I’ve seen articles touting the benefits of all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Yet I’ve never seen mushrooms held up as a particularly good source of anything (unless you count hallucinations, but I’m not talking about THOSE mushrooms). IIRC, our edible fungus friends are not included in the food pyramid either. So, what are the nutritional benefits of mushrooms, if any? (I love mushrooms, so please tell me they’re good source of something!)
Go here and your questions will be answered.
Thanks for the link, but another link I found contradicts
much of what that site says (I didn’t think to do a google search till after posting my question – very very bad, I know).
I’ve been asking this question for years, and been receiving contradictory answers.
I think part of the problem is how you define “nutritious”. Is a “good” food one packed with all sorts of nutrients, or one with few “bad” components? Everyone agrees mushrooms have potassium, that’s about the only consistent thing.
I also have to ask what sort of mushroom was tested? In the US is seems the common white shroom is the basis of the nutritional statements, but saying white button shrooms and shiitakes have the same nutritional characteristics is like saying broccoli and onions have the same nutrional characteristics because they’re both vegetables. The mineral, protein, micronutrient (like selenium), and fiber content of shrooms vary considerably between species. Shiitakes, for instance, have much more fiber than white shrooms. I have found some information that portobellos have more usable protein than common whites. I suspect the question has never been given truly adequate attention.
Also, note that the “pro” site is Britsh in origin and the “anti” side is from the US. There has long been a bias in the US to regard mushrooms as dangerous items whereas in Europe they are considered a much more important and typical part of the diet. I also got the impression that the British site was using larger quantities than the US side - a very small amount of anything will have less nutrients than a large quantity.
Even if the main nutritional features of mushrooms come down to potassium and water - well, most Americans don’t get enough water in the course of the day so that moisture wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.
I say eat 'em, enjoy 'em, and try not to worry too much about these things.
If you click though to the USDA website, you can search for mushrooms within their Nutrient Data Laboratory. The USDA gives info for portobello, crimini, shiitake, straw, enoki, and oyster mushrooms (seperately). It seems to me that the actual reported data on nutrition is less than the numbers reported by the UK site linked above; also, I’m not cognizant enough of “typical” food nutritional values to understand the significance of 484mg of potassium, for instance. Is that “bad”? “good”?