Mushrooms: Great as a meal or medicine

Medicinal mushrooms have been part of traditional medicine for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians associated mushrooms with immortality, and it was a food for kings and queens. The Chinese have promoted mushrooms for longevity and health since early research showed anticancer properties in a wild mushroom found growing in southern China.

Maitake and reishi mushrooms are best noted for their beta glucans or glycoproteins, which enhance immune function and help ward off infectious diseases from bacteria, viruses and fungi or mold. Maitake mushrooms have the highest vitamin D levels (ergosterols or vitamin D-2) of the most commonly consumed mushrooms. Shiitake and reishi are noted for liver protection, which is important for people who take medications with acetaminophen. Cordyceps have antiaging qualities and increase energy production, according to researchers in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Chemotherapy patients get improved antitumor benefits from mushrooms because mushrooms increase natural killer cells or lymphocytes, cancer immunologist Dr. Kebin Liu of Georgia Health Sciences University reported in Cancer Research. Because mushrooms are easy to add to the diet and very interchangeable, even patients who are fatigued from treatment can add them using these suggestions: shiitake = meaty (great in stir-fry); morels = a smoky and woodsy flavor; and lobster = a bright reddish-orange color with neutral taste.

For the best nutrition for the money, choose the mushroom varieties mentioned above over the white button or field mushrooms found in most supermarkets. People with intestinal yeast overgrowth or yeast sensitivities might have a crossover reaction to the fungi family, so they should consume mushrooms cautiously.

Safety and quality should be the first things to consider when adding mushrooms to your diet. Mushrooms can have health risks because, as a fungus, they absorb environmental pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides and radioactivity. Eating organically grown mushrooms is the best way to be safe. Mushroom cultivation goes back centuries. When I visited a mushroom farm in China, rice chaff was used to cultivate shiitakes. Today, growers have domesticated many varieties, including portobellos.

The part of the mushroom we eat is the fruit of the fungi that lives underground as a network of microscopic filaments. Wash mushrooms just before adding them to a stir-fry, broth or salad. Many supermarkets like to wrap portobellos. Unwrap them as soon as possible to preserve freshness. My favorite way to make a quick lunch or supper is Grilled Portobello Mushroom Delight.

Betty Wedman-St Louis is a licensed nutritionist and environmental health specialist in Pinellas County who has written numerous books on health and nutrition. Visit her website at betty-wedman-stlouis.com.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Delight

1 fresh portobello mushroom

1 egg

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Mushrooms: Great as a meal or medicine