Micronutrients and Bioactive Compounds in Mushrooms: A Recipe for Healthy Aging?
Abstract
Mushrooms have been used both as food and as medicine in many cultures, and their popularity as both is growing in the United States. We have shown that they are inherently, or can easily be made to be, excellent dietary sources of 4 important bioactive compounds that are all known to decease in humans as they age. These are the micronutrients selenium and vitamin D 2 and antioxidants glutathione and ergothioneine (Ergo). All of these except for Ergo can be found in significant amounts in other foods; hence, it will be the primary focus of this review. Because Ergo is made in nature primarily by nonyeast fungi, mushrooms are by far the best human dietary source. Humans produce a highly specific transport protein for Ergo that makes it highly bioavailable and avidly retained, leading many to speculate about its potential importance to human health because such specific transporters are rarely present for nonnutrient bioactive compounds. Ergo is found in small amounts throughout the food chain presumably owing to fungi in the soil passing it on to plants and then animals that eat them. We have preliminary evidence that Ergo levels in the American food supply might be compromised because of reduced fungal populations in agricultural soils caused by some cultivation practices. Relationships observed between estimated Ergo consumption and average longevity and reductions in chronic neurodegenerative diseases across different countries supports additional interest in Ergo as a dietary chemopreventive agent for aging-related diseases.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Intake of ERG has been linked with longevity.
“Intake of ERG has been linked with longevity (Beelman et al. 2019).”
From Reactive Oxygen Species, Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants: Chronic Diseases and Aging (2023) · cites this paper as Beelman et al. 2019
Cites
Discovery of the ergothioneine transporter
Gründemann, D., Harlfinger, S., Gölz, S., Geerts, A., Lazar, A., Berkels, R., Jung, N., RUBBERT, A., & Schömig, E. (2005) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0408624102 · Cited by 613 · see citing works
Current Overview of Mushroom Production in the World
Royse, D. J., Baars, J. J. P., & Tan, Q. (2017) · doi:10.1002/9781119149446.ch2 · Cited by 576 · see citing works
DUBOST, N., OU, B., & BEELMAN, R. (2007) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.01.030 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Self-citationMushrooms: A rich source of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione
Kalaras, M. D., Richie, J. P., Calcagnotto, A., & Beelman, R. B. (2017) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.04.109 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
Self-citationDietary Sources and Antioxidant Effects of Ergothioneine
Ey, J., Schömig, E., & Taubert, D. (2007) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · doi:10.1021/jf071328f · Cited by 314 · see citing works
Ergothioneine – a diet‐derived antioxidant with therapeutic potential
Halliwell, B., Cheah, I. K., & Tang, R. M. Y. (2018) · FEBS Letters · doi:10.1002/1873-3468.13123 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
The unusual amino acid L-ergothioneine is a physiologic cytoprotectant
Paul, B. D., & Snyder, S. H. (2010) · Cell Death & Differentiation · doi:10.1038/cdd.2009.163 · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Prolonging healthy aging: Longevity vitamins and proteins
Ames, B. N. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1809045115 · Cited by 273 · see citing works
Mori, K., Inatomi, S., Ouchi, K., Azumi, Y., & Tuchida, T. (2008) · Phytotherapy Research · doi:10.1002/ptr.2634 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Identification of novel biomarkers for Parkinson's disease by metabolomic technologies
Hatano, T., Saiki, S., Okuzumi, A., Mohney, R., & Hattori, N. (2015) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp-2014-309676 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Cheah, I. K.-M., Feng, L., Tang, R. M. Y., Lim, K. H. C., & Halliwell, B. B. (2016) · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.07.074 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Dubost, N. J., Beelman, R. B., Peterson, D. G., & Royse, D. J. (2006) · International journal of medicinal mushrooms · doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v8.i3.30 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Self-citationMushrooms—Biologically Distinct and Nutritionally Unique
Feeney, M. J., Miller, A. M., & Roupas, P. (2014) · Nutrition Today · doi:10.1097/nt.0000000000000063 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Randomized controlled trial of oral glutathione supplementation on body stores of glutathione
Richie, J. P., Nichenametla, S. N., Neidig, W., Calcagnotto, A., Haley, J. S., Schell, T. D., & Muscat, J. E. (2014) · European Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1007/s00394-014-0706-z · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Self-citationErgothioneine, an adaptive antioxidant for the protection of injured tissues? A hypothesis
