Notes on Nutritional Properties of Culinary-Medicinal Mushrooms

ABSTRACT: Increasingly, mushrooms are being investigated for their role as nutritional foods. How-ever, few studies have been published on their nutritional profi les. Th e author grew and submitted 20 species for thorough nutritional profi ling. In addition, the eff ect of sunlight on the production of vitamin D of indoor-grown mushroom while drying was explored with Lentinus eddoes (Berk.) Singer (shiitake mushroom), Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.:Fr.) Lloyd (reishi), and Grifola frondosa (Dicks.:Fr.) S.F. Gray (maitake). Six to eight hours of sunlight exposure stimulated the production of vitamin D from low levels of 134, 66, and 469 IU, respectively, to 46,000, 2760, and 31,900 IU vitamin D, respectively. Th e most vitamin D was produced in Lentinus edodes, whose spore-producing lamellae were exposed to the sun. Dried mushrooms also elicited vitamin D production subsequent to sunlight exposure. Vitamin D is proven as essential for immune function and has now been identifi ed as a major mitigating factor in many diseases, so the sunlight-activated biosynthesis of vitamin D from ergosterols within mushrooms has substantial implications for the mushroom industry in the context of worldwide health.