Mushrooms: The Underestimated Superfood!

     The article, Mushrooms as Future Generation Healthy Foods, meticulously identifies mushrooms as potentially revolutionary in health and nutrition. Mushrooms have the potential to influence multiple disease processes including immune, inflammatory, neurological, behavioral/psychological, and digestive disorders. This is due to mushrooms containing bioactive molecules that carry antiviral, anti-inflammatory, prebiotic, and other properties. This article is massive, detailing numerous ways in which mushrooms have potential health benefits. I found its neurological and anti-tumor effects most interesting. In these areas the mushrooms function by regulating inflammation pathways and promoting cytotoxic activity in overactive cells, respectively.

    While mushroom are a rising superfood, they are not magic. Mushrooms do not cure all problems and many social media scams portray. In reality, they mainly operate by regulating and initiating certain functions/pathways in the body. If that sounds a little vague to you, its not by chance. Another important note highlighted in this article is that the active molecules within mushrooms that impart all of the previously mentioned health benefits have not yet been reliably identified. This is because different types of mushrooms have vastly different compositions and properties. As further research is done on mushrooms, we we likely see them appear more and more in our everyday diet. They have strong potential in both the treatment of certain disorders, and in preventative care. There are plenty of edible mushrooms that are easily available can cant hurt to add to your diet!