That delightful addition to your omelette or pizza is more than a great topping…it might just be medicinal. Even your grocery store button mushrooms have medicinal goodness, but some varieties, like reishi and lion’s mane, may even help balance auto-immune conditions and help support brain health.

While they’re the up and comers of the supplement industry right now, they have a very long history of use. Medicinal mushrooms have been enjoyed by almost every ancient civilization and the Ancient Egyptians even called them the “plant of immortality”.

Researchers are just starting to catch up to this traditional wisdom and prove the health benefits that have been known for millennia. With research finding that more than 200 conditions can be benefited by medicinal mushrooms¹, I think our only question is how do we incorporate more mushrooms into our diet?

10 benefits of mushrooms you NEED to know about

1. THEY’RE A NUTRIENT-DENSE POWERHOUSE!

When I think about all of the benefits of mushrooms, I often forget that they’re chockfull of nutrients.

They’re really high in B vitamins that help your body turn food into fuel and metabolize protein and fat. They contain a banana-sized serving of potassium in about a 2/3 cup of cooked mushrooms and they’re a great source of copper.

You don’t normally think of mushrooms as a source of fiber, but they are! They contain two very special types of dietary fiber, beta-glucans and chitin, which can balance blood sugar and even lower cholesterol.

2. They support your adrenals when you’re under stress

We’re always going to feel some stress each day, and our body could use some support when our stress is particularly high or continuous.

Chaga, reishi, and cordyceps are adaptogenic mushrooms, and they help your body cope with life’s stresses and help your body adapt to unexpected problems

3. Balances your immune system

Our immune system needs to be in a delicate balance, like a teeter-totter. Too much stimulation and your immune system can trigger chronic pain and inflammation. Too little and it can’t fight off invading viruses.

Medicinal mushrooms, like reishi, maitake, and turkey tail have been clinically-proven to maintain that perfect immune balance.

4. Feeds good gut bacteria

Prebiotics are food for the good bacteria in our gut. When we lovingly feed our gut bacteria their favourite food they send us a big thank-you by balancing our digestive system and reducing indigestion symptoms.

Mushrooms contain lots of polysaccharides, which are long-chain carbohydrates and are the preferred munchies for our gut bacteria.

5. Protects brain health

Lion’s Mane is a stunning white mushroom that looks a lot like a big shaggy mane and it’s becoming known for its brain protective properties.

As we age our brain tends to grow much slower and it becomes harder to make new neural connections. Two compounds found in lion’s mane, hericenones and erinacines, have been found to stimulate brain growth.
Some promising animal studies have found that it may also help slow memory loss and prevent the damaging amyloid-beta plaques found in Alzheimer’s Disease.

6. HELPS YOU SLEEP BY CALMING YOUR ACTIVE MIND

Does your brain keep spinning with all your day-to-day stress when you’re trying to get to sleep? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and feel some anxiety?

Reishi mushroom helps your body adapt to all of the stresses in your day. It’s a wonderfully calming mushroom that can help quiet your mind at night, so you can get the sleep you need.

7. Supports heart health by lowering cholesterol

Shiitake mushrooms, which are found in most grocery stores, add a smoky flavour to stir-fries and stews. Research has found that they contain a cholesterol-lowering compound, eritadenine, which helps the body reabsorb any extra cholesterol your body may produce.

8. An Antioxidant-packed Superfood

Usually, antioxidant-rich foods are super colourful and the bland beige or white colour of mushrooms doesn’t scream antioxidants. But they’re LOADED with them! Crimini and Portobello mushrooms boast the same antioxidant power as a red pepper!

9. Boosting longevity with mushrooms

Sporting a healthy dose of the longevity antioxidant glutathione, as well as selenium, B vitamins, and even vitamin D…it’s not surprising that mushrooms land on most experts’ lists of longevity foods.

10. Great for the environment

Mushrooms play a very important role in the environment. In forests, they provide an important root system that helps the trees communicate with each other and they help to decompose organic matter on the forest floor.

But the coolest research I’ve seen is how they just might save the planet. Check out the world-renowned mushroom researcher Paul Stamets’ popular TED talk – 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

HOW TO ENJOY MUSHROOMS

If you LOVE mushrooms as I do, adding them to your diet can be easy. Shiitake mushrooms are amazing in eggs and stews while the button and cremini mushrooms are lovely additions to omelettes and pizza.

But, what if you want the benefits of these healthy gems, but you’re not a fan of their texture or taste? Don’t worry, there are other options for you, like capsules and mushroom-boosted protein powders. However you enjoy them, they’re helping your body find balance in SO many ways.

However you like to enjoy your mushrooms, there’s no doubt that they belong in all of our diets!

1. Ji, S. (2016). Edible Mushrooms: Nature’s Most Researched Anti-Cancer Agent. Retrieved from http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/edible-mushrooms-natures-most-researched-anti-cancer-agent
2. Seung Y. Lee, Hee M. Rhee. (1990) . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin: Vol. 38 No. 5 P 1359-1364 Cardiovascular Effects of Mycelium Extract of Ganoderma lucidum : Inhibition of Sympathetic Outflow as a Mechanism of Its Hypotensive Action Seung Y. Lee, Hee M. Rhee
3. Guggenheim, A. G., Wright, K. M., & Zwickey, H. L. (2014). Immune Modulation From Five Major Mushrooms: Application to Integrative Oncology. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 13(1), 32-44. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684115/
4. Lai, P. L., Naidu, M., Sabarathnam, V., Wong, K. H., David, R. P., Kuppusamy, U. R., Abdullah, N., Malek, S. N. (2013). Neurotrophic Properties of the Lion’s Mane Medicinal Mushroom, Hericium Erinaceaus (Higher Basidiomycetes) from Malaysia. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, 15(6), 539-554. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24266378
5. Mori, K., Obara, Y., Moriya, T., Inatomi, S., Nakahata, N. (2011). Effects of Hericium Erinaceus on Amyloid β(25-35) Peptide-Induced Learning and Memory Deficits in Mice. Biomedical Research, 32(1), 67-72. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21383512
6. Weil, A. (2014). Mushrooms for Good Health? Retrieved from https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/nutrition/mushrooms-for-good-health/