Nutrients and bioactive compounds of straw mushrooms
Key nutritional components
Straw mushrooms are highly valued for their nutritional content, providing a rich amount of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. They contain 14–27% crude protein, including many essential amino acids such as arginine, aspartic acid, leucine, lysine, and valine. This high amino acid content makes straw mushrooms an ideal protein supplement, especially for vegetarians. The carbohydrate content in straw mushrooms ranges from 40–50%, increasing with mushroom maturity. Crude fiber accounts for about 11.90%, which is significantly higher than that of many other edible mushrooms. Straw mushrooms have a low fat content, around 4.481% of dry weight, but are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid (69.91%). They also contain fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) along with B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. In particular, straw mushrooms are very rich in ergosterol, a precursor to vitamin D. They provide many essential minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and more.
Compounds and applications mentioned
Beyond its nutritional value, straw mushroom also possesses valuable medicinal properties. Compounds such as β-glucan, zymosan, selenium, flammutoxin, and volvatoxin exhibit antioxidant capabilities and inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-8, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α exert anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Compounds such as 2-pyrrolidinone possess antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Straw mushrooms are also used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat heatstroke, reduce fever, enhance liver and stomach health, lower cholesterol, and prevent atherosclerosis.
Comparison with oyster mushrooms and button mushrooms
Compared to oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) and button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), paddy straw mushrooms have unique advantages. They stand out with strong antioxidant and anti-tumor activities, are rich in dietary fiber, ergothioneine, and lovastatin, which help lower cholesterol and regulate the immune system, providing balanced nutrition, especially rich in vitamin D, although the levels of some bioactive compounds are lower.
Overall, straw mushrooms are a 'golden' food with high nutritional and medicinal value. Researching and applying straw mushrooms in diet and medicine can bring many benefits to human health.