Food Value of Mushroom
Mushrooms
also are living organism and belong to a group known as “Fungi”. They are the members of higher fungi, belonging to the class Ascomycetes
and Basidiomycetes. Biologically mushrooms are very much important. The
biological value of mushroom includes nutritive value, medicinal value and the
efficiency in digestion of other substances.The food value of mushrooms are as
follows-
1) Protein:Mushrooms
are richest source of vegetable protein. The protein content varies from 1.1 to
4.9% in common cultivatable mushroom. All the essential amino acids including
lysine are present in much higher amount than even egg. Among the mushroom
aminoacid 25 to 40% occurs free, whereas the remaining in the form of polypeptide, unusual amino acid and related
nitrogenous compound. The amino aciods are- methionine sulphoxide, alanine,
cysteic acid, hydroxyl lysine, amino-adipic acid, amino butyric acid, pipecolic
acid, phosphoserine, cannavine, citrulline, ornithine, ethanolamine etc
(Altamura et. al, 1967).
2) Mineral:Mushroom
contain sufficient quantities of mineral elements such as Na, P, Ca, K, Fe etc.
The amount of these mineral is equivalent to the cabbage.
3)Vitamin:Few mushroom like Agaricus bisporus,Pleurotus ostreatus, Volvariella volvaceae,Termymyces etc containseveral vitamins like thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, ascorbic acid,folic acid etc. The amount of ascorbic acid in mushroom is comparable to Citrus fruits.
4) Fat:Mushroom
cotain sufficient amount of saturated Fat. The crude fat ranges from 1to 20% of
total dry weight. Among the fatty acids
Palmitic acid, Stearic acid and Oleic acid are very common.
5) Carbohydrate:Mushroom
also cotain sufficient amount of carbohydrate. The amount of carbohydrate
ranges from 3to 28% of total dry weight.In addition with normal carbohydrate it
also contain some diverse type carbohydrate like Trehalose (mushroom sugar) .
6) Medicinal
importance:Most of the mushrooms have high medicine value to
reduce several human disorder-
Name
of Mushroom |
Role in controlling diseases |
Agaricus
bisporus |
Stimulating
digestion, Curing hypertension, Hyperacidity, Obesity, Constipation |
Auricularia
polytricha |
Strengthening
health, Helping blood circulation, Treatment of stomach and Piles |
Pleurotus
ostreatus, |
Relaxing
muscle, Joint pains, Antitumorous activity |
Pleurotus
sajor-caju |
Reducing the
rate of nephron detoriation (renal failure) |
Volvariella
volvaceae |
Reducing blood
pressure |
It is no doubt that mushroom has
a great role in food industry and world economy but the problem is that there is no
sure or easy test to distinguish
edible mushroom from poisonous one.
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