Mushrooms and weight loss

Far be it from us to pander to awareness-themed events, but did you know it's almost time for National Mushroom Month? As it happens, the journal Appetite has published a mushroom-related report (funded, not entirely surprisingly, by the Mushroom Council -- which refers to mushroom sandwiches on its website as "nature's hidden treasure," which seems a tad hyperbolic a describer for a sandwich).

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University invited more than 50 volunteers of various sizes to eat mushroom- or meat-based lunches for four days. The mushroom-based lunches were of similar portion size but contained 444 fewer calories. Of the study's four days, subjects eating the mushroom lunches weren't measurably more hungry yet consumed fewer calories overall -- meaning they didn't entirely compensate for their lighter lunches by eating more caloric meals at other times.

Or, as the authors put it: "Total daily energy intake and fat intake were significantly greater in the meat condition than in the mushroom condition, while ratings of palatability, appetite, satiation and satiety did not differ significantly."

Have you ever wondered what's IN a mushroom, anyway? I know I have. Here's a nutrition page that will tell you more than you likely need to know (with technicolor charts, what is more).

And here's an article we ran a while back on ways that mushrooms might become even more nature's-hidden-treasure-y, by exposure to UV light (less hidden, we know) to up their vitamin D content.

-- Rosie Mestel

Comments

[Raymond]

Love mushrooms, particularly sauteed shrooms. Love them even as much as the burger or pizza underneath these little buttons full of nutrients.

I would eat them in salads more, but family protests if I add them. So, I pick up a container of shrooms for two or three meals. I offer the mushrooms on the side.

Also love green peppers. I'm crazy about the red, yellow and orange varieties. I store them in the freezer for adding to stews. They're great raw by themselves and in salads.

My favorite meal is sauteed mushrooms on a grilled burger. Seasoned with garlic... heaven!