It seems that higher mushroom consumption is linked strongly to lower cancer risk. If you accept the findings of a data-mining study that probed 17 cancer studies published from 1966 to 2020, analyzing data from more than 19,500 cancer patients, you might almost think Mushrooms were an anti-cancer ‘magic bullet’…
Beautiful King Oyster Mushrooms: High in anti-oxidants.
Scienists say the best, most reliable studies are those that examine the largest subject pools over the longest stretches of time. No chance that freak short term conditions or anomalies could skew the results. Such is the new study whose results are reported in the March 16 edition of the learned journal Advances in Nutrition.
What they did
Noting that mushrooms are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients, researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine wanted to explore the relationship between mushroom consumption and cancer risk.
They engineered a major data-mining exercise merging the results of 17 studies dating from 1966 to 2020, containing data gathered from 19,500 cancer patients. The results were them analysed and some pretty significant numbers emerged.
What they found
According to an abstract of the study report: “Mushrooms are rich in vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants. The team’s findings show that these super foods may also help guard against cancer. Even though shiitake, oyster, maitake and king oyster mushrooms have higher amounts of the amino acid ergothioneine than white button, cremini and portabello mushrooms, the researchers found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer. According to the findings, individuals who ate 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45% lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms.
The takeaway
who did not eat mushrooms.
“Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothioneine, which is a unique and potent antioxidant and cellular protector,” said Djibril M. Ba, a graduate student in epidemiology at Penn State College of Medicine. “Replenishing antioxidants in the body may help protect against oxidative stress and lower the risk of cancer.”
However…
“Overall, these findings provide important evidence for the protective effects of mushrooms against cancer,” said Study Report co-author John Richie, a Penn State Cancer Institute researcher. “Future studies are needed to better pinpoint the mechanisms involved and specific cancers that may be impacted.”
My take
Okay. That’s convincing enough for me. I’ll buy extra mushrooms when I go shopping next time. Everybody in my household loves them anyway, so there’s no problem getting my folks to ‘take their meds’. I await eagerly the results of any additional research on this vitally important issue…
~ Maggie J.