Let Food be thy Medicine

There was a time when mushrooms didn’t get much cred. They were thought to be about as nutritious as celery or cucumbers, suffering from the negative-calorie food myth (or misunderstanding) that says that chewing the food burns more calories than the food provides. Mushrooms are indeed very low calorie–7 ounces of white button mushrooms have 44 calories and are 90 percent water–but that doesn’t mean they are nutritionally impoverished.

However, these days, maybe mushrooms are getting too much cred. “How the Lowly Mushroom Is Becoming a Nutritional Star,” “Are Mushrooms the Future of Wellness?” “Eating This One Food Every Day May Help Weaken COVID-19.” These headlines and so many more laud the incredible superpowers of mushrooms. Mushrooms do, indeed, contain a variety of micronutrients, but if you ate nothing but this superfood, you would eventually suff er from malnutrition. So, where does the truth about mushroom nutrition lie? What’s hype, and what does the science say?