Mushrooms as Sources of Therapeutic Foods

Abstract

Edible mushrooms are widely appreciated for their nutritional properties, as well as for their biological activities and therapeutic potential. Regarding medicinal values, mushrooms have emerged as an important source of compounds with antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antitumor features. Fungal metabolite activity could be implicated in several chronic diseases, such as various types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes. In recent years a growing interest has developed in the field of mushroom’s mechanisms of action. Bioactive properties include their antioxidant capacity with the ability to prevent diseases correlated with increased formation of free radicals and oxidative stress. Antimicrobial activity of mushroom extracts and compounds are very well documented, reporting them as natural sources of promising antimicrobial agents. Research in this area—considering antitumor and antidiabetic properties—are currently expanding, reporting various wild-growing and cultivated species to possess such biological effects. The current chapter will focus on up-to-date literature on biological properties of edible mushrooms, regarding antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumor, and antidiabetic properties. All of the activities will be discussed profoundly, paying special attention to molecular mechanisms being involved in the implication of health beneficial effects of mushroom extracts and compounds isolated from the respected species.