Mushrooms contain large amounts of two types of antioxidants that some scientists believe can slow down the aging process.
Free Radicals and Aging
We’re in the midst of autumn, so you can hardly open Facebook without being inundated with photos of mushrooms. However, apparently, you can view those photos as a kind of superfood or ‘anti-aging meal prep photos’.
The well-known theory of aging due to free radicals is based on the toxic effects of some free radicals released as by-products of digestion. When we convert food into energy, it also leads to oxidative stress. Free radicals are oxygen atoms without paired electrons. In the body, they seek electrons to pair with, potentially damaging cells, proteins, and even DNA in the process. This damage is associated with various age-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.
One way the body tries to prevent this damage is through antioxidants like Ergothioneine and Glutathione. According to researchers at Penn State, supplementing the amounts of these antioxidants could be a good way to assist the body in this process.
Antioxidants in Mushrooms
Researchers found that mushrooms contain large amounts of two antioxidants, namely ergothioneine and glutathione. These are important antioxidants according to Robert Beelman, professor emeritus of food science and director of the Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Products for Health. They also discovered that the amount of these antioxidants varies significantly depending on the type of mushroom. According to the researchers, it is established that mushrooms are the biggest source of these antioxidants in the diet, and some mushrooms are true antioxidant powerhouses. The findings were published in Food Chemistry [1].
The researchers compared 13 different mushrooms. Porcini, or Boletus edulis, commonly known as ‘porcini mushrooms’, contained the most ergothioneine and glutathione. Conveniently, this is a popular wild mushroom, and in Italy, searching for it is considered a kind of national pastime, according to the researchers.
Unfortunately, in the Netherlands, we mainly consume Agaricus bisporus, better known as ‘champignon’, which is just the French name for ‘mushroom’. In the study, the white mushroom actually contained the least ergothioneine and glutathione. But still, it’s more than in other types of healthy food.
Ergothioneine and glutathione seemed to be correlated with each other. In mushrooms where one antioxidant was present in large amounts, the other antioxidant also tended to be abundant. In all mushrooms, the largest amounts were found in the cap of the mushroom and to a lesser extent in the stem.
Cooking the mushrooms seemed to have no effect on ergothioneine, which appears to be heat-resistant. It is unclear to me whether this also applies to glutathione.
Antioxidants and Aging
However, it is not yet established that these antioxidants in food actually have an effect on various aspects of the aging process. According to Beelman, further research is needed to delve into the role of ergothioneine and glutathione in the likelihood of developing brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. So far, the assumptions are mainly based on data from countries where ergothioneine is prevalent in the diet. Countries like France and Italy, where these brain diseases apparently occur less frequently than in, for example, the US, where ergothioneine is much less prevalent in the diet. In terms of difference, you should think about approximately 3 milligrams per day, equivalent to about five mushrooms.
Whether this correlation is causal is unknown. The antioxidative stress of, for example, ergothioneine has so far only been demonstrated in test tubes [2-4], while the effect in humans is still unknown [5]. The focus on ergothioneine in the diet may be because the body can produce glutathione from glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine [5]. Glutathione is not an ‘essential nutrient’ in the sense that it must be obtained from food, and it is already present in large amounts in the body. However, dietary glutathione appears to significantly increase the amount in the blood [6], something that does not happen with a diet containing the precursors glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine. A direct source of glutathione may still prove to be beneficial.
In any case, there is sufficient reason to conduct further research into this.
References
- Michael D. Kalaras, John P. Richie, Ana Calcagnotto, Robert B. Beelman. Mushrooms: A rich source of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione. Food Chemistry, 2017; 233: 429 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.04.109
- Fahey RC (2001). “Novel thiols of prokaryotes”. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 55: 333–56. PMID 11544359. doi:10.1146/annurev.micro.55.1.333.
- Pfeiffer, C; Bauer, T; Surek, B; Schömig, E; Gründemann, D (2011). “Cyanobacteria produce high levels of ergothioneine”. Food Chemistry. Elsevier. 129 (4): 1766–1769. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.06.047.
- Mann T, Leone E (January 1953). “Studies on the metabolism of semen. 8. Ergothioneine as a normal constituent of boar seminal plasma. Purification and crystallization. Site of formation and function”. Biochem. J. 53 (1): 140–8. PMC 1198115 Freely accessible. PMID 13032046.
- Cheah, Irwin K.; Halliwell, Barry (2012-05-01). “Ergothioneine; antioxidant potential, physiological function and role in disease”. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1822(5): 784–793
- C.R. Harington, T.H.Mead : Synthesis of glutathione Biochem.J. 29 (7) pag. 1602 – 1611 (1935)
- Hagen TM, Wierzbicka GT, Sillau AH, Bowman BB, Jones DP. Bioavailability of dietary glutathione: effect on plasma concentration. Am J Physiol. 1990 Oct;259(4
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