Mushrooms as good an antioxidant source as more colorful veggies

Portabella and crimini mushrooms rank with carrots, green beans, red peppers and broccoli as good sources of dietary antioxidants, Penn State researchers say.

Dr. N. Joy Dubost, who recently earned her doctorate in food science at Penn State, measured the activity of two antioxidants, polyphenols and ergothioneine, present in mushrooms, using the ORAC assay and HPLC instrumentation, as part of her dissertation research. She found that portabella mushrooms had an ORAC value of 9.7 micromoles of trolox equivalents per gram and criminis had an ORAC value of 9.5. Data available from other researchers shows carrots and green beans have an ORAC value of 5; red pepper 10; and broccoli 12.

The ORAC assay, the most well known test of antioxidant capacity, focuses on the peroxyl radical, the most predominate in the human body. Free radicals, such as the peroxyl radical, are thought to play a role in the aging process and in many diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's and atherosclerosis. Epidemiological studies have shown that those who eat the most fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants have lower incidence of these diseases.

Dubost detailed her results in a paper, Quantification of Polyphenols and Ergothioneine in Cultivated Mushrooms and Correlation to Total Antioxidant Capacity Using the ORAC and HORAC Assays, presented Monday, June 26, at the Institute of Food Technologists meeting in Orlando, Fl. Her co-author is her dissertation adviser, Dr. Robert Beelman, professor of food science.

Dubost explains that assays are a first step toward determining how effective a food is in providing protection against oxidative damage. Anti-oxidants inhibit increased rates of oxidation, which can damage proteins, lipids carbohydrates and DNA.

She adds, "The ORAC assay does not tell what happens in the human body but this assay is currently under investigation as to how it can predict physiological activity."

The Penn State study showed that the anti-oxidant effect of mushrooms is due primarily to the presence of polyphenols. Dubost and Beelman had earlier identified mushrooms as an abundant source of the anti-oxidant, ergothionene.

Dubost notes, "Evidence suggests that erogothioneine is biologically very important and, even though the assay used does not show it contributes to total antioxidant activity in the mushrooms, it may significantly contribute antioxidant activity in the body."

The ORAC values found in the latest study indicate that mushrooms are potent anti-oxidant sources. The research revealed that, of the mushrooms tested, portabella mushrooms and crimini mushrooms have the highest ORAC values. Criminis, which are brown, are otherwise similar to the popular white button mushroom, the one mostly commonly consumed in the U.S. The white button mushroom has an ORAC value of 6.9, above tomato, green pepper, pumpkin, zucchini, carrot, and green beans.

Dubost says, "You don't have to eat only the vegetables with the highest anti-oxidant capacity to benefit. If you eat a variety of mushrooms along with a variety of other vegetables, you'll be getting a variety of antioxidants."

Source: Penn State

Related stories:

Helping kids eat better: Colorful guide shows parents how to make wiser food choices
Seventeen percent of U.S. kids are overweight. One-third of those born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lives. The statistics are grim.
More foods getting labeled as US or foreign-grown
(AP) -- No more wondering where your hamburger came from, or where your lettuce and tomatoes were grown: Starting this week, shoppers will see lots more foods labeled with the country of origin.
Researchers develop new self-training gene prediction program for fungi
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a computer program that trains itself to predict genes in the DNA sequences of fungi.
International experts collect alpine fungi in Beartooth Mountains of Montana
Armed guards once kept polar bears away while Cathy Cripps collected mushrooms and fungi on the island of Svalbard between Norway and the North Pole. Another time, Cripps encountered musk-oxen while gathering fungi in Greenland.
Home IQ: Winning technologies will make people smarter -- not their houses
Someday, we may be getting fashion advice from our mirrors. Instead of digging through our closets to find the perfect complement for a new shirt, we may hold it up to our bedroom mirror for a computer to scan. Using radio-frequency identification technology, our electronic fashion stylist will then offer suggestions based on what's in our closet or how the latest edition of Vogue or Teen Beat pairs up something similar.
Spiritual effects of hallucinogens persist, researchers report
In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in "sacred mushrooms," produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year.
Incense is psychoactive: Scientists identify the biology behind the ceremony
Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. In a new study appearing online in The FASEB Journal, an international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.
Researchers unlock snake and spider mystery
University of Queensland researchers have unlocked new evidence that could help them get to the bottom of our most common phobias and their causes.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news