In 2006, neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his colleagues asked a woman stuck in an unresponsive state to imagine she was playing tennis. Owen and his team were astounded to find the woman’s brain showed a pattern of activity nearly identical to a healthy person's, according to VICE Media Group.
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“She wasn’t vegetative at all. She was responding to us, doing everything we asked,” Owen wrote in his book, “Into the Gray Zone: A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death.” The report detailed a paper published in The Neuroscience of Consciousness which examined giving disorders of consciousness patients psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, to see if it could restore consciousness in some way.
When it comes to mushrooms, there is, perhaps, no other food source surrounded by such mystery and magic. Medicinal mushrooms are known to enhance your health by activating your immune system and potentially fighting cancer.
Reishi mushrooms extract, in particular, may help reduce obesity by modulating the composition of gut microbiota.
It turns out that not only are mushrooms good for you, but good for the Earth, as well. Mushrooms may even help to save the world by:
- Restoring habitat that's been devastated by pollution
- Naturally fighting flu viruses and other diseases
- Killing ants, termites and other insects without using pesticides
- Creating sustainable fuel
Edible mushrooms — a superfood that are fungi, not plants — have recently been shown to support brain health. Compared with people who ate mushrooms less than once per week, those who ate mushrooms twice or more per week had a 50% lower risk of mild cognitive impairment. That’s because mushrooms contain ergothioneine — a master antioxidant.
All you need to derive the benefits is three-quarters of a cup of cooked mushrooms, or 150 grams, which is pretty easy to add to your diet.
Considering mushrooms are widely available, relatively inexpensive and suitable for a wide variety of culinary uses — not to mention delicious — adding them to your diet may be one of the simplest ways to support your brain health.
Other benefits that you may enjoy from consuming mushrooms include:
- Weight management — One study showed that substituting red meat with white button mushrooms may support a healthy weight.
- Improved nutrition — Adding more mushrooms to your diet may help improve diet quality.
- Optimal vitamin D levels — Eating certain mushroom species is seen in a study to be more effective than taking vitamin D2 supplements.
- Optimal digestive function — Mushrooms support your gastrointestinal health, thanks to their supply of dietary fiber and fungal enzymes.
- Antibacterial properties — Penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline are all derived from fungal extracts.
Mushrooms are also great sources of protein, fiber, B vitamins (especially niacin), vitamin C, calcium, minerals and selenium.
In spite of the many positive effects and the many types of mushrooms, Americans tend not to experiment. They consume roughly 900 million pounds of mushrooms per year, but 95% is composed of the button mushrooms.
Next time be adventurous and try some golden, shiitake or oyster mushrooms. Enjoy them canned, fresh or dried, as a main dish or in sauces and soups. Your brain will thank you.