Magical, Medicinal Mushrooms As the days get darker, damper and colder you may notice more mushrooms popping up on trees and rotten logs, between bark and fallen leaves. A bush walk the other day had me pondering just how incredible mushrooms are, connected by a mycelium network that spans the globe (if you haven’t watched the documentary Fantastic Fungi, I recommend it). Like plants, many mushrooms contain secondary metabolites; compounds that are not essential for growth, development or reproduction, but have other uses such as defence or attraction. These offer a variety of nutritional and medicinal benefits yet are also responsible for the toxicity – in some cases deadly – of certain mushroom species. The medicinal use of mushrooms goes back thousands of years. The oldest human mummy, dating back 4,000 years, was found with a medicine kit containing medicinal mushrooms still used today! These traditional uses are now being reinforced by studies with promising results. One of the most recognised secondary metabolites are polysaccharides, in particular beta-glucans, which stimulate our immune system by activating immune cells. Other secondary metabolites, including vitamins, antioxidants, terpenes and peptides found in mushrooms, also offer a variety of health benefits.
PAGE 56 | WWW.NOURISHMAGAZINE.CO.NZ
