Mushrooms contain powerful antioxidant

Want to up your antioxidant intake? Eat your mushrooms.

One way to keep your immune system working at optimum levels is by increasing your intake of antioxidant-rich foods such as blueberries, apples, kidney beans, strawberries, etc. (For a more complete list of foods with high antioxidant content see the e-Alert “Tonight’s Top 20″ (7/20/04) on our web site at hsibaltimore.com.)

Now researchers at Penn State University have shown that mushrooms should be nominated for a spot high on that list.

The Penn nutritionists say they’ve devised a new and more dependable method for examining plants to detect ergothioneine, a powerful antioxidant that’s essential for keeping cells healthy. According to their tests, white button mushrooms have 12 times more ergothioneine than wheatgerm.

And if you have a taste for more exotic mushrooms, all the better. A three-ounce serving of shiitake, maitake or oyster mushrooms deliver about 40 times the amount of ergothioneine as wheatgerm. And this holds true even if the mushrooms are cooked.

The Penn State team promises that their new testing method will soon reveal other rich sources of this important antioxidant.