Fun Facts About Mushrooms
- A recent study in the journal Appetite indicated that substituting mushrooms for beef in preparing foods can reduce caloric intake by 400 calories a day.
- The Japanese revere wild cultivated mushrooms for everything from reducing arterial plaque to fighting tumors.
- Low in fat, wild cultivated mushrooms are high in niacin and Vitamin D (like humans, they can make their own).
- Wild mushrooms were recently cited as part of the top ten recipes of 2008 by the Los Angeles Times and cited as “one of the top 20 hot items for 2007” in a National Restaurant Association Survey.
- Mushrooms are low in calories, have no cholesterol and are virtually free of fat and sodium.
- Mushrooms contain essential minerals like Selenium, which works with Vitamin E to produce antioxidants that neutralize "free radicals" which can cause cell damage.
- The amino acid count in mushrooms is higher per serving than corn, peanuts, kidney and soy beans. The average mushroom is also high in protein and nucleic acid.