{IMAGE}Although the button mushroom is the foremost cultivated edible mushroom in the world with thousands of tonnes being eaten every year, it is often thought of as a poor relation to its more exotic and expensive cousins and to have lesser value nutritionally.
But according to new research in SCI ™s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, the white button mushroom has as much anti-oxidant properties as its more expensive rivals, the maitake and the matsutake mushrooms - both of which are highly prized in Japanese cuisine for their reputed health properties including lowering blood pressure and their alleged ability to fight cancer.
Anti-oxidants are believed to help ward off illness and boost the body ™s immune system by acting as free radical scavengers, helping to mop up cell damage caused by free radicals.
Dr Jean-Michel Savoie and his team from the Institut National de la Recherche Agrinomique, a Governmental research institute in France, found that anti-radical activity was equivalent to, if not more, than the better known mushrooms when they measured the respective mushrooms ™ free radical scavenging ability.
The French team also found that the body of the mushroom had a higher concentration of anti-oxidants than the stalk.
Dr Jean-Michel said: It can be reasonably assumed that white button mushrooms have as much, if not more, radical scavenging power as mushrooms currently touted for their health benefit. The good thing is button mushrooms are available all year round, are cheap and may be an excellent source of nutrition as part of a healthy diet.
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Vitamin D works in very complicated ways, she says. It changes the way cells work. In fact, there is medical speculation that it may block cancer cell proliferation or improve immune system functions. But its role is not fully understood.
Lifestyle also has to be part of the equation. Dr. Parker is looking at how obesity, which we know can cause cancer, and exercise, which we know prevents cancer, could interact with Vitamin D.
At the population level, I am trying to understand how all these things fit together, says Dr. Parker. It's very complex.
Dr. Parker describes it as looking for a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. We know some of the jigsaw pieces, but not all, she says.
Meanwhile, there is very little evidence that taking Vitamin D can harm you. Perhaps in huge doses it could cause kidney stones, but that has not been proven.
On the average, 1,000 units a day is safe and is probably effective in reducing the risk of colon cancer, and maybe other cancers as well, says Dr. Parker. So does she take Vitamin D and recommend it? Absolutely. I take 1,000 units of Vitamin D “ one day on and one day off, she says.
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