Are mushrooms actually medicinal?

Their beta-glucans help tune the immune system.

The edible fruiting bodies of fungi — eaten as food or taken as extracts.

Common cooking varieties — button, cremini, portobello, shiitake, oyster — are nutritionally similar in offering beta-glucans and ergothioneine, while 'medicinal' mushrooms like reishi and lion's mane are usually taken as concentrated extracts rather than eaten as food.

Mushrooms are unique among common foods in naturally producing vitamin D when exposed to UV light, similar to how human skin makes it from sunlight.

An underused whole food carrying nutrients you won't find in plants or animals.

Ergothioneine, one of mushrooms' signature compounds, is found in few other common foods, meaning mushroom-avoidant diets may be missing something not easily replaced.

Their beta-glucans (a type of fiber) appear to help train and balance the immune system, a distinct mechanism from most other vegetables.

Persian cuisine tucked mushrooms into stews; Eastern traditions revered them as medicine.

Reishi and other medicinal mushrooms held a specific, respected place in East Asian herbal traditions as tonics for vitality and longevity.

In everyday Persian cooking, mushrooms were valued mainly for the savory depth (umami) they added to stews and rice dishes.

Where tradition and science agree

• Both Persian and Eastern traditions treat mushrooms as more than a simple vegetable, and both single out particular varieties for their perceived qualities.
• Both favor culinary, everyday use — cooked into meals — over treating mushrooms as an exotic or occasional food.

In this season (autumn): Autumn has long been mushroom season in much of the region, when wild and cultivated varieties are most abundant — a natural time to lean into a food that modern research is still catching up to appreciating.

• Eastern traditions specifically framed certain mushrooms, like reishi, as medicine in their own right, used deliberately for health; Persian cuisine treated mushrooms mainly as a savory cooking ingredient, tucked into stews rather than singled out medicinally.
• Traditional use had no equivalent to identifying ergothioneine, a unique antioxidant compound found richly in mushrooms; modern biochemistry has isolated it and is actively researching its specific role in aging and cognitive protection.

• Add them to stews, omelets, and stir-fries.
• Give them a little sun before eating to boost their vitamin D.

One small step today: Add mushrooms to your next omelet or stir-fry.

Mushrooms are the earth's quiet chemists — invite them into your kitchen.