Even though we live on this sunny and beautiful continent, a very large portion of Australians don’t get enough vitamin D. By now you have probably heard that insufficient vitamin D levels are linked with osteoporosis and fractures, increased risk of some cancers, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. So yes, vitamin D is definitely a good thing to have enough of!
Most of us know that the best way to boost our Vitamin D levels is through sun exposure – there are very few foods in our diet that are naturally high in vitamin D. So on one side of the field you have some health professionals pushing you to ‘get more vitamin D’; yet on the other side of the field, you have other health professionals almost tackling you into the shade for fear that sun exposure will increase your risk of melanomas. Through all this confusion about food and our endless efforts to reduce sun exposure, let’s pause and take note of the humble mushroom.
Mushrooms and vitamin D…not all are created equal.
Mushrooms naturally contain vitamin D, though the levels are highly variable depending on whether they are wild or cultivated mushrooms. As wild mushrooms are naturally exposed to sunlight, they tend to have far higher levels of vitamin D than the cultivated mushrooms that only see the sun for short periods of time during growing operations and harvesting. In fact, the vitamin D content in some cultivated mushrooms can be considered next to nil!
However, our friends in the US have discovered that if cultivated mushrooms are exposed to just short bursts of UV light during growth, then cultivated mushrooms can produce amounts of vitamin D that are in excess of ten times the normal amount. In fact, a single serve can provide us with enough vitamin D for the whole day. This is regardless of whether the mushrooms are eaten cooked or raw as the vitamin D in mushrooms is easily absorbed. These types of ‘super’ mushrooms are already on sale in the US but as yet are not available in Australia. We haven’t been forgotten though! Our Australian scientists are working hard to refine the UV technology so that we can soon have these vitamin-D enhanced mushrooms available to us too.
Some tips for getting more vit D the mushroom way:
- Leave your mushrooms in the sun or under a UV lamp (such as those in aquariums) for a few hours. The exposure to UV rays will help increase the vitamin D levels of your mushrooms. This can be easily done by leaving your mushrooms on your kitchen bench near a window before you leave for work in the morning.
- Buy dried mushrooms that have been sundried. If the dried mushrooms that you buy aren’t labeled with the drying method, then use the previous method listed.
- Include wild mushrooms in your diet. Wild mushrooms have higher vitamin D content and can be a scrumptious addition to meals. They pack a unique flavor so that will reduce the need for other seasoning.
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