Mushrooms get vitamin D boost

Friday, 9 September 2011 10:44 AM

It can be tough to get your vitamin D quota, especially this time of year. Now scientists has released research on mushrooms that suggests an ultraviolet light, the same that boosts your tan, can boost vitamin D content in your favourite fungi.

The study is published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Few foods are high in vitamin D - in areas where sunlight is limited, supplements are recommended. But now Ryan Simon and colleagues say exposing mushrooms to ultraviolet B (UVB) light can significantly boost the vitamin D content, with no harmful side effects.

They compared button mushrooms exposed to UVB light, those exposed to natural sunlight and those kept in the dark. The UVB-exposed mushrooms got a dramatic boost in vitamin D (700% more of the vitamin than those mushrooms exposed to no light) and the UVB processing had no effect on levels of vitamin C, folate, riboflavin, niacin and a host of other essential nutrients.

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