Allison Wilkey kept getting hit when she was down. First her dad died, then her grandma died, then her dog died. Throughout it all, she moved three times. “I just didn’t have the proper time to recover” between traumatic events, says Wilkey, a 39-year-old freelance digital marketer in Santa Barbara, California. Her health and energy suffered as a result.
So Wilkey took some predictable steps to take care of herself: She scheduled more downtime, cut back on caffeine and focused on eating healthy foods like bone broth. She also started adding a powder made with cordyceps extract — a type of mushroom promoted as able to provide steady energy — to smoothies and hot drinks. “Separate from enjoying the taste, I found it both stabilizing and calming after consistent use,” she says. “Plus, [the powder packets] are easy to use and great for when I’m traveling or on the go with my crazy schedule.”
[See: Pharmacist Recommended Vitamins and Supplements.]
Most people understand that mushrooms are a healthier pizza topping than sausage, a smarter omelet filling than American cheese and a savvy meatless alternative to a burger on the grill. But fewer Americans know mushrooms the way that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, alternative medicine providers and some medical researchers and food scientists do: as a superfood linked to longevity, cancer prevention, energy, a strong immune system and cognitive sharpness.
“I always thought they were underrated,” says Sharon Palmer, a registered dietitian outside of Los Angeles and author of “The Plant-Powered Diet.” “In other cultures, mushrooms are considered a health food. In America, we’re a little slow to catch on and value them.”
That’s changing. Four Sigmatic, a company that makes mushroom coffees, teas and powdered blends like the one Wilkey uses, for example, launched in Finland five years ago, expanded to the U.S. about three years ago and became an Amazon best-seller less than two years ago. In the past year alone, at least a dozen similar companies have cropped up, estimates Four Sigmatic founder and president Tero Isokauppila.
“One thing people can agree on is [the importance of] diversity in the diet, and there’s this whole kingdom of fungi that most people are missing,” says Isokauppila, who grew up in Finland foraging for mushrooms. Adding mushroom powders to your smoothies or swapping your regular coffee for mushroom coffee, he says, are “ways of diversifying your diet.”
At a most basic level, mushrooms are low-calorie, fat-free, cholesterol-free and low in sodium. No matter your dietary restrictions — say, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free or paleo — you can embrace them. The fungi are also rich in nutrients that most Americans fall short on, like vitamin D and some B vitamins.
New research also finds mushrooms are the highest dietary source of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione, which help protect the body against the type of damage that can eventually contribute to age-related diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
“When we first did this work, no one had ever heard of [ergothioneine],” says one of the study’s authors, Robert Beelman, a professor emeritus of food science and director of the Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Foods for Health. “We think it has some interesting health-promoting properties, especially with chronic diseases that are set off by oxidative stress over time.”
Other research of more than 13,000 people in Japan found that the more mushrooms people ate, the less likely they were to have dementia — even when controlling for other factors like diet and gender. Countries like France and Italy that consume more ergothioneine in their diets than Americans — the difference of about five button mushrooms a day per person — also have lower rates of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. “There’s something going on related to brain health,” says Beelman, who has been consuming mushrooms daily for years, usually in the form of powders in drinks or food. “My wife claims she notices it in her focus and her alertness,” he says.
The research on mushroom’s anti-cancer properties is promising, too. Some research has shown that polysaccharide, a compound derived from mushrooms, can help suppress tumors and boost the immune system. Specific research on breast cancer has found that a mushroom blend helps stop the spread of invasive breast cancer cells. A PLOS One review of prior studies suggests that eating more mushrooms may be linked to a lower risk of the disease.
Christine Walsh Egan is counting on it. The author of “The Healthy Girl’s Guide to Breast Cancer,” who lives in Long Island, New York, came across mushrooms as supplements after her breast cancer diagnosis and surgery about seven years ago. She researched both alternative and traditional medicine methods to prevent recurrence, and found that mushrooms were pretty universally well-regarded, although alternative medicine providers were more likely to “prescribe” them.
“The mushroom pill is really just part of my protocol for preventing breast cancer [recurrence,]” she says, along with vitamin D, milk thistle and turmeric. “I’ve been cancer-free for seven years.”
[See: Your Plant-Based Diet Needs These 10 Foods.]
There’s even some animal research suggesting that mushrooms can boost your endurance. In a not-yet-published study, for instance, Beelman and a kinesiology student found that mice on a diet enriched with mushroom powder were able to swim for twice as long. Unfortunately, though, Beelman adds, that’s where most of the research on mushrooms stands: in animals, not humans. “That’s the dilemma,” he says. “Claims are mostly anecdotal.”
Still, Palmer says, “there’s enough [evidence] out there that we should be including mushrooms in our diets every week.” Here’s how:
1. Know all mushrooms aren’t created equal.
Just like kale is more nutrient-dense than iceberg lettuce, different mushrooms have varying levels of different types of nutrients. While the most nutritionally powerful mushrooms — think chaga, lion’s mane and reishi — are most often found in supplement form, all ‘shrooms found on grocery store shelves are safe for human consumption and have benefits, Palmer says. “I tell people to have them all,” Palmer says. Just don’t go foraging for fungi unsupervised: Some mushrooms are toxic.
2. Get creative.
When it comes to preparing mushrooms, the options are endless. Portobello can be grilled and eaten like a burger, while any variety can be ground up, sautéed and swapped in for half of the meat in a meat sauce. They work as well in Asian stir-fries as they do in Italian risottos, and can be tossed into soups or stews for a savory umami flavor, says Palmer, who likes to keep dried mushrooms on hand. “They can really plump right up,” she says. Her husband taught her yet another way to enjoy mushrooms based on his Swedish heritage: Simply sautee them in butter, salt and pepper and pile them onto a piece of toast. Serve them as a side dish, in breakfast frittatas, fresh on salads or stuffed as an appetizer.
[See: 10 Healthy Meals You Can Make in 10 Minutes.]
3. Understand the limits.
No matter how super the superfood, no one food — mushrooms included — is going to cure all ills. And, while mushrooms in their many forms have clear nutritional benefits, their medicinal power isn’t well-studied in humans, nor are their benefits in pill, powder and other supplement forms. Keep in mind, too, that regular supplementation can be costly: 30 servings of Four Sigmatic’s Chaga Elixir, for instance, costs about $45. “There are health benefits for mushrooms,” Palmer says, “although I think with these various new products, I think sometimes they’re overpromising.”
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Mushroom Coffee, Tea and Tinctures: What to Know About This Superfood originally appeared on usnews.com
