Food
Shiitake mushrooms
Category: Food
Type
Voluntary
Introduction and description
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The shiitake (species Lentinula edodes) is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed in many Asian countries.
It is considered a medicinal mushroom in some forms of traditional medicine.
Medicinal uses
According to researchers at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados in Mexico [see references]
It has been utilized to alleviate the common cold for hundreds of years and some scientific evidence has supported this belief. Finimundy et al. have provided experimental information about the aqueous extracts of L. edodes as potential sources of antioxidant and anticancer compounds. These extracts significantly decreased cell proliferation on tumor as well.
Lentinus edodes is the most studied species and seems to have an antimicrobial action against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Manzi and Pizzoferrato reported that L. edodes contains high levels of β-glucans in the soluble fraction of dietary fiber. Shiitake produces lentinan and β-glucan that suppress leukemia cell proliferation and have antitumor and hypocholesterolemic activity. Lentinan is used in clinic assays as adjuvant in tumor therapy and specifically in radiotherapy and chemotherapy. On the other hand, it has been reported that lentinan enhances host resistance against infections by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and virus; it also promotes nonspecific inflammatory responses, vascular dilation, hemorrhage-inducing factors activation, and generation of helper and cytotoxic T cells. In other studies, L. edodes exhibited capacity to inhibit the growth of mouse sarcoma, probably due to the presence of an unspecified water-soluble polysaccharide.
which we can interpret as saying a lot of people are looking at the properties of this mushroom. It is early days, and doing something on a petri dish or investigating the effects on a mouse or rat is a bit different from what happens in people. But there is little doubt that there are at least some claims that will hold up in time.
Some of the key activity may end up involving the mushroom's ability to attack the attacker - the pathogens - bacteria, viruses, parasites and toxins. We will add more observations as time goes by and we find useful papers.
Nutrients
The following table comes from the USDA Nutrients database and is for raw but cultivated Shiitake mushrooms
Full Report (All Nutrients): 11238, Mushrooms, shiitake, raw
Scientific Name: Lentinus edodes
Sources of Data
Mushroom Council National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program Wave 13d, 2009 Dublin CA
Mushroom Council National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program Wave 9b, 2004 Dublin CA
|
Nutrient |
Unit |
Value per 100g |
|
Water |
g |
89.74 |
|
Energy |
kcal |
34 |
|
Energy |
kJ |
141 |
|
Protein |
g |
2.24 |
|
Total lipid (fat) |
g |
0.49 |
|
Ash |
g |
0.73 |
|
Carbohydrate, by difference |
g |
6.79 |
|
Fiber, total dietary |
g |
2.5 |
|
Sugars, total |
g |
2.38 |
|
Sucrose |
g |
0.00 |
|
Glucose (dextrose) |
g |
2.38 |
|
Fructose |
g |
0.00 |
|
Lactose |
g |
0.00 |
|
Maltose |
g |
0.00 |
|
Galactose |
g |
0.00 |
|
MINERALS |
|
|
|
Calcium, Ca |
mg |
2 |
|
Iron, Fe |
mg |
0.41 |
|
Magnesium, Mg |
mg |
20 |
|
Phosphorus, P |
mg |
112 |
|
Potassium, K |
mg |
304 |
|
Sodium, Na |
mg |
9 |
|
Zinc, Zn |
mg |
1.03 |
|
Copper, Cu |
mg |
0.142 |
|
Manganese, Mn |
mg |
0.230 |
|
Selenium, Se |
µg |
5.7 |
|
VITAMINS |
|
|
|
Thiamin |
mg |
0.015 |
|
Riboflavin |
mg |
0.217 |
|
Niacin |
mg |
3.877 |
|
Pantothenic acid |
mg |
1.500 |
|
Vitamin B-6 |
mg |
0.293 |
|
Folate, total |
µg |
13 |
|
Folic acid |
µg |
0 |
|
Folate, food |
µg |
13 |
|
Folate, DFE |
µg |
13 |
|
Vitamin D (D2 + D3) |
µg |
0.4 |
|
Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) |
µg |
0.4 |
|
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) |
µg |
0.0 |
|
Vitamin D |
IU |
18 |
|
FATTY ACIDS |
|
|
|
Fatty acids, total trans |
g |
0.000 |
|
Stigmasterol |
mg |
0 |
|
Campesterol |
mg |
2 |
|
Beta-sitosterol |
mg |
0 |
|
AMINO ACIDS |
|
|
|
Tryptophan |
g |
0.011 |
|
Threonine |
g |
0.134 |
|
Isoleucine |
g |
0.111 |
|
Leucine |
g |
0.189 |
|
Lysine |
g |
0.134 |
|
Methionine |
g |
0.033 |
|
Cystine |
g |
0.022 |
|
Phenylalanine |
g |
0.111 |
|
Tyrosine |
g |
0.078 |
|
Valine |
g |
0.145 |
|
Arginine |
g |
0.156 |
|
Histidine |
g |
0.056 |
|
Alanine |
g |
0.167 |
|
Aspartic acid |
g |
0.301 |
|
Glutamic acid |
g |
0.680 |
|
Glycine |
g |
0.145 |
|
Proline |
g |
0.100 |
|
Serine |
g |
0.145 |
References and further reading
- Int J Microbiol. 2015; 2015: 376387. Published online 2015 Jan 20. doi: 10.1155/2015/376387 Edible Mushrooms: Improving Human Health and Promoting Quality Life María Elena Valverde, Talía Hernández-Pérez, and Octavio Paredes-López , Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados (IPN), Unidad Irapuato, Km 9.6 Libramiento Norte Carretera Irapuato-León, 36821 Irapuato, GTO, Mexico
- Mattila P., Könkö K., Eurola M., et al. Contents of vitamins, mineral elements, and some phenolic compounds in cultivated mushrooms. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2001;49(5):2343–2348. doi: 10.1021/jf001525d.
- Finimundy T. C., Gambato G., Fontana R., et al. Aqueous extracts of Lentinula edodes and Pleurotus sajor-caju exhibit high antioxidant capability and promising in vitro antitumor activity. Nutrition Research. 2013;33(1):76–84. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2012.11.005.
- Bisen P. S., Baghel R. K., Sanodiya B. S., Thakur G. S., Prasad G. B. K. S. Lentinus edodes: a macrofungus with pharmacological activities. Current Medicinal Chemistry. 2010;17(22):2419–2430. doi: 10.2174/092986710791698495.
- Chen H., Ju Y., Li J., Yu M. Antioxidant activities of polysaccharides from Lentinus edodes and their significance for disease prevention. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. 2012;50(1):214–218. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2011.10.027.
- Han S.-B., Lee C. W., Kang J. S., et al. Acidic polysaccharide from Phellinus linteus inhibits melanoma cell metastasis by blocking cell adhesion and invasion. International Immunopharmacology. 2006;6(4):697–702. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2005.10.003.
- Kitzberger C. S. G., Smânia A., Jr., Pedrosa R. C., Ferreira S. R. S. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) extracts obtained by organic solvents and supercritical fluids. Journal of Food Engineering. 2007;80(2):631–638. doi: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2006.06.013.
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