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takyon writes:

Mushrooms are full of antioxidants that may have antiaging potential

Mushrooms may contain unusually high amounts of two antioxidants that some scientists suggest could help fight aging and bolster health, according to a team of Penn State researchers. In a study, researchers found that mushrooms have high amounts of the ergothioneine and glutathione, both important antioxidants, said Robert Beelman, professor emeritus of food science and director of the Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Products for Health. He added that the researchers also found that the amounts the two compounds varied greatly between mushroom species.

[...] According to the researchers, who report their findings in a recent issue of Food Chemistry, the amounts of ergothioneine and glutathione in mushrooms vary by species with the porcini species, a wild variety, containing the highest amount of the two compounds among the 13 species tested. "We found that the porcini has the highest, by far, of any we tested," said Beelman. "This species is really popular in Italy where searching for it has become a national pastime."

[...] Cooking mushrooms does not seem to significantly affect the compounds, Beelman said. "Ergothioneine are very heat stable," said Beelman. Beelman said that future research may look at any role that ergothioneine and glutathione have in decreasing the likelihood of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"Anti-aging" buzzword news.

Also at Newsweek and New Atlas. Related PPT/PDF.

Mushrooms: A rich source of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione (DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.04.109) (DX) (PubMed)

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