Adding mushrooms to your diet can mitigate the risks of developing serious health risks such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. Mushrooms are a low calorie food that is packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, and antioxidants.

Antioxidants

Mushrooms are rich in selenium and also contain ergothioneine and glutathione; antioxidants that help protect the body from damaging free radicals that can cause conditions like heart disease and cancer. Mushrooms contain the most selenium out of anything in the produce section at your local supermarket.

Potassium

Mushrooms contain plenty of potassium a nutrient necessary for life and a contributing factor to the health of your heart and kidneys. Potassium is known to reduce the negative impact that sodium can have on your body and it can also reduce stress on blood vessels helping to lower your blood pressure. A diet with low potassium puts you at greater risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, arthritis, infertility, and digestive disorders.

Beta-Glucan

Beta glucan is one of the components of the mushrooms cell wall and is a soluble fiber offering a number of health benefits, including lowering cholesterol, improving blood sugar management, and boosting the immune system. Beta glucan help reduce the risk of diabetes by helping to regulate blood sugar levels. Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms possess the most amounts of beta glucan.

B Vitamins

Mushrooms are rich in B vitamins that help the body gain energy from food and produces red blood cells. Some of the B vitamins found in mushrooms are listed below.

Thiamine (B-1) – Helps with growth, development and function of cells.
Riboflavin (B-2) – Helps energy production; cellular function, growth, and development.
Niacin (B-3) – Helps lower cholesterol and converts nutrients in to energy.
Pantothenic Acid (B-5) – Helps to produce blood cells and turns food in to energy.
Folate (B-9) – Helps red blood cell formation and healthy cell growth and function.

Choline is a recently discovered essential nutrient that is actually an antioxidant but often gets categorized with B vitamins because of the similarities. Choline impacts important bodily functions such as liver function, healthy brain development, muscle movement, nervous system and metabolism.

Copper

Cooper is another essential nutrient that plays a part in your body’s organs and systems. Copper also contributes to the absorption of iron in your body, strengthens bones and tissue, helps to produce red blood cells, turns carbohydrates in to energy and supports the health of cells and your immune system.

Vitamin D2

Mushrooms are the only vegetable that can provide vitamin D2 a vitamin usually found in meat, dairy, eggs, some seeds and nuts. But the amount of vitamin D2 within the mushroom can range from almost 0 (zero) IU to over 2,000 IU per 100 grams. Mushrooms have the unique ability to produce vitamin D2 when exposed to UV light during the growth cycle. Wild mushrooms and mushrooms grown using UV lights will develop the most vitamin D2. But mushrooms don’t need light to grow and this is why most commercially grown mushrooms are grown in low light conditions resulting in low amounts of vitamin D2.