Mushrooms for Immortality

For thousands of years, across cultures around the globe, mushrooms have been an important source of food, medicine, and spirituality. This is especially true in the Pacific Northwest. As the autumn rains arrive to soak the ground and rouse the fruits of the Earth, people of all walks of life can’t help but to encounter them as they wander about in nature. And those who know what to look for find a veritable bounty awaiting them.

Nutritional benefits

With protein making up about 15-35% of mushrooms’ dry weight, mushrooms are an excellent food source. That’s more protein than most vegetables! Even better, they contain all the essential amino acids, which is uncommon among non-animal proteins.

Mushrooms contain fiber and other healthy (complex) carbohydrates like polysaccharides. (Remember not all carbohydrates are equal… simple carbs are the ones to avoid like those found in processed snack foods.) Mushrooms are low in fat, and the fat they do have is heart-healthy. And fungi are rich in an array of vitamins (particularly the B-vitamins) and minerals (like potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium). For example, mushrooms are the only non-animal food source of Vitamin D.

How to eat mushrooms

We’re noticing that stores like New Seasons (and even Costco!) have expanded their mushroom selections beyond the typical buttons, portabellas, and shitakes. We’re seeing lions’ mane and chanterelle mushrooms in more places than ever. These used to be available primarily to fine restaurants and mushroom foragers or their families. If you haven’t tried them before, consider picking up a new-to-you variety and add the cooked mushrooms to a family favorite dish. Here’s one of our go-to fall recipes: Farro risotto with butternut squash and chanterelle mushrooms.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you can look into trying to find your own. Foraging mushrooms can be a great way to explore nature, get exercise, and come home with a delicious wild ingredient for your dinner. Consider taking a beginner identification course from the Oregon Mycological Society or a guided Ranger walk at Fort Stevens.

For self starters, you can find other resources for foraging, identification and cooking online, like at https://foragerchef.com/chanterelle-mushrooms/

Additional health benefits

We’re all familiar with the most important fungus-derived substance for humanity — penicillin. But the health-improving compounds to be found in mushrooms go far beyond this. A growing body of research is shedding light on nutraceutical substances found in mushrooms like beta-glucan (a polysaccharide found in mushroom cell walls), bioactive proteins, and sterols. These compounds have been shown to play significant roles in tumor anti-proliferation, immune system stimulation, anti-diabetic effects, and reducing cardiovascular disease.

The most famous of the medicinal mushrooms, and one known to be rich in the nutraceutical mushroom compounds, is the Resihi mushroom. The Reishi is especially popular in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures for its health effects, and is commonly referred to as the mushroom of immortality. A variety of Reishi grows in the Pacific Northwest called Ganoderma Oregonense. Here’s a picture of one found on a recent foraging adventure.

Fair warning

As with many promising health research topics, mushrooms have attracted a wide array of profit seekers – natural therapies, supplement companies, and snake oil salesmen. There is supporting evidence for some health claims, but the internet is rife with exaggeration and hyperbole. If you’re curious to learn more, look at sites like pubmed.gov for peer-reviewed research studies like this and this or use websites that are free from conflicts of interest, like examine.com. And please consult with your doctor before starting any type of supplement, fungal or otherwise, as there may be interactions with medications to consider.

Flu Season

Last year was a record low flu season, but we shouldn’t expect that again this year. Schools are back in-person, and the vaccine has enabled more social and economic activity. That all means more avenues for influenza transmission. It should come as no surprise that the best prevention for flu is similar to that of COVID-19:

• Get the vaccine!

• Wash your hands.

• Wear a mask, especially in crowded or poorly ventilated public places.

• If you do feel sick, stay home.

Flu vaccine at Baskin Clinic

Flu vaccine is now available at Baskin Clinic. Due to the rising cost (and the limited additional benefit) of the high dose, we are only offering the regular dose vaccine this year. If you feel you need the high dose flu shot, we recommend getting it for free at your local pharmacy.

Don’t worry about timing the flu vaccine with your COVID booster (if you qualify). There are no contraindications there. But you might be more comfortable if you wait a few days between them.

COVID-19

Some people are now recommended to receive a third dose of COVID vaccine. Follow this chart to determine your eligibility:

Reminder, Baskin Clinic has no plans to offer COVID vaccine in-house. Let us know if you need help locating a vaccine; we would be happy to assist you.

Cool risk assessment tool

Humans are usually bad at objectively judging risks. There’s a significant body of research that suggests that we’re prone to misjudge low-risk activities as too risky or find reasons to justify engaging in higher risk behaviors. If you’re curious about the relative risk of certain situations and behaviors for transmitting COVID-19, we found this calculator to be rather interesting.

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As always, we’re going to reward you for getting to this point in the newsletter with a little something fun. Sorry we didn’t get this out in time for you to vote during Fat Bear Week, but you can still enjoy seeing photos of the bears and watch them chow down on the live stream (no pun intended) of the Brooks River in Katami National Park.

Take care,

Baskin Clinic