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Would too many mushrooms be bad for you?

  • 18-01-2008 1:47pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 6,138 ✭✭✭


    Just a general question. I love mushrooms with a passion, and eat them almost every day. I would reckon in a week, I would probably go throught about 1.5 to 2KG of the things.
    On thinking about how they are a fungus, and AFAIK, the list of good fungus is quite short, could there be anything negative about eating this many?

    For the record, I know fried ones are evil, so I would normally bake or boil them. I also intake proper veg with them like peppers, onions, carrots etc, but mushrooms are head and shoulders above the rest in terms of qty.
    Could there be a negative aspect to that?


Comments

  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,427 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr Magnolia


    1.5 to 2kg is a huge volume of mushrooms, are you guessing that figure or is that what generally comes off the scales?

    They're a good source of vitamins & fibre, I'd say you're safe enough.

    Edit/ I wouldn't have thought boiling mushrooms would work well, they absorb a lot of moisture.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 489 ✭✭derek27


    Mushrooms are more difficult to digest than many other food types and are high in levels of Hydrazines, which are putative toxicants, in comparison to other foods - however, I'm not aware of any cases of people suffering any short to medium term adverse effects from eating large amounts of edible mushrooms... however, you do eat an extremely large amount, so your case might be worth studying.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,427 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr Magnolia


    Moved to Nutrition and Diet.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,370 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    derek27 wrote: »
    Mushrooms are more difficult to digest than many other food types and are high in levels of Hydrazines, which are putative toxicants, in comparison to other foods - however, I'm not aware of any cases of people suffering any short to medium term adverse effects from eating large amounts of edible mushrooms... however, you do eat an extremely large amount, so your case might be worth studying.
    There are also benefits to be had, many are medicinal in some way or another. I would imagine the right ones would offset any negative effects.

    This is an excellent site, though may not be "work friendly" as it is mainly focused on psychoactive ones. But there is a entire section on gourmet/medicinal mushrooms. Most on those groups are commercial growers and mycologists and the forum is very active.

    www.shroomery.org

    Many will take psychoactive ones for medicinal purposes too, like improving eyesight and skin conditions, but the main breakthrough found was the treatment of cluster headaches, AKA suicide headaches, which are so bad the sufferers often resort to suicide. The traditional medicine partially relieves them and can cost €50-100 per dose so is not feasible for many, and it only lasts several hours. While psiliocybin doses at threshold levels of intoxication can fully relive people for a year.

    www.clusterheadaches.com


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,138 ✭✭✭Archeron


    Thanks for the replies and the links. I'm pretty sure the qty is right as I buy those 250g packs from the supermarket (sometimes other types in larger packs) and would normally eat about 1-2 of those a day with various different meals.

    The reason I boil them is for the taste, I love them fried but wont eat them like that; as you say, they just suck all the grease up and thats sickening and really unhealthy. I used to think that its great to like a vegetable like that, but a mushroom isnt really a vegetable I suppose. People just started to point out to me that its a huge volume to go through.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,260 ✭✭✭jdivision


    Maybe steam instead of boil them?


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,788 ✭✭✭ztoical


    have you tired grilling them rather then frying?

    technically mushrooms are a fruit - the fungus part is underground and not usually picked with the rest.


  • Registered Users Posts: 38,923 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    ztoical wrote: »
    have you tired grilling them rather then frying?

    technically mushrooms are a fruit - the fungus part is underground and not usually picked with the rest.
    They are not fruit.
    Fruits are basically the seed baring part of plants.

    Mushrooms are the seed (spore) bearing part of a fungus. The name for this part is sporocarp, also know as "fruit body". This has nothing to do with fruit and refers only to fungi. It is still a part of the fungi, as the fruit is a part of the tree.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 169 ✭✭el_loco_blanco


    Hey there,

    I am a huge mushroom lover too and I am also a scientist working in the mushroom area. If you are eating a lot of one type of mushroom (eg the normal white Agaricus bisporus) there are no toxicity issues. The problem arises when you eat many different varieties that your body is not used to. The interaction between the different mushrooms can have a toxic effect.

    an interesting site to look up is www.mushroomsforlife.net. It is an australian site. I work closely with this organisation to promote the health benefits of mushrooms. They are also a lot more nutritious than vegetables and they have recently been found to be the main and largest source of a particularly potent anti-oxidant called ergothioneine. Did you know that an extract from ****ake mushrooms is given to every cancer patient in China as the first form of defence! Mushies are really interesting and very very good for you. I hate the way that they are forgotten about.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,138 ✭✭✭Archeron


    Cool site. Lots of mushroomy recipes to play around with too.
    I really only eat three types myself, just the normal white ones that you get everywhere, the chestnut ones and the big breakfast ones. I have the sh*take ones now and then, but when you eat the volume I do, those are a bit too expensive. Thanks for the link!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 169 ✭✭el_loco_blanco


    Those three mushroom types you eat are all the same species. It is all Agaricus bisporus. The brown is the more native form of the mushroom. I'm glad you enjoyed the site. Spread the word that mushrooms are good for you!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 169 ✭✭el_loco_blanco


    BTW Lidls are in their last week of selling 250g punnets of button mushrooms for 49c. That is for nothing. Stock up and you could always make loads of soup or mushroom ketchup and freeze it!


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,138 ✭✭✭Archeron


    BTW Lidls are in their last week of selling 250g punnets of button mushrooms for 49c. That is for nothing. Stock up and you could always make loads of soup or mushroom ketchup and freeze it!

    :) You should see the looks I get at the till when I put about 12 of those 250g cartons up on the conveyor. If its their last week, I must get up and get lots more.


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