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The fibre in mushrooms A serve of mushrooms provides around 1.5g of fibre, which is about 5-6% of the daily fibre needs of an adult. When mushrooms are cooked and lose some water, the level of fibre rises to 2.7g per 100g. The fibre in mushrooms is mainly insoluble. Mushrooms have chitin and glucans as part of their cell walls (Beelman 2004; Wu et al 2004). Cellulose is normally the main polysaccharide in plant cells walls, but chitin plays a similar role in the mushroom. Dietary fibre has many benefits, but the fibre in mushrooms may have different physiological benefits to those found in plant foods. Chitin in particular has been associated with maintaining healthy blood cholesterol levels. Around 15% of the total dietary fibre in mushrooms is resistant starch type 1 (Dikeman 2005), which can act as a prebiotic by resisting digestion to become food for the healthy bacteria residing in the large intestine. |
Nutritional information: 
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