Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have analysed previously uncharted chemical contents in US -consumed mushrooms and found that the edible bodies of fungi could be tailored into dietary plans to help consumers fill various nutritional needs.

Six mushroom varieties (white button, crimini, portabella, maitake, shiitake, and enoki) were tested. The latter two mushrooms were analysed only in their consumed cooked form.

Using modern analytic tools of the mushrooms in their raw and cooked forms and at various harvest times and maturity levels, scientists found that the mushrooms are rich in total dietary fibers, including those fibers associated with cholesterol-lowering (chitin) and healthy hearts (beta-glutan). Chitin concentrations were eight per cent in raw, mature portabellas and six per cent in raw, immature ones.

When cooked, chitin content fell to 2.7 per cent in both forms, but their levels of total dietary fibers went up significantly. Also showing the same pattern were raw enokis, which had a 7.7 per cent chitin content; cooking also lowered it to 2.7 per cent but total dietary fibres jumped from 29.3 per cent in raw to 41.6 per cent in cooked.

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