Holy Shiitake! Why Mushrooms Deserve a Seat at the Table

Every month a new “superfood” takes the spotlight, but mushrooms have been quietly carrying the science for decades. They deliver gut-training fibers, immune-priming beta-glucans, and rare antioxidants that guard your cells from numerous daily onslaughts.

In this episode, I break down how fungi strengthen your microbiome, fine-tune your immune system, support your heart and blood sugar, and even show promise in longevity research. Mushrooms are simple, can be affordable, and are easy to add into the meals you already eat.

Ready to see how a few servings a week can pay off for your health now—and for years to come? Hit play and let’s dig in.

Find Research Citations and Transcript at Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack

Work with Aimee

Photography by: Dai Ross Photography

Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative

How to Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts
Via iOS Device
1. Open Apple Podcast App (purple app icon that says Podcasts).
2. Go to the icons at the bottom of the screen and choose “search”
3. Search for “Blasphemous Nutrition”
4. Click on the SHOW, not the episode.
5. Scroll all the way down to “Ratings and Reviews” section
6. Click on “Write a Review” (if you don’t see that option, click on “See All” first)
7. Rate the show on a five-star scale (5 is highest rating) and write a review!
8. Bask in the glow of doing a good deed that makes a difference!

Transcript

0:00

Mushrooms are the odd balls in the food world. They're neither plants nor animals that something entirely unique, and because of that, they come with a lineup of nutrients that you won't find in broccoli, beef, blueberries, anywhere else. Mushrooms contain unique fibers that train your gut and immune system, and antioxidants that protect your cells where they need it most, as well as compounds that scientists are now studying for the potential to slow aging itself. While fad diets run around social media like false prophets. Mushrooms are the quiet apostles of resilience, preaching, and teaching the immune system how to thrive. In this episode, we're gonna explore how mushrooms work in your body, from gut and immune support to brain and metabolic health, and why they deserve more than just a cameo appearance in your stir fry. Hey Rebels. Welcome to Blasphemous Nutrition. Consider this podcast your pantry full of clarity, perspective, and the nuance needed to counter the superficial health advice so freely given on the internet. I am Amy, the unapologetically candid host of Blasphemous Nutrition and a double degreed nutritionist with 20 years experience. I'm here to share a more nuanced tape. On living and eating well to sustain and recover your health. If you found most health advice to be so generic is to be meaningless or so extreme that it's unrealistic. And you don't mind the occasional F-bomb, you've come to the right place. From dissecting the latest nutrition trends to breaking down published research and sharing my own clinical experiences, I'm on a mission to foster clarity amidst all the confusion and empower you to have the health you need to live a life you love. Now, let's get started. Welcome back to Blasphemous Nutrition folks. My name is Amy, and I'm a double degreed nutritionist who believes in spreading the good spores. Today our humble fungi gets its own dedicated episode revealing the holy trinity contained within fiber, antioxidants, and immune support. Yes, that fun guy is mushrooms. Mushrooms are typically used to accent a meal. They provide a great source of umami flavor, that obscure savory meat taste, but they also provide a good meaty texture to some dishes. Now hidden in that savory, meaty profile are loads of special fibers which play a beneficial role in our health. These include Chitin, chitosan, and beta glucans. Chitin is a tough structural fiber that also makes up the shells of crustaceans and the exoskeletons of insects. In mushrooms. chitin is embedded in the cell walls Humans don't have enzymes to digest chitin, however our gut microbes do, making it a unique type of prebiotic. Prebiotics are foods that are beneficial gut bacteria or probiotics thrive off of, and mushrooms provide a unique offering. Now when Chitin is partially broken down, it forms Chizen and that has slightly different beneficial properties. Chizen has the ability to bind to certain fats and bile acids. And preliminary research suggests it may actually play a role to help regulate cholesterol metabolism and support a healthier lipid profile through this capacity to bind to fats in the gut. Now, beta glucans are the best studied mushroom polysaccharide while beta glucans are also found in oats and barley in mushrooms. Their structure is different and unique. Mushroom beta glucans have a unique branching that interacts directly with immune receptors within the gut lining. so. These fibers and polysaccharides go beyond stool bulking to actually nourish the beneficial bacteria in the colon and encourage production of short chain fatty acids like butyrate. Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid that acts as one of the main fuel sources for our colon cells. It is crucial to keeping the gut barrier strong and less. Leaky. So having a reinforced gut barrier means that fewer inflammatory triggers will then cross into the blood circulation, Resulting in lower overall immune stress on the body. Butyrate also helps regulate the immune system in the gut by impacting our overall immune balance, reducing the potential for inflammatory cytokines to get outta control. By helping to regulate the immune system. Butyrate appears to play an important role in autoimmune disease. I'll get more into this immune system regulation detail in a moment. Butyrate has also been studied for its impact to facilitate greater balance in metabolic health as well as mood health. It's associated with additional beneficial impacts on metabolism, insulin sensitivity. And even serotonin production, so properly fueling the gut microbiome and protecting your intestinal integrity has far more health impacts than simply bowel regulation and digestion. Consuming mushrooms supplies unique fibers that directly benefit the gut through greater scaffolding and reinforcement of the gut barrier as a primary source of defense, as well as nourishing the bacteria within the gut, which then contributes to whole system health benefits going beyond the gut into the brain and the metabolism. So mushroom beta glucans are technically a type of carbohydrate, and they act as active messengers that bind to receptors on immune cells. Then kicking off this whole crazy host of immune activity. So the end result is an immune system that is better trained at recognizing unwanted pathogens, engaging in phagocytosis, which is the strategic destruction of disease cells or pathogens or other bits of debris in the body. And. That immune system is also fine tuned in its inflammatory responses. So all of this results in having a more robust and responsive immune system that lowers the incidence and severity of upper respiratory infections and is more resistant to cancer and get this better able to recover from chemotherapy for those who have cancer. It also provides the immune system with a more efficacious, adaptive response to illnesses and vaccinations, helping to prevent breakthrough infections, as well as recurring infections. So for those of you who may have been told that you have a, and i'm air quoting here, overly responsive or aggressive immune system. You'll be pleased to know that these beta glucans do not stimulate the immune system further if it's imbalanced towards kind of an aggressive immune response. Rather, they act to modulate. The immune system, so this means they contribute to a balanced, efficient defense, stronger when it needs to be, and quieter when the threat is gone. In the body, mushroom, beta glucans, act like training drills for your immune army. They don't replace vaccines or medication, but they condition your immune soldiers to recognize threats more quickly and respond to those threats with less collateral damage. So I'm gonna dive into more details when I am addressing some of the research on mushrooms as it relates to cancer. But spoiler alert, I recently baptized myself in beta glucans. Now beyond all this awesome immune support and body system regulation, mushrooms also provide some unique antioxidants that have been studied for their potent anti-aging properties. Mushrooms are the richest natural source of two rare dietary antioxidants. Ergo theanine and glutathione. These two sulfur containing antioxidants play very unique roles in protecting cells from the wear and tear of aging. Now, ergo Theanine is a sulfur containing amino acid derivative. That is a mouthful, but basically, humans can't make this. We have to get it from diet, and mushrooms are by far the best source. Ergo Theanine acts as a direct antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals before they damage our DNA protein structures or lipids in the cell. And it tends to concentrate in tissues that are exposed to high levels of oxidative stress like the liver. The kidneys, our brain and red blood cells. Now we have a dedicated transporter protein in our body for ergo theanine, which pulls it from the blood and concentrates it in those burdened areas of the body. Given that our. Amazing body created a dedicated transporter for this compound. Suggests that it plays a very important role within our body. Chronic oxidative stress is at the root of cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and accelerated aging. Population studies suggest that a diet high and ergo theanine may prolong a healthier, longer lifespan and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as brain disease. Additional observational studies show that elderly individuals with lower levels of this compound in their blood tend to have poor cognitive performance and faster rates of cognitive decline. Now of course, when we're looking at population studies and other observational studies, these are not as robust as clinical trials, but we do know that Ergo Thine does help squash cellular damage system wide by reducing oxidative stress, and it does so to the degree that some researchers have dubbed it a longevity vitamin. All that said. Gut theanine is not recognized as an essential nutrient despite these observations and despite the fact that the body has a unique transporter to ensure it is shuttled into the cells, I wouldn't be surprised at all if in the distant future this compound is deemed an essential nutrient for human health. Animal research does support that including this compound in the diet does reduce aging and increases longevity. But human clinical trials are sparse. However, they do show reduced markers of oxidative stress, including those that indicate DNA damage lipid peroxidation, which is effectively damaged to fat-based compounds in the body like the cell wall. And it also shows reduced C-reactive protein in the blood, which is a general marker used for inflammation. However, the results in this human clinical trial were not deemed statistically significant. There was one other study I found. It was a small study and it showed that supplemented ergo theanine in individuals over 60 who had mild cognitive decline. Had improved performance in cognitive testing after supplementation, whereas the control group showed no such improvements. Additionally, the, supplement arm of the trial had no negative side effects, noted when their labs were drawn. But again, this is very, very limited research, not, you know, in one case, not statistically significant. And in another potentially underpowered. So we really need more work in this area. Even though it looks pretty promising. That said, you know, there are so many amazing things about