What are the Health Benefits of Mushrooms?

What are the Health Benefits of Mushrooms?

The healing properties of mushrooms have enormous health benefits. Along with tasting great, mushrooms have a long list of health benefits that contribute to your overall health and well-being. Mushrooms are a true superfood and are considered to be one of the top health-promoting foods available. A recent study suggests that 50% of edible mushrooms are functional foods – foods that have a positive impact on your health that goes beyond the basics of nutrition.
As you may know, AHCC is a functional food made from a unique compound extracted from a hybridization of several species of mushrooms. At its core, AHCC is derived from healing mushrooms. AHCC has impressive immune system enhancing abilities along with anti-inflammatory properties and other healing features. This allows AHCC to turn up the dial on your immune system. And it’s these benefits for your immune system that make mushrooms such a powerful functional food. Read on to learn why beyond AHCC, we are all big fans of mushrooms at AHCC Research.

What are the Top Health Benefits of Mushrooms?

The top health benefits of mushrooms include:
  • Digestion support. Mushrooms are a prebiotic food and are therefore super important for strengthening and building powerful gut bacteria. Eating mushrooms can help balance the bacteria in your microbiome – improving the health of your entire body – particularly your immune system.
  • Cancer and mushrooms. Mushrooms are rich in proteins called lectins. Lectins are recognized for their ability to help the immune system defend against and destroy cancer cells.
We can sum this up with a few words: eat your mushroom and take your AHCC – the health benefits of mushrooms are too important to overlook.

What are the Nutritional Benefits of Mushrooms?

The key nutritional benefits of mushrooms include:
  • Antioxidants. As we highlighted above, antioxidants help protect your body from free radicals that can cause serious conditions including cancer and heart disease. As an extra bonus these antioxidants help strengthen your immune system.
  • Beta glucan. This soluble dietary fiber can help improve your cholesterol levels and contribute to better heart health. Look to oyster and shiitake mushrooms for good sources of beta glucan.
  • B vitamins. B vitamins are critical to your overall health. Fortunately, mushrooms are high in riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid. Riboflavin helps you grow red blood cells. Niacin contributes to digestive system health and healthy skin. Pantothenic acid is key nutrient for your nervous system.
  • Copper is key in helping your body make red blood cells – the cells responsible for moving oxygen around your body. A 1-cup serving of cooked mushrooms has about 1/3 of your daily recommended amount of copper.
  • Potassium. You need potassium to support your heart, muscle, and nerve health and functions. Most people tend to eat bananas when they’re low in potassium – but we want you to eat mushrooms. A 2/3 cup serving of cooked Portobello mushrooms has close to the same amount of potassium as a medium banana.
  • As an extra bonus, mushrooms are fat-free, low in calories, easy-to-cook, can be eaten raw or cooked, are high in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and are cholesterol-free. A true superfood that needs to take up more space on your plate.

What are the Best Ways to Eat Mushrooms?

The best way for you to eat mushrooms is the way that will make you eat more of them. Seriously, there is no wrong or right way to eat mushrooms. We do want to remind you that you should not forage for mushrooms and eat those that you don’t know are safe. Remember, some species of wild mushrooms are poisonous – so please do not eat every mushroom you see out on your nature walk. One of best things about mushrooms are their versatility. Mushrooms can be eaten raw, marinated, grilled, be a replacement for beef or chicken burger, added to soups, stir fries, curries, stews and sandwiches. We’ve put together some of our favorite mushroom recipes. Visit the AHCC Research Facebook page and share your favorite mushroom recipes with us.
  • Creamy spinach stuffed mushrooms. Fire up your grill and get ready to make this easy appetizer. Look for mini Portobello mushrooms and get ready to enjoy an easy-to-prepare stuffed mushroom.
  • Garlic mushrooms. It doesn’t get much easier than this garlic mushroom stir fry. It’s an ideal addition to your favorite salad, burger, or as a side to a steak or chicken pot pie.
  • And don’t forget the latest trends of mushroom coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Look for these superfood drinks at your favorite coffee shop. Of course, along with adding mushrooms to your diet, we also want to remind you that taking AHCC daily has powerful immune system health benefits. Yes, you can and should eat mushrooms for their amazing health benefits – but remember to get the extra health and immune system boost you need – take your AHCC

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