Notes on Nutritional Properties of Culinary-Medicinal Mushrooms

Increasingly, mushrooms are being investigated for their role as nutritional foods. However, few studies have been published on their nutritional profiles. The author grew and submitted 20 species for thorough nutritional profiling. In addition, the effect of sunlight on the production of vitamin D of indoor-grown mushroom while drying was explored with Lentinus eddoes (Berk.) Singer (shiitake mushroom), Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.:Fr.) Lloyd (reishi), and Grifola frondosa (Dicks.:Fr.) S.F. Gray (maitake). Six to eight hours of sunlight exposure stimulated the production of vitamin D from low levels of 134, 66, and 469 IU, respectively, to 46,000, 2760, and 31,900 IU vitamin D, respectively. Tne most vitamin D was produced in Lentinus edodes, whose spore-producing lamellae were exposed to the sun. Dried mushrooms also elicited vitamin D production subsequent to sunlight exposure. Vitamin D is proven as essential for immune function and has now been identified as a major mitigating factor in many diseases, so the sunlight-activated biosynthesis of vitamin D from ergosterols within mushrooms has substantial implications for the mushroom industry in the context of worldwide health.