Health Benefits of Edible Mushrooms

Abstract

Mushrooms are fruiting bodies of macroscopic filamentous saprophytic fungi.  Mushrooms are providing valuable biological and economic impact to humankind.  They are considered as valued culinary delicacies. Based on their applications, mushrooms can be divided into 3 major categories, they are edible mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms and wild mushrooms. About 12,000 species of mushroom are available around the world. From this approximately 2000 are fit to eat and have medicinal properties. Edible mushrooms have many human health benefits, they are reported with low fat, high protein, high dietary fibre and they are good source of minerals, vitamins and nutraceuticals. Cultivation of mushrooms is mainly done commercially on agricultural wates, thus converting the agricultural wastes into valued human food source and caused a decreased in the environmental pollution. Mushrooms are reported to have antifungal, antiparasitic, antiviral, antibacterial, antiproliferative, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, anticoagulant, anti-obesity and antidiabetic properties, etc. Many more progress should be made for mushrooms in the field of food as well as in the areas of medicine and unemployment also.