A Review on Different Benefits of Mushroom

Abstract

This paper reviews mushrooms. In this paper, nutritional and medicinal values, other uses of mushrooms were discussed. Mushrooms have been important in human history as food, as medicine, as legands, and in folk lore and religion. Mushrooms are basically consumed for their texture and flavor. They have recently become attractive as health-beneficent food and as sources for the development of drugs. Many higher mushrooms are known to contain a number of biologically active components that show promising antitumor and immunomodulating, cardiovascular, hepatoprotective, hypocholesterolemic, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic and antidiabetic effects. Nutritional value of mushrooms lies between that of meat and vegetables. The rich source of proteins, vitamins and minerals and low in fat content (2-8%) unique chemicals constitution of mushrooms makes them low calorie food 8 and choice diet for those suffering from hypertension, arthrosclerosis, diabetes, obesity. Mushrooms play a role in the development of new biological remediation techniques and filtration technologies (e.g. using fungi to lower bacterial levels in contaminated water). From the review it was observed that developing countries should harness the potentials of mushrooms as this would boost the revenue income and healthy living. It is hoped that this paper would add to existing information on this fungus.