mushrooms, we don't need to get hung up on Ergo Thaine. Let's move on to glutathione now. Glutathione is the other major antioxidant mushrooms, and it is referred to as the body's master antioxidant. Glutathione really does deserve a podcast episode all its own. Our body does make glutathione so. Mushrooms aren't really going to be like your primary source of glutathione in your body. That will come from within you. However mushrooms are. A great source of external glutathione and in situations of high stress or disease, if you're taking certain medications or you have high exposure to pollutants as well as general aging, all of these things can reduce our body's ability to make its. Own glutathione and mushrooms being a very high source of external glutathione can come in and support our system by providing it to us. Glutathione is an awesome, awesome multitasker in the body. It reduces oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals, just like ergot Thionine does., Specifically ones that damage our cells and DNA. However, glutathione also recycles other antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E, and this allows the body to prevent damage to water-based cell compounds as well as fatty based compounds, and it reduces the need for external sources of vitamin C and vitamin E. If glutathione is available and it can recycle what is already in the system, then your dietary needs. For those vitamins may be lower or you know, may be within the recommended daily allowance, even if there's an external factor that increases your oxidation and your antioxidant needs. Glutathione also plays a critical role in detoxification by binding and escorting heavy metals, pollutants, and metabolic byproducts out of the body. Chronic exposure to pollutants can lead to a situation where more glutathione is needed and your body simply cannot keep up, and this is one reason why. As. Aside from diet, we do want to be mindful of reducing exposure to chemicals via household products, avoiding exercise outside during rush hour by a busy street, and generally minimizing exposure to chemicals as part of a healthy living strategy. Glutathione acts as a protector of our mitochondria, which is the cells. Energy production factory, so it allows our mitochondria to keep producing energy without as much oxidative damage. This can be thought of as keeping our RA cellular engines running clean and efficiently, thus producing less pollution for the body to deal with in the process. Many mushroom species like Portini. Shiitake and oyster mushrooms are exceptionally high in glutathione compared to other vegetables. The great news is that cooking does not significantly diminish the availability of glutathione, so enjoy your mushrooms, either raw or cooked without concern of diminishing the health benefits. You wanna think of ergo theanine and glutathione as a team, as their impacts are quite complimentary. Ergo theanine mops up oxidative stress at very specific high risk sites while glutathione patrols globally and together they support cellular repair and DNA stability, they help maintain immune cell resilience under stress, and they protect our vascular and brain tissue from chronic low level damage, which is a key factor in aging and neurodegeneration. So while there are many foods that give you antioxidants, mushrooms provide these two specific ones in unusually high concentrations with direct links to brain health, cardiovascular support, and longevity. They are our cellular bodyguards and they go to work where your tissues need them the most. Now, I had never considered mushrooms. Specifically for heart health, and I was actually quite surprised when doing research for this episode to discover that. Uh, and this kind of makes sense given the prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Researchers have been looking at the use of mushrooms in cardiometabolic health. Cardiometabolic health is the health of the entire cardiovascular system, as well as the metabolic functions related to blood sugar regulation because these two tend to go hand in hand. Now, Chitosan that fiber in mushrooms that I mentioned at the start of the podcast. Binds to cholesterol and bile acids, helping to lower cholesterol absorption. Ergot thionine also protects blood vessels from oxidative damage. There have been studies done on oyster and shiitake mushrooms showing that they can reduce cholesterol and triglycerides when added to the diet of those who have diabetes, or those who have mildly elevated cholesterol. Mushrooms also have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and slow glucose absorption thanks to those unique fibers. Diabetes alone is a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease due to the impact that chronic high levels of glucose have on tearing down the vascular system. So if you're worried about heart disease, you better keep your blood sugar in check. Hands down in a Bangladeshi study done on those with diabetes, 200 grams of mushrooms, which is the equivalent of seven ounces, was consumed daily and led to pretty significant improvements in glucose levels. Another study done on a rural Mexican population showed improved triglycerides and glucose when 250 grams of mushrooms were consumed four times a week. Now these doses are pretty high. I did find one eight week study showing improved fasting glucose on about one serving of mushrooms a day, which is 85 grams. But those improvements were not nearly as dramatic. Plus that study was done on healthy, overweight, and obese individuals, not people with diabetes. So there was less room for improvement than for somebody who had diabetes. Right. There's a couple limitations on that study that kind of like made me not pumped about it, but it did show that there was research done on more reasonable doses of mushrooms that did show some improvement and showed improvement on people without severe disease. Now, the good news is mushrooms shrink