Halliwell, B., Cheah, I. K., & Drum, C. L. (2016) · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.12.124 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Weigand-Heller, A. J., Kris-Etherton, P. M., & Beelman, R. B. (2012) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.12.028 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citationKalaras, M. D., Beelman, R. B., & Elias, R. J. (2011) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · doi:10.1021/jf203825e · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Self-citationEdible and Medicinal Mushrooms: Emerging Brain Food for the Mitigation of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Phan, C., David, P. R., & Sabaratnam, V. (2017) · Journal of Medicinal Food · doi:10.1089/jmf.2016.3740 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Guinard, J., Miller, A. M., Mills, K., Wong, T., Lee, S. M., Sirimuangmoon, C., Schaefer, S. E., & Drescher, G. (2016) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.06.018 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Calvo, M. S., Mehrotra, A., Beelman, R. B., Nadkarni, G. N., Wang, L., Cai, W., Goh, B. C., Kalaras, M. D., & Uribarri, J. (2016) · Plant Foods for Human Nutrition · doi:10.1007/s11130-016-0552-7 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Self-citationCheah, I. K.-M., Tang, R. M. Y., Ye, P., Yew, T. S. Z., Lim, K. H. C., & Halliwell, B. B. (2015) · Free Radical Research · doi:10.3109/10715762.2015.1099642 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Kalaras, M. D., Beelman, R. B., Holick, M. F., & Elias, R. J. (2012) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.04.132 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationMushroom Consumption and Incident Dementia in Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study
Zhang, S., Tomata, Y., Sugiyama, K., Sugawara, Y., & Tsuji, I. (2017) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/jgs.14812 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Dubost, N. J., Beelman, R. B., & Royse, D. J. (2007) · International journal of medicinal mushrooms · doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v9.i2.70 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Self-citationWerner, A. R., & Beelman, R. B. (2002) · International journal of medicinal mushrooms · doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v4.i2.100 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Self-citationIntake assessment of L-ergothioneine in some European countries and in the United States
Ramírez-Martínez, A., Wesolek, N., Yadan, J., Moutet, M., & Roudot, A. (2015) · Human and Ecological Risk Assessment An International Journal · doi:10.1080/10807039.2015.1104241 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Ishimoto, T., Nakamichi, N., Nishijima, H., Masuo, Y., & Kato, Y. (2018) · Neurochemical Research · doi:10.1007/s11064-017-2350-5 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Ergothioneine accumulation in a medicinal plant Gastrodia elata.
Park, E., Lee, W. Y., Kim, S. T., Ahn, J. K., & Bae, E. K. (2010) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research · doi:10.5897/jmpr10.184 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Physiological Roles of Carnitine/Organic Cation Transporter OCTN1/SLC22A4 in Neural Cells
Nakamichi, N., & Kato, Y. (2017) · Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin · doi:10.1248/bpb.b17-00099 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Beelman, R. B., & Royse, D. J. (2006) · International journal of medicinal mushrooms · doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v8.i1.100 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationCorey, M. E., Beelman, R. B., & Seetharman, K. (2009) · International journal of medicinal mushrooms · doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v11.i2.50 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Reactive Oxygen Species, Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants: Chronic Diseases and Aging
Jomova, K., Raptova, R., Alomar, S. Y., Alwasel, S. H., Nepovimova, E., Kuca, K., & Valko, M. (2023) · Archives of Toxicology · doi:10.1007/s00204-023-03562-9 · Cited by 2,638 · see citing works
The biology of ergothioneine, an antioxidant nutraceutical
Borodina, I., Kenny, L. C., McCarthy, C. M., Paramasivan, K., Pretorius, E., Roberts, T. J., van der Hoek, S. A., & Kell, D. B. (2020) · Nutrition Research Reviews · doi:10.1017/s0954422419000301 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
“6 in Beelman et al.(10)), while in a 3236-participant”
BackgroundPan, H.-Y., Ye, Z.-W., Zheng, Q.-W., Yun, F., Tu, M.-Z., Hong, W.-G., Chen, B.-X., Guo, L.-Q., & Lin, J.-F. (2022) · Food & Function · doi:10.1039/d1fo02758a · Cited by 34 · see citing works
- Authors
- Beelman, R. B., Kalaras, M. D., & Richie, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Beelman, Robert B.
- Venue
- Nutrition Today
- Published
- 2019-01
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 16-22
- ISSN
- 0029-666X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-9839
- OpenAlex
- W2914794999
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 4.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nutrition Today (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Fungal Biology and Applications
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Selenium in Biological Systems
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food and Agricultural Sciences
- Keywords
- mushrooms, ergothioneine, selenium, vitamin D2, glutathione, antioxidants, bioactive compounds, micronutrients, dietary bioavailability, soil fungal population, neurodegenerative diseases, aging, chemoprevention, longevity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
