed: white button, crime mushroom or portabella. The addition of a portion of commonly consumed mushrooms and oysters is expected to add 2.24 and 24.0 mg of ergotione, respectively, and 3.53 and 12.3 mg of glutathione, respectively, to the diets. NHANES 2011-2016 based on the values ​​of the published literature.

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

There is still more Mushroom Council research

With mushrooms growing in awareness and consideration among consumers across the country, in 2019, the Mushroom Council made a $ 1.5 million investment in research to help broaden understanding of the nutritional qualities of foods and general health benefits.

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

• Health-promoting effects of including mushrooms as part of a healthy eating pattern.
• Relationship of mushrooms to cognitive health in older adults.
• Impact of mushrooms on brain health in an animal model.
• Nutritional impact of adding a serving of mushrooms to USDA Food Patterns.

Since 2002, the Council has conducted research that supports increased demand for mushrooms by discovering the nutritional and health benefits of mushrooms. The published results of these projects form the basis for communicating these benefits to consumers and health influencers.

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

NHANES intake data are self-reported and memory-dependent and therefore subject to information biases. The results presented are based on models to evaluate the maximum effect of mushroom addition and may not reflect actual individual dietary behavior; however, this modeling offers a technique for testing the potential nutritional impact of dietary guidance.

About the Mushroom Council

The Mushroom Council is made up of producers or importers from fresh markets who produce or import more than 500,000 pounds of mushrooms 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 help expand, maintain, and develop individual agricultural commodity markets in the United States and abroad. These industrial self-help programs are requested and funded by the industrial groups they serve. For more information, visit mushroomcouncil.org.