|
Mushrooms & antioxidants Mushrooms have a powerful antioxidant capacity. Compared to 30 common vegetables, using three different analytical methods, mushrooms were placed in the top five for antioxidant capacity (Pellegrini 2003). Subsequent studies have confirmed the antioxidant potential of button mushrooms (Dubost 2007; Savoie 2008). Mushrooms are very high in ergothioneine, an intracellular antioxidant first identified in 1909. Analysis shows that ergothioneine is in mushrooms, meats (especially liver and kidney), egg yolk, oat bran, wheat germ (but not the endosperm) and some beans and onion (Ey 2007). It was not found in other vegetables and fruit. Ergothioniene levels are high in red blood cells, bone marrow and semen. It is believed that ergothioneine protects the haemoglobin in red blood cells, and protects monocytes against oxidation (Gründemann 2005). Ergothioneine is not made by the body so it can only be obtained from the diet. The best indication that ergothioniene is essential to humans was the discovery in 2005 that the body has a specific ergothioniene transporter (Gründemann 2005). Cells that have the transporter will actively accumulate and retain ergothioneine, while those without the transporter cannot obtain ergothioneine. Ergothioneine is concentrated in the mitochondria and other cells exposed to oxidative stress and involved in the inflammatory response. When cells are deprived of the transporter there is increased mitochondrial DNA damage, protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation (Paul 2010). Oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA is linked to neuro-degenerative diseases, especially Parkinson’s Disease. Ergothioneine accumulates in the endothelial cells of blood vessels and appears to protect against atherosclerosis, at least with in vitro tests (Martin 2010). A study determining the ergothioneine levels in different mushrooms found that both white and brown button mushrooms were rich in ergothioneine and that the levels did not diminish during cooking (Dubost 2006). |
Nutritional information: 
|