Lowering Risk
Mushrooms contain compounds linked to lowering the risk of a range of cancers.
Cancer
The facts at a glance
Breast Cancer Studies
Studies show women eating one button mushroom a day have half the risk of breast cancer than women not eating mushrooms.
Unique compounds
Unique proteins, glucans and other special carbohydrates in mushrooms, can potentially inhibit cancer formation and growth.
Ongoing Research
Research is looking to determine if fresh mushrooms and mushroom extracts can help lower the risk of breast and prostate cancer.
Mushrooms help fight cancer
Like many people, you probably eat for both enjoyment and to protect your health against future disease. Fruits and vegetables help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers. It is not surprising that mushrooms have also been found to play their part in lowering cancer risk, even though they are neither fruit nor vegetable.
Research shows that mushroom extracts reduced breast cancer growth (Chen 2006; Martin 2010). “Eating 100 grams, or even less, of mushrooms per day could have an effect on preventing new breast cancers,” said lead researcher Dr Shiuan Chen. Soon after the early finding there were three international studies linking women who eat mushrooms to a 50-60% lower risk of breast cancer compared to those who do not eat mushrooms (Shin 2010; Hong 2008).
One study from the University of Western Australia showed that women who ate an average of only 10g of mushrooms (about half a button mushroom) a day had a 65% lower risk of breast cancer (Zhang 2009).
That has been quite a remarkable finding, stimulating more research on how mushrooms might reduce cancer risk. As the CSIRO said:
The most promising data appear to be those indicating an inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and breast cancer risk.
2014 CSIRO Mushrooms and Health Report
There have now been ten good quality observational studies revealing that women who eat mushrooms regularly have a much lower risk of breast cancer. A 2014 meta-analysis states: “The protective effects of mushroom intake on risk of breast cancer were consistently exhibited in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.” (Li 2014)
How do mushrooms help to protect against breast cancer?
The mushroom contains compounds that suppress two enzymes called aromatase. Aromatase converts the hormone androgen to estrogen, which in turn can promote the development of breast cancer, especially in post-menopausal women (Grube 2001; Chen 2006). Currently, aromatase inhibitors are being used in the treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer. An Australian study showed that two carbohydrates found in mushrooms inhibited breast cancer cell growth in the laboratory (Jeong 2012).
Research on Vitamin D Mushrooms
Proof of the effectiveness of light on vitamin D levels in mushrooms came from a study by the University of Western Sydney (Koyyalamudi 2009). This break-through research reveals that 1-2 seconds of a pulsed UV light source can stimulate mushrooms to naturally produce enough vitamin D for the daily needs of adults.
Vitamin D Mushrooms are in supermarkets in major Australian cities. A single 100g serve of vitamin D mushrooms provides at least the daily need for vitamin D. That’s about three button mushrooms. Vitamin D mushrooms are the only food to provide a day’s needs of vitamin D in a single serve. In fact, most people get barely 10% of their vitamin D from food, relying on sun exposure and supplements to make up the difference (Nowson 2012).
The vitamin D in mushrooms is easy to absorb and effective in improving vitamin D status (Urbain 2011; Koyyalamudi 2009; Jasinghe 2005; Outila 1999). It also supports bone growth (Calvo 2012).
There is at least an 85% retention of vitamin D in wild mushrooms after frying for five minutes (Mattila 1999), so even after cooking most of the vitamin D remains in the mushroom. Furthermore, there is very little loss of vitamin D2 when mushrooms are refrigerated for eight days (Koyyalamudi 2009) or even three months (Mattila 1999).
Vitamin D mushrooms can be a simple and delicious way for Australians to get 100% of their daily vitamin D needs, especially if they are unable to get adequate sun exposure.
Potential to reduce prostate cancer risk too
The enzyme 5 alpha reductase converts the hormone testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and is thought to play a role in the development of prostate cancer and benign prostate enlargement in men. The research on animal cells suggests that compounds in mushrooms inhibit this enzyme, therefore having a potential role in the protection against prostate cancer (Adams 2008).
An unpublished study from the Beckman Research Institute, USA, has found that consuming 1-4 button mushrooms daily does significantly drop Prostate Specific Antigen levels (PSA test) in one-third of men with high PSA levels. Interviews with two men who reversed their high PSAs with mushrooms can be found here.
Although it is too early to say that eating mushrooms will stop you from getting breast or prostate cancer, the future looks very promising for the role mushroom could have in reducing the risk of these two common cancers. On-going research is checking to see if mushrooms play a very specific role in protecting against cancer. You can see researcher Dr Chen’s thoughts here. He appears at 1.40.
It is unlikely that any one nutrient or compound in food provides the protection against cancer. It is far more likely that the synergy of the many compounds in mushrooms, and food in general combine effectively to offer protection to the body. That means eating a healthy diet, one that includes mushrooms, which are a very useful source of B vitamins, minerals and antioxidant compounds.
References
- Adams LS, Phung S, Wu X, Ki L, Chen S. White button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) exhibits antiproliferative and proapoptotic properties and inhibits prostate tumor growth in athymic mice. Nutrition and Cancer 2008; 60 (6): 744-756
- Chen S. Anti-cancer activities of white button mushrooms. Mushroom Science XVI 2004: 25-29
- Chen S, Oh S-R, Phung S, Hur G, Ye JJ, Kwok SL, Shrode GE, Belury M, Adams SL, Williams D. Anti-aromatase activity of phytochemicals in white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus). Cancer Research 2006; 66 (24): 12026-12034
- Grube BJ, Eng ET, Kao YC, Kwon A, Chen S. White button mushroom phytochemicals inhibit aromatase activity and breast cancer proliferation. Journal of Nutrition 2001; 131: 3288-3293
- Hong SA, Kim K, Nam SJ, Kong G, Kim MK. A case-control study on the dietary intake of mushrooms and breast cancer risk among Korean women. International Journal of Cancer 2008; 122: 919-923
- Li J, Zou L, Chen W, Zhu B, Shen N, Ke J, Lou J, Song R, Zhong R, Miao X. Dietary Mushroom Intake May Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. PLoS One 2014 Published: April 01, 2014 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093437
- Jeong SC, Koyyalamudi SR, Jeong YT, Song CH, Pang G. Macrophage immunomodulating and antitumor activities of polysaccharides isolated from Agaricus bisporus white button mushrooms. Journal of Medicinal Food 2012; 15 (1): 58-65
- Martin KR, Brophy SK. Commonly consumed and specialty dietary mushrooms reduce cellular proliferation in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Experimental Biology & Medicine 2010; 235: 1306-1314
- Shin A, Kim J, Lim SY, Kim G, Sung MK, Lee ES, Ro J. Dietary mushroom intake and the risk of breast cancer based on hormone receptor status. Nutrition & Cancer 2010; 62 (4): 476-483
- Zhang M, Huang J, Xie X, Holman CDJ. Dietary intakes of mushrooms and green tea combine to reduce the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women. Int J Cancer 2009; 124: 1404-1408