Sector body The Mushroom Bureau has signed up leading UK nutritionist and cordon bleu chef Jane Clarke to front a new PR consumer campaign “Mushrooms - the Magic Ingredient” to promote the health, taste and versatility of the product.
The campaign aims to capitalise on recent research from Pennsylvania State University in the US, which revealed that the most commonly cultivated white mushrooms - which make up 95 per cent of all UK sales - are one of the richest sources of the powerful antioxidant ergothioneine and therefore more than worthy of the sought-after superfood status.
Clarke, a TV regular and columnist for The Times, has compiled a report, Mushrooms - The New Superfood, which outlines the key scientific findings from around the world into the health and nutritional benefits of mushrooms, with a particular focus on several studies which have highlighted the anti-cancer potential of certain compounds in mushrooms.
The report was launched at a Mushroom Lovers’ Luncheon, appropriately held at The Magic Circle in London last week.Clarke said: “As a nutritionist I already knew that mushrooms were a valuable part of the diet, being a good source of B vitamins and essential minerals potassium, selenium, copper and phosphorous, as well as being low in calories, fat and sodium.
“But new research is suggesting that mushrooms, or substances extracted from mushrooms, may have the potential to help fight cancer and heart disease.”
Robert Beelman, professor of food science at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, who has played a leading role in highlighting the health benefits of mushrooms, was at the event. He said there has been a change in focus in the minds of nutritionists and consumers: “People are now interested in what foods do have, rather than what they don’t have. Mushrooms have at least 10-20 per cent, and possibly as much as 50 per cent, more ergothioneine than chicken liver or wheatgerm (previously recognised as the biggest sources) and three times the antioxidant properties of a tomato. I think ergo will become a household word.”
For more details, see this Friday's FPJ.
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