Mushrooms with extra vitamin D: nonsense or brilliant?
Are you a fan of mushrooms? No, not the kind that make you see gnomes and think your thoughts have colors, but ordinary mushrooms. Those fun little round fungi make all the difference in your pasta, on toast and in your burger – but did you know you can also let those white little guys sunbathe? That’s right, and it makes them even healthier too.
Mushrooms practically burst out of their blue container with vitamins: they’re packed with copper, which helps keep the connective tissue in your skin, blood vessels and cartilage healthy. They also provide plenty of vitamins B2 and B3. Bam!
Living in the dark
But unlike most mushrooms, button mushrooms actually contain no vitamin D. They’re grown in the dark, so they don’t get the chance to convert the ergosterol they do contain into vitamin D. That requires UV light, for example from the sun. If you eat a lot of mushrooms, that ergosterol enters your body and you can still make vitamin D from it yourself, but: details.
Against COVID! Great!
Why is that vitamin D so good? Lately, it has really become a hype because people say that vitamin D might help against coronavirus. Better resistance, recovering faster and being less likely to get infected — it only has to be a rumor before people rush en masse to the pill aisle, because vitamin D supplements in particular are flying off the shelves.
Mushrooms with it
Supermarket Jumbo has come up with something clever: slightly more expensive mushrooms with vitamin D. They’re chestnut mushrooms that have spent some time under a UV lamp, and voilà. But wait, you can do that yourself too. Simply put that box of mushrooms on the windowsill at home for a while and let nature do its work. They may change color slightly or dry out a bit, but they will contain vitamin D.
A walk
It sounds good, but if you really want to keep your vitamin D levels up, just leave the expensive mushrooms and bottles of pills alone and go outside for fifteen minutes every day. In just a few minutes, you’ll absorb more vitamin D than you can get from a box of mushrooms.
Also read:
- Finally, a definitive answer on whether or not to wash mushrooms
- Tips for crispy and truly delicious mushrooms and button mushrooms
- 105-year-old cycles cheerfully through coronavirus thanks to a (delicious!) home remedy
Source: AD
