Washington (US): A new research suggests that adding a mushroom serving to one’s diet could work wonders for the human body.

According to the research, published in 'Food Science and Nutrition', adding a mushroom serving to the diet increased the intake of several micronutrients, including shortfall nutrients such as vitamin D, without any increase in calories, sodium, or fat.

Dr. Victor L. Fulgoni III and Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal modelled the addition of mushrooms to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2016 dietary data looking at a composite of white, crimini and portabella mushrooms. One scenario included UV-light exposed mushrooms, and one scenario included oyster mushrooms for two age groups: 9-18 years and 19+ years of age.

Their key findings were that adding an 84g serving of mushrooms provided handsome amounts of potassium, copper, phosphorus, selenium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, choline and fiber. These are all essential nutrients, deficiency of which would impair the development of various organs in the human body.

Additionally, the mushrooms led to no increase in harmful calories, carbohydrate, fat or sodium. This was true for the white, crimini and portabella mix and oyster mushrooms.

The report also observed that when commonly consumed mushrooms are exposed to UV-light, at least 5 mcg vitamin D is made available to the body. Few foods naturally contain vitamin D, and mushrooms are unique in that they are the only food in the produce aisle that contain vitamin D.

"This research validated what we already knew that adding mushrooms to your plate is an effective way to reach the dietary goals identified by the DGA,” said Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FADA, and nutrition research coordinator to the Mushroom Council.

"Data from surveys such as NHANES are used to assess nutritional status and its association with health promotion and disease prevention and assist with formulation of national standards and public health policy (CDC, 2020)," added Feeney.

Mushrooms are fungi - a member of the third food kingdom - biologically distinct from plant and animal-derived foods that comprise the USDA food patterns, yet have a unique nutrient profile that provides nutrients common to both plant and animal foods.

Although classified into food grouping systems by their use as a vegetable, mushrooms' increasing use in main entrees in plant-forward diets is growing, supporting consumers' efforts to follow food-based dietary guidance recommendations to lower intake of calories, saturated fatty acids, and sodium while increasing intake of under-consumed nutrients including fiber, potassium and vitamin D.

Often grouped with vegetables, mushrooms provide many of the nutrient attributes of produce, as well as attributes more commonly found in meat, beans, or grains.

Mushrooms are also one of the best dietary sources of sulfur-containing antioxidant amino acid ergothioneine and tripeptide glutathione Ergothioneine and glutathione contents in mushrooms depend upon the mushroom varieties, and oyster mushrooms contain more amounts of these sulfur-containing antioxidants than commonly consumed mushrooms: white button, crimini, or portabella mushrooms.

With mushrooms growing in awareness and consideration among consumers nationwide, in 2019, the Mushroom Council made a $1.5 million multi-year investment in research to help broaden understanding of the food's nutritional qualities and overall health benefits.