By Rodney Richey
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
There are no parades or festivals this year to celebrate September as National Mushroom Month.
But there is interesting news.
The United States Department of Agriculture has updated its nutrient database to provide values of vitamin D, and one unexpected result is that the lowly mushroom has gotten some good press. According to the Mushroom Council, of the 2,900 foods included in the update, mushrooms are the only fresh fruit or vegetable with natural vitamin D.
“Similar to the way that humans absorb sunlight and convert it to vitamin D,” the council reports in a release, “mushrooms contain a plant sterol — ergosterol — that converts to vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.”
Dietician Jennifer Hinkle is the coordinator of wellness and sustainability for Creative Dining, the food service company for Anderson University.
According to Hinkle, mushrooms may be overlooked by some when seeking nutritional foods.
“They are very nutritious,” Hinkle said this week. “They are very much in line with fruits and vegetables in terms of their nutritional value. They’re a great source of vitamins, minerals and fiber.
“They’re a good source of pretty much all the B-vitamins, and an excellent source of potassium, copper, iron, a little bit of magnesium in there, too.”
Yet even though Hinkle had been unaware of mushrooms’ secret vitamin D power, she stressed that recent findings had emphasized the vitamin’s significance.
“The USDA raised (the vitamin D requirement) for children in the wake of learning all of the great benefits of vitamin D, for everything from cancer prevention to free radical destruction and things like that.”
While everyday button mushrooms may not pack a punch of vitamin D, others, like Indiana’s plentiful morels, are powerhouses. Mushrooms can even assist the body in absorbing other vitamins.
“There’s some evidence that the chemical makeup of mushrooms helps with the digestion and absorption of vitamin E,” Hinkle said.
Those hungry for potassium, such as athletes, should know that, according to Hinkle, a quarter cup of mushrooms has more of it than a whole banana, though she admitted most athletes might not choose to bolt down a handful of criminis after a workout.
Some vegetarians do substitute mushrooms for meat in some recipes, though Hinkle said they are not good sources of protein. And their only drawback is the specific knowledge needed to hunt them in the wild. Pick the wrong mushroom, and you could be eating your last meal.
“There are a lot of poisonous mushrooms that look remarkably similar to safe mushrooms,” Hinkle said.
Contact Rodney Richey, 640-4861, rodney.richey@heraldbulletin.com.
