Health

Are Medicinal Mushrooms What's Missing From Your Diet?

Are functional mushrooms for you?

by Sharon Feiereisen | COMMENT

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Know your sources "Many supplements contain substances not listed on their labels — possibly even contaminants — and with mushrooms the quality could vary greatly. Even tilling of the soil when the mushrooms are made can cause them to have 25 percent less ergothioneine (an antioxidant with a lot of cell protectant benefits)," say The Nutrition Twins, Lyssie Lakatos, RDN, CDN, CFT and Tammy Lakatos Shames, RDN, CDN, CFT. "It can be difficult to navigate medicinal mushrooms on your own."

The twins point to a late 2017 analysis by the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (a third party testing for supplements) that found that 75 percent of reishi mushroom supplements don't even contain reishi mushrooms! If you're wondering how this could be, the twins say that while the FDA prohibits manufacturers from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded, they don't actually test the products. "The FDA can take action to remove products from the market, but the agency must first establish that such products are adulterated or misbranded — and they must have reasons to do so. Meaning, a harmful product could be on the market for a long time before the FDA has reason to test it."

Frightened yet?

Image via RUSS ROHDE/Getty

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