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White button mushrooms appear to boost immune function It appears that a little fungus may be good for what ails you. That's the conclusion of a new study that found that eating white button mushrooms may boost the immune system and protect against infection. If the research, done on animals, translates to people, it could raise the health-benefit profile of the fungus, which also contains high concentrations of the super-antioxidant ergothioneine, which protects cells from damaging free radicals. "This is the first published study showing the effect of white button mushrooms on immune function," Dayong Wu, a scientist in the Immunology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts and lead author of the study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition, told NutraIngredients.com. The research also suggests that the mushroom may boost both innate and acquired immune system health. The innate immune system, the one you're born with, is the body's first line of defense. The acquired immune system revs up if a pathogen makes its way past the innate system and customizes the immune response to target the invader.

Amelioration of cisplatin induced nephrotoxicity in mice by ethyl acetate extract of a polypore fungus, Phellinus rimosus. Ajith TA, Jose N, Janardhanan KK. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2002 Jun;21(2):213-7. PMID: 12148580

Use of Biodiesel-Derived Crude Glycerol for Producing Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) by the Fungus Pythium irregulare. Athalye SK, Garcia RA, Wen Z. J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19265450 DOI: 10.1021/jf803922w

Fungal treatment of a biodiesel byproduct can produce the omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), offering a potentially economical source of EPA from microbes.\nGrowing the fungus Pythium irregulare in a crude glycerol and a yeast extract can lead to production of an EPA-rich biomass that could be used as an omega-3 fortified food, according to researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.\n\nThe findings are published online ahead of print in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Ergothioneine is a naturally-occurring amino acid and is a thiourea derivative of histidine, containing a sulfur atom in the imidazole ring. This compound is made in rather few organisms, notably Actinobacteria and filamentous fungi.[1] Ergothioneine was discovered in 1909 and named after the ergot fungus from which it was first purified, with its structure being determined later, in 1911.[2] This amino acid has antioxidant properties, but its chemistry differs from conventional sulfur-containing antioxidants such as glutathione or lipoic acid. Although ergothioneine cannot be made in human cells, it is present in some tissues at high levels as it is absorbed from the diet.[3] In humans ergothioneine is taken up from the gut and concentrated in the tissues by a specific transporter called the novel organic cation transporter. However, even today, one hundred years after its discovery, precisely what ergothioneine does in the human body remains a mystery

"Língzhī (traditional Chinese: 靈芝; simplified Chinese: 灵芝; Japanese: reishi; Korean: yeongji, hangul: 영지) is the name for one form of the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum, and its close relative Ganoderma tsugae. Ganoderma lucidum enjoys special veneration in Asia, where it has been used as a medicinal mushroom in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 4,000 years, making it one of the oldest mushrooms known to have been used in medicine. Lingzhi may possess anti-tumor, immunomodulatory and immunotherapeutic activities, supported by studies on polysaccharides, terpenes, and other bioactive compounds isolated from fruiting bodies and mycelia of this fungus (reviewed by R. R. Paterson[4] and Lindequist et al.[7]). It has also been found to inhibit platelet aggregation, and to lower blood pressure (via inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme[8]), cholesterol and blood sugar.[9] Laboratory studies have shown anti-neoplastic effects of fungal extracts or isolated compounds against some types of cancer. In an animal model, Ganoderma has been reported to prevent cancer metastasis,[10] with potency comparable to Lentinan from Shiitake mushrooms.[11] The mechanisms by which G. lucidum may affect cancer are unknown and they may target different stages of cancer development: inhibition of angiogenesis (formation of new, tumor-induced blood vessels, created to supply nutrients to the tumor) mediated by cytokines, cytoxicity, inhibiting migration of the cancer cells and metastasis, and inducing and enhancing apoptosis of tumor cells