蘑菇的3个惊人的健康益处

Cultures around the world have eaten or used mushrooms medicinally for centuries, dating all the way back to ancient Egypt. Legend has it that pharaohs liked their earthy flavor so much, they declared the fungi royalty food and forbid commoners from touching them. Those greedy pharaohs kept the entire supply for themselves.

几个世纪以来，世界各地的文化都将蘑菇用作药用，可以追溯到古埃及。传说，法老非常喜欢这种真菌的泥土味，他们宣布这种真菌为皇室食品，并禁止平民接触它们。那些贪婪的法老把所有的供给都留给了自己。

Whether you eat them raw or cooked, mushrooms can fight everything from cancer to aging. (Photo: Wittaya kamkaew/Shutterstock)

Whether you eat them raw or cooked (you should cook them, but more on that later), here are three health benefits you'll get when you add mushrooms to your diet.

不管你是生吃还是熟吃(你应该把它们煮熟，但以后再说)，如果你把蘑菇添加到你的饮食中，你会得到三个健康益处。

Maitake mushrooms have been shown to suppress the growth of breast cancer cells. (Photo: yoshi0511/Shutterstock)

1. Mushrooms are immunity-boosters. We now know that lentinan can boost your immune system, but it has a helper, too. Beta-glucan is a sugar found in the cells walls of fungi (among other plants) that also helps boost your immune system. Lentinan comes from shiitake mushrooms, but beta-glucan is found in many varieties, namely the common button mushrooms.

蘑菇可以增强免疫力。我们现在知道香菇多糖可以增强免疫系统，但它也有一个助手——葡聚糖是一种存在于真菌(和其他植物)细胞壁中的糖，它也有助于增强你的免疫系统。香菇香菇中含有香菇多糖，而葡聚糖在很多种类的香菇中都有，也就是普通的香菇。

Shiitake mushrooms contain lentinan and beta-glucans, both of which are good for improving your immune system. (Photo: inewsfoto/Shutterstock)

2. They help lower cholesterol. In general, mushrooms are cholesterol free, but they're also a good source of chitin and beta-glucan, which are fibers that lower cholesterol. A study in the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms in the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms found that pink oyster mushrooms reduced total cholesterol and LDL ("bad" cholesterol) in hypercholesterolemic rats.

它们有助于降低胆固醇。一般来说，蘑菇不含胆固醇，但它们也是甲壳素和-葡聚糖的良好来源，这是一种降低胆固醇的纤维。发表在《国际药用蘑菇杂志》上的一项研究发现，粉红平菇可以降低高胆固醇血症大鼠的总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白(“坏”胆固醇)。

In a study, pink oyster mushrooms lowered the amount of bad cholesterol in rats with high cholesterol, though more studies are needed to see if the same results are true for humans. (Photo: socrates471/Shutterstock)

3. Mushrooms have anti-inflammatory powers. Axe says mushrooms contain a powerful antioxidant called ergothioneine, which helps lower inflammation throughout the body. Weil adds that reishi mushrooms in particular, which have been used medicinally in Asia for thousands of years, also have significant anti-inflammatory effects. Multiple studies have shown that reishi mushrooms have multiple health benefits: They fight disease, lower inflammation, suppress allergic responses, reduce tumor growth and more.

蘑菇有消炎的功效。埃克斯说，蘑菇含有一种叫做麦角硫氨酸的强抗氧化剂，有助于降低全身的炎症。威尔补充说，尤其是灵芝蘑菇，它在亚洲已经药用了几千年，也有显著的抗炎作用。多项研究表明，灵芝蘑菇有多种健康益处:抗疾病、降低炎症、抑制过敏反应、减少肿瘤生长等等。

Reishis are hard, woody mushrooms that have a bitter taste, which is why some people prefer them dried, ground and in tablet form. (Photo: apiguide/Shutterstock)