Abstract
Mushrooms are nutritionally valuable foods. They are high in proteins, including most essential amino acids and high in most water soluble vitamins and probably in pro-vitamin D. However, there have been many reports suggesting that they had little or no value. While the reports of little value were erroneous, other reports have claimed greater nutritional value than can be substantiated. Moreover, most of our knowledge of the nutritional value of mushrooms is based on chemical analysis. Some of the nutrients may be destroyed or unavailable to consumers. This paper looks at the available information and tries to reconcile it.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Abdullah, M. I., Young, J. C. and Games, D. E. 1994. Supercritical fluid extraction of carboxylic and fatty acids fromAgaricus spp. mushrooms. J. Agric. Food Chem.42: 718–722.
A.O.A.C. 1990. Official Methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 15th ed. (two vols.). Arlinqton, VA.
Aoyagi, Y., Kasuga, A., Sasaki, H., Matuzawa, M., Tsutagawa, Y. and Kawai, H. 1993. Chemical composition of shiitake mushroom cultivated on logs and sawdust substrate beds and their relations to composition of the substrate. Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi40: 771–775. (In Japanese.)
Austin, P. R., Brine, C. J., Castle, J. E. and Zikakis, J. P. 1981. Chitin: new facets of research. Science212: 749–753.
Bakowski, J., Kosson, R. and Michalik, H. 1986. The Influence of flushes on some constituents of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) cultivated on different composts. Acta Agrobot.39: 99–110.
Bano, Z., Bhagya, S. and Srinivasan, K. S. 1981. Essential amino acid composition and proximate analysis of the mushroomPleurotus eous andP. florida. Mushroom Newsl. Trop.1(3): 6–10.
Chang, S. T. 1972. The Chinese mushroom. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Doesburg, J. J. and Meijer, A. 1965. Analyze van Nederlandse bliconserven. II. Groente en veruchtenproducten. Voeding25: 258–301.
Esselen, W. B., Jr. and Fellers, C. R. 1946. Mushrooms for food and flavor. Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull., No. 434.
FAO. 1970. Amino acid content of foods and biological data on proteins. FAO, Rome.
FAO. 1972. Food composition table for use in East Asia. FAO, Rome.
Foster, A. B. and Webber, J. M. 1960. Chitin. Adv. Carbohydrate Chem.15: 371–393.
Furda, I. 1983. Aminopolysaccharides-their potential as dietary fiber. In: Unconventional sources of dietary fibers, (ed by Furda, I.), pp. 105–122. American Chemical Society, Washington.
Gordon, D. T. and Williford, C. B. 1983. Chitin and chitosan: influence on absorption in rats. In: Unconventional sources of dietary fibers. (ed. by Furda, I.), pp. 155–184. American Chemical Society, Washington.
Gosh, N., Mitra, D. K. and Chakravarty, D. K. 1991. Composition analysis of tropical white oyster mushroom. Ann. Appl. Biol.118: 527–531.
Imaki, M., Miyoshi, T., Fujii, M., Kojima, T., Tada, T., Sei, M., Yamasaki, R., Fujita, H., Oogimoto, S., Ishimoto, H. and Ito, S. 1991. Studies on digestibility and energy availability of daily food intake. Part 4 Shiitake mushroom. Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi46: 905–912. (In Japanese.)
Kalberer, P. 1990. Influence of the water potential of the casing soil on crop yield and on dry-matter content, osmotic potential and manitol content of the fruit bodies ofAgaricus bisporus. J. Hort. Sci.65: 573–581.
Kalberer, P. and Kunsch, U. 1974. Amino acid composition of the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Food Sci. Technol.7: 242–244.
Kawai, H., Matsuzawa, M., Tsutagawa, Y., Sasaki, H., Kasuga, A. and Aoyagi, Y. 1994. Relationship between fruiting body composition and substrate in hiratake and maitake mushrooms cultivated on sawdust substrate beds. Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi41: 419–424. (In Japanese.)
Kogure, T. 1975. On the specificity of mushroomPleurotus ostreatus andPleurotus spodoleucus extracts. Vox Sang.29: 221–227.
Kurtzman, R. H., Jr. 1975. Mushrooms as a source of food proteins. In: Protein nutritional quality of foods and feeds, part 2 (ed. by Friedman, M.), pp. 305–318. Marcel Dekker, New York.
Kurtzman, R. H., Jr. 1979. Mushrooms: Single cell protein from cellulose. In: Ann. rep. fermatation processes, vol. 3, (ed. by Perlman, D.), pp. 305–339. Academic Press, New York.
Kurtzman, R. H., Jr. 1991. Dolomite upsets the carbon dioxide balance. Mushroom Sci.13: 747–751.
Kurtzman, R. H., Jr. 1993. Analysis, digestibility and the nutritional value of mushrooms. In: Mushroom biology and mushroom products, (ed. by Chang, S. T., Buswell, J. A. and Chiu, S. W.), pp. 219–225. Chinese University Press, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong.
Liener, I. R. 1975. Effects of anti-nutritional and toxic factors on the quality and utilization of legume proteins. In: Protein nutritional quality of foods and feeds, part 2, (ed. by Friedman, M.), pp. 523–550. Marcel Dekker, New York.
Ono, T., Arimoto, K., Kano, K., Matsuoka, K., Sugiura, W., Sadone, H. and Mori, K. 1974. Vitamin D2 formation inLentinus edodes (Shii-ta-ke) by irradiation with a fluorescent sunlamp. Mushroom Sci.9: 435–443.
Ortiz, R., Sanchez, R., Piez, A., Montaio, L. F. and Zenteno, E. 1992. Induction of intestinal malabsorption syndrome in rats fed withAgaricus bisporus mushroom lectin. J. Agric. Food Chem.40: 1375–1378.
Presant, P. and Kornfeld, S. 1972. Characterization of the cell surface receptor for theAgaricus bisporus hemagglutinin. J. Biol. Chem.247: 6937–6945.
Sugimori, T. S., Oyama, Y. and Omichi, T. 1971. Studies of basidiomycetes. I. Production of mycelium and fruiting body from noncarbohydrate organic substances. J. Ferment. Technol.49: 435–446.
Wakita, S. 1976. Thiamine-destruction by mushrooms. Sci. Rept. Yokohama Natl. Univ. sec. 2, (23): 39–70. (In Japanese.)
Watts, B. K. and Merrill, A. L. 1963. Composition of foods. Agricultural Handbook No. 8. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington.
Wittliff, J. L. and Airth, R. L. 1970a. Thiaminase I. (Thiamine: base 2-methyl-4-aminopyrimidine-5-methenyl transferase, EC 2.5.1.2). Methods in Enzymol.18(A): 229–234.
Wittliff, J. L. and Airth, R. L. 1970b. Thiaminase II. (Thiamine hydrolase, EC 3.5.99.2). Methods in Enzymol.18(A): 234–238.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Kurtzman, R.H. Nutrition from mushrooms, understanding and reconciling available data. Mycoscience 38, 247–253 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460860
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460860