Mushrooms: from nutrition to mycoremediation

Abstract

Mushrooms are well known as important food items. The uses of mushrooms in the cuisine are manifolds and are being utilized for thousands of years in both Oriental and Occidental cultures. Medicinal properties of mushrooms show an immense potential as drugs for the treatment of various diseases as they are rich in a great variety of phytochemicals. In this review, we attempted to encompass the recent knowledge and scientific advancement about mushrooms and their utilization as food or curative properties, along with their natural ability to accumulate (heavy) metals/radionuclides, which leads to an important aspect of bioremediation. However, accumulation of heavy metals and radionuclides from natural or anthropogenic sources also involves potential nutritional hazards upon consumption. These hazards have been pointed out in this review incorporating a selection of the most recently published literature.

Mineral constituents of conserved white button mushrooms: similarities and differences

“…White button mushroom Agaricus bisporus [MB#292246] is a popular foodstuff worldwide. This mushroom and other species collected from the wild or cultivated are considered as a good source of proteins, vitamins and mineral constituents (potassium, phosphorus, zinc and copper or selenium) but also of antioxidants and with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and immunomodulatory properties -see reviews by several authors [4,14,32,33,37].…”

Fungal Biotechnology in Space: Why and How?

“…Finally, mycoremediation is another important biotechnological application of fungi. Here, mainly mushroom-forming fungi are used to degrade or sequester toxic pollutants including metals from the environment (Chatterjee et al 2017;Kapahi and Sachdeva 2017).…”

Mushroom consumption and incident risk of prostate cancer in Japan: A pooled analysis of the Miyagi Cohort Study and the Ohsaki Cohort Study

“…However, research on the health effects of mushrooms has only emerged and been developed in recent decades. To date, an increasing number of in vivo and in vitro studies have suggested the beneficial effects of mushrooms on health, such as antioxidation, anti‐inflammation, immunomodulation, etc …”

“…To date, an increasing number of in vivo and in vitro studies have suggested the beneficial effects of mushrooms on health, such as antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, etc. 3 Additionally, mushrooms also reportedly have anticancer properties and effects against tumor development. 4 In vivo and in vitro evidence has shown that mushrooms have the potential to prevent several kinds of cancers (e.g., those of the breast, bladder, colon and lung), including prostate cancer.…”

“…Relationships between mushroom consumption and incident prostate cancer by age Probability value for trend was computed by entering the categories as a continuous term (score variable: 1, 2 or 3) in the Cox model 2. Model 1 was adjusted for family history of cancer (yes or no), BMI (<18.5, 18.5-25, 25-30, ≥30 or missing), education level (age at last school graduation: <19 years, ≥19 years or missing), smoking status (never, former, current or missing), alcohol drinking (never, former, current or missing) and time spent walking (<0.5 hr/day, 0.5-1 hr/day, ≥1 hr/day or missing) 3. Model 2 was adjusted as for Model 1 plus five groups of consumption volume of meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, coffee and energy intake (quartile categories or missing).…”