by about 50% in size when they're cooked. So if you're aiming for a larger dose. Definitely cook those mushrooms so you can eat. That full amount. All of that said the observational research, supporting mushroom consumption for longevity and reduced disease risk, generally supports consuming three servings a week. A serving size is about one cup of mushrooms or one fist size portion of raw sliced mushrooms. If you wanna cook it down by all means, go ahead. If you wanna get two fist size servings and cook it down so that you have one fist size amount to eat, then you get two for the volume of one. That's the way to go. If you ask me. All that said, there are plenty of other dietary and lifestyle changes that you can make to reduce your risk of heart disease. That doesn't require you rely exclusively on half a pound of mushrooms a day to make it happen Now what about cancer? Across China, Japan, Korea, mushrooms like Reishi, shiitake, and maitake. Weren't just food. They've been an essential part of the pharmacy. For thousands of years, traditional healers called reishi, the mushroom of immortality. Turkey tail mushrooms have traditionally been brewed into tea to support the body and resilience after illness. Way before we had PubMed, people noticed. Those who eat more mushrooms remain stronger throughout the hard stuff of life. And while mushrooms are widely known in alternative medicine for their anti-cancer abilities, we wanna know how the science stacks up against these claims. After countless generations of traditional wisdom laid the foundation, modern science is finally catching up with what tradition already put down Those same unique compounds that I've been discussing, the beta glucans, ergo theanine, glutathione, they are shown to benefit our immune system and they are also showing serious promise in cancer research. So you remember how I mentioned that beta-glucan bind to receptors on the immune cells. These immune cells, specifically macrophages, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells go to work to support and train the immune system to basically level up. From being an average navy semen to straight up Navy seal level skills. First, the macrophages, which eat up pathogens and dead cells also consume that beta-glucan, and then they travel to the spleen, to lymph nodes and to bone marrow where they released that beta-glucan to be utilized by. Other immune cells as part of an overall immune training camp. Natural killer cells, which are your body's rapid response team, get especially primed. So these cells become better at scanning, looking for other cells that look suspicious, like pre-cancerous cells or early stage cancerous cells, and eliminate them before they multiply. Beta glucans also help our dendritic cells present antigens more effectively. Thus better training T cells to recognize threats. You wanna think of a dendritic cell as your immune systems detective team, dendritic cells hang out in tissues. They kind of sample the environment. They're always on the lookout for pathogens, toxins abnormal cells like cancer cells. And when they find something suspicious, they grab little bits of it, and those little bits are the antigen, and then they head over to the nearest lymph node. T cells are our special forces of the immune system, and they rely on antigen presentation to know who the bad guy is and how to respond. Because our T cells are powerful and deadly, they need clear instructions before they act. Otherwise, they may act recklessly leading to the damage of healthy tissues. An example of T-Cell gone awry is in the case of autoimmune disease, where the immune system is attacking living tissue, be that our joints in the case of rheumatoid arthritis or the thyroid, and the case of, Hashimoto's disease there are multitudes of different autoimmune diseases. Those are just a couple, but in autoimmune disease, those T cells attack healthy tissue leading to disease. basically what happens is beta glucans from mushrooms teach your immune system to effectively identify the villains and then remember the mugshot of those cancer cells and those pathogens so it can respond faster and more accurately next time. While population studies do show reduced risk of cancer in diets that regularly feature mushrooms, animal studies and early human trials have shown that the immune training provided by mushrooms can slow tumor growth, can enhance the effectiveness of certain cancer therapies. And may even improve survival markers for individuals with certain cancers. Preclinical studies in animal models show that extracts from various mushrooms, including white button mushrooms and chaga mushrooms can significantly reduce. Tumor size and slow cancer progression. These mushroom extracts have been shown to boost antioxidant enzymes, reduce tumor biomarkers, inhibit tumors from forming new blood vessels, and increase the activity of our natural killer cells. In those with cancer, reishi, Turkey tail, shiitake, yxi, and cordyceps. Mushrooms are showing promise in enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiotherapy by improving immune function. F. specifically increasing natural killer cell activity and T-cell subsets. And the mushrooms are also showing improved quality of life. In part by reducing some of the side effects of conventional treatments, extracts from these mushrooms continue to be studied as add-ons in oncology care, helping the immune system better tolerate treatments and recognize abnormal cells quickly to potentially prevent recurrence and growth. And finally, I did look at some meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials suggesting that adjunctive mushroom therapy alongside standard cancer treatments can modestly improve five year survival rates in some cancers, mainly breast cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancers, as well as enhance the quality of life. These studies also showed enhanced quality of life and