Be Healthy with Crimini Mushrooms

     Mushrooms should be firm, plump and clean without wrinkles or slimy spots.

• Crimini mushrooms can help protect against breast cancer by preventing excessive circulating levels of estrogen.
• These button mushrooms also provide selenium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), copper, niacin (vitamin B3), potassium and phosphorous.
• Selenium is required for the proper functioning of the antioxidant system, protecting against colon cancer, decreasing asthma and arthritis symptoms and in the prevention of heart disease. Selenium also aids in DNA repair,
• Copper can help reduce symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. In conjunction with manganese it helps protect against free radicals produced by the body’s energy production system. Copper is also required for the production of an important enzyme that helps provide the ground substance and flexibility in blood vessels, bones and joints.
• Iron is required for the production of hemoglobin, a process that also requires copper.
• Crimini mushrooms contain a variety of B complex vitamins including riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin, as well as thiamin, vitamin B6, and folate, all necessary for carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism.
• Riboflavin plays two important roles in the body’s energy production system, both enabling it and protecting against reactive damage from oxygen.
• Riboflavin has been shown to reduce the frequency of migraine headaches.
• Another B vitamin, pantothenic acid, plays an important role in reducing fatigue, supporting adrenal gland fuction, particularly in times of stress.
• Niacin, vitamin B3, helps reduce cholesterol levels helping prevent osteoarthritis.
• Vitamin B6 is needed to convert homocysteine, a dangerous molecule that can directly damage blood vessel walls, to a harmless molecule.
• Zinc, also provided by crimini mushrooms, has the most beneficial effects on the immune system of any mineral. Zinc also helps stabilize blood sugar levels and the body's metabolic rate, is necessary for an optimal sense of smell and taste, has been shown to prevent blood vessel damage that can occur in atherosclerosis, and may help to reduce the painful inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis.
• Regular consumption of niacin-rich foods like crimini mushrooms can protect against Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive decline.
• L-ergothioneine, a powerful antioxidant, has been discovered in mushrooms by a new analytical method that can identify this antioxidant in plant material.
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  Source: World’s Healthiest Food