When it comes to the versatility of the plant kingdom, you can't really beat the mushroom. They taste great raw in salads, or sautéed and cooked in stir fries. Unfortunately, mushrooms seem to be a bit under appreciated in this sense, as they are more often than not consumed on slices of Scary Seven-containing pizza or dipped into salad dressings loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. However, when eaten the right way, mushrooms can be a great source of phytonutrients and can also help strengthen your immune system. And new research has also indicated that mushrooms can also be a great source of vitamin D.
NutraIngredients.com reported the study, which found that "eating mushrooms containing vitamin D2 can be as effective at increasing and maintaining vitamin D levels as taking supplemental vitamin D2 or D3."Read more about vitamin D
The study was led by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) following 30 healthy adults. They were given capsules "containing either vitamin D2, vitamin D3, or mushroom extract – finding that either capsules containing 2000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D2, 2000 IU of vitamin D3 or 2000 IU of mushroom powder containing vitamin D2 once a day for 12 weeks during the winter – finding that 25(OH) D levels were similar for those individuals consuming vitamin compared to the mushroom extract."
The senior author of the study Dr. Michael Holick of BUSM stated that "We found ingesting mushrooms containing vitamin D2 was as effective in raising and maintaining a healthy adult's vitamin D status as ingesting a supplement that contained either vitamin D2 or vitamin D3." The research team concluded that "these results provide evidence that ingesting mushrooms which have been exposed to ultraviolet light and contain vitamin D2, are a good source of vitamin D that can improve the vitamin D status of healthy adults."Read more about mushrooms
Photo Credit: Molly Ali
References: Nutra Ingredients, Eureka Alert
