Edible mushrooms: Functional or Nutritious foods for athletes?

We are used to considering mushrooms as vegetables, at least in our cooking and kitchens, and usually don’t think about them too much. But they are so much more than this!

Neither classified as animal nor plant in biology, fungi as a whole have their own kingdom, separate from plants, as they don’t use photosynthesis to grow. Science even found out they are closer to animals than plants.

The fungi kingdom is a huge “family”, encompassing microscopic structures such as yeasts (unicellular), others visible to our naked eye (molds), and finally larger ones called mushrooms, of all varieties, adapted to multiple environments, including the edible ones.

Fun facts and benefits of mushroom consumption.

A few intriguing fun facts:

Some mushrooms digest their food to grow (like us !), preferably on decaying matter, therefore playing an essential role in the ecosystem as recyclers and cleaners, critical for soil turnover and helping provide nitrogen to plants (which in turn we absorb to create proteins). Some are parasites. And some live in symbiosis with other living organisms, such as lichen. It has been said that lichen is the pioneer of agriculture, providing shelter to an alga while harvesting nutrients from it.

They can reproduce via sexual or asexual reproduction, sometimes both at the same time.

Yeasts (unicellular fungi) are widely used to produce breads, wines, beers,  and many fermented foods we enjoy so much, and are beneficial to us. 

There are >2000 species of mushrooms in nature, ≥25 of which are widely accepted as functional foods for human consumption and are commercially cultivated.

Ba, D.M., Ssentongo, P., Beelman, R.B., Muscat, J., Gao, X. and Richie, J.P Jr. Higher Mushroom Consumption Is Associated with Lower Risk of Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. 2021. American Society for Nutrition. [online]. Available at: 10.1093/advances/nmab015

Keegan, R.J.H., Lu, Z., Bugusz, J.M., Williams, J.E. and Holick, M.F. 2012. Photobiology of vitamin D in mushrooms and its bioavailability in humans. Dermato-Endocrinology. [online]. Available at: //doi.org/10.4161/derm.23321

Motta, F., Gershwin, M.E. and Selmi, C. 2020. Mushrooms and immunity. Journal of Autoimmunity. [online]. Available at: 10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102576