A balanced diet is the supporting treatment for the prevention of illness and especially against oxidative stress.buy shrooms canada In this context, mushrooms have a long history of use in the oriental medicine to prevent and fight numerous diseases.

Nowadays, mushroom extracts are commercialized as dietary supplements for their properties, mainly for the enhancement of immune function and antitumor activity.

In this work, we aimed to review the nutritional value as well as the chemical and nutraceutical composition, and commercial potentialities of the most cultivated edible mushrooms worldwide.

Findings and Discussion

Nutritional Value

The nutritional value of edible mushrooms is due to their high protein, fiber, vitamin and mineral contents, and low-fat levels. They are very useful for vegetarian diets because they provide all the essential amino acids for adult requirements.

Also, mushrooms have higher protein content than most vegetables. Besides, edible mushrooms contain many different bioactive compounds with various human health benefits.



It is important to remark that the growth characteristics, stage and postharvest condition may influence the chemical composition and the nutritional value of edible mushrooms. Also, great variations occur both among and within species.

Mushrooms contain a high moisture percentage that ranges between 80 and 95 g/100 g, approximately. As above mentioned, edible mushrooms are a good source of protein, 200–250 g/kg of dry matter; leucine, valine, glutamine, glutamic and aspartic acids are the most abundant. Mushrooms are low-calorie foods since they provide low amounts of fat, 20–30 g/kg of dry matter, being linoleic (C18:2), oleic (C18:1) and palmitic (C16:0) the main fatty acids.

Edible mushrooms contain high amounts of ash, 80–120 g/kg of dry matter (mainly potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, and zinc). Carbohydrates are found in high proportions in edible mushrooms, including chitin, glycogen, trehalose, and mannitol; besides, they contain fiber, β-glucans, hemicelluloses, and pectic substances.

Additionally, glucose, mannitol, and trehalose are abundant sugars in cultivated edible mushrooms, but fructose and sucrose are found in low amounts. Mushrooms are also a good source of vitamins with high levels of riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin, folates, and traces of vitamin C, B1, B12, D and E. buy shrooms canada Mushrooms are the only nonanimal food source that contains vitamin D and hence they are the only natural vitamin D ingredients for vegetarians.

Wild mushrooms are generally excellent sources of vitamin D2 unlike cultivated ones; usually cultivated mushrooms are grown in darkness and UV-B light is needed to produce vitamin D2