In the study, people who ate two medium mushrooms a day were said to have a 45 percent lower risk of cancer than those who did not eat mushrooms.
Pennsylvania State University analyzed 17 cancer studies from 1966 to 2020, analyzing more than 19,500 patients. The team found that shiitake (shiitake), oyster, maitake and king oyster mushrooms had higher amounts of the amino acid ergothioneine than cultivated mushrooms, cremini and portobello mushrooms, and that people who included any type of mushroom in their daily diet had a lower risk of cancer.
"Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothionine, a unique and potent antioxidant and cellular protector," said Djibril Ba , a graduate student in epidemiology at Penn State College of Medicine. "Replenishing antioxidants in the body can help protect against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of cancer."
Related Products
While these findings provide important evidence for the protective effects of mushrooms against cancer, future studies are also needed to better identify the mechanisms involved and the specific cancers that may be affected, said John Richie, professor of pharmacology at the university and co-author.
While the experts described these findings as "interesting", they also pointed out that the research should be interpreted carefully.