improved immune and blood markers. However, overall long-term survival benefits remain unclear, and these studies did struggle with some limitations within their methodology. So I'm not yet going to make the claim that Western science has confirmed mushrooms are the key to immortality, at least with regards to cancer survival. At the end of the day though, mushrooms bring a rare package to the table. Fibers that train your gut and your immune system to Navy seal levels of prowess and antioxidants that shield your cells from daily wear and tear, and they support resilience everywhere. Your heart, your brain, your metabolism, and your immune system. This is why researchers are even bothering to look at mushrooms as part of the bigger conversation on longevity and cancer prevention. So yeah, the science is compelling, but the real question is how do you actually make that science? Part of your dinner plate without turning your meals into a lab experiment. The good news is it's much easier than you think The key is twofold, variety, and consistency. Different mushrooms bring different strengths. Shiitake, maitake, and oyster. Mushrooms are especially rich in those beta glucans that help train your immune system. And portini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms are standouts for ergo thine and glutathione. Those unique antioxidants that protect your cells, even the humble white button mushroom or cremini mushroom, the ones that are always in the grocery store that we walk right past, support our immune health by increasing antibody production, enhancing mucosal immunity. Modulating inflammation and improving our gut microbiota. So while mixing it up means you are definitely stacking the deck in your favor with a wider range of compounds. It doesn't mean you have to skip over common white mushrooms for exotic varieties that you can't pronounce, and there's more good news. You don't have to eat mushrooms every single day. Most of the research that is out there shows benefits from just a couple of servings a week. So think about one cup. Cooked two to three times a week, that's enough to move the needle. If you have a high risk of cancer or you're undergoing treatment, you may want to up that dose, but you absolutely wanna talk to a specialist first before you aim for that seven ounces a day. Used by the researchers in the heart health study more may not be better, and it certainly is not sustainable. So cooking mushrooms does work in your favor though because it reduces the volume of food that you have to eat. And again, mushrooms hold onto their antioxidants even if they're sauteed or roasted, or stir fried. So cook them however you like. You are not losing any of the good stuff. And when it comes to real world meals, keep it simple. You can put mushrooms in your scrambled eggs, stir fries, pasta sauces, soups, add them to chili. I sometimes will dice them up and mix them into ground beef or Turkey if I'm making tacos or burgers. And this is my favorite tip for people who are not too keen on mushrooms or for picky kids who don't wanna see them. Just dice'em up or blend them up and mix'em in with some ground beef and you won't even notice it. If you're really busy, frozen mushrooms are a great fallback. Just always keep a bag in the freezer and toss them in whatever you're making if you need to get your dose in. One habit that I have incorporated is making a big batch of three to four cups of cooked mushrooms. Most often, I just saute them in butter with some onions, and then I put that in the fridge and spread it out throughout the week, adding some as a side dish, tossing some into a soup or a casserole, or mixing it into my morning scramble. And this way I can consistently get a dose that is supported by observational research to offer. A significant benefit. So the bottom line is mushrooms don't need to be exotic or complicated to make a difference. Just toss them into meals that you're already cooking a couple times a week and you'll get all those benefits without really having to do much thinking about it. There's no need for powders. Or to start every morning with a cup of mushroom based coffee that tastes like ass. Just eat mushrooms as your grandparents did. That is the basis for most of the science that has been supplied, and it's far more economical than pricey supplements. We've often considered mushrooms as an exotic accent, but they're a very unique food group worthy of making a regular appearance on your culinary guest list, a couple of servings a week. Cooked into meals you already love is a simple way to feed your gut, protect your cells, and build long-term resilience. And that's a lot of heavy lifting from something that you can pick up in the produce aisle for a couple of bucks. Or if you know an experience guide, something you can find in many forests during autumn for free. Remember, at the end of the day, our health is not built on miracle cures or quick fixes. It's built on the boring, badass basics that show up consistently. Mushrooms are one of those basics. Until next time, my friends, stay salty. Stay curious, and I'll talk to you soon. Any and all information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only, and is not to be misconstrued as offering medical advice. Listening to this podcast does not constitute a provider client relationship. Note, I'm not a doctor nor a nurse, and it is imperative that you utilize your brain and your medical team to make the best decisions for your own health. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked to this podcast. Are at the user's own risk. No information nor resources provided are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Be a smart human and do not disregard or postpone obtaining medical advice for any medical condition you may have. Seek the assistance of your healthcare team for any such conditions and always do so before making any changes to your medical, nutrition or health plan.