Mushroom as a resilient crop: a paradigm shift from agri-litters to healthy and ecofriendly food production

Abstract

Nutrient deficiency remains prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. In fact, in developed countries, the high standard of living and the fast-growing population rely on fast and processed foods to support their daily nourishment. However, constant consumption of processed foods has been linked to chronic diseases. The unhealthy results of instant foods serve as an eye-opener for the population to demand the availability of healthy food. Some people resort to plant-based food for health reasons and mushrooms are a great option since they have been utilized as food and drugs since time immemorial, and are a great substitute or even a replacement for unhealthy foods. Mushrooms have long been regarded as a high-nutritional-value food and a vital agent in the degradation of organic matter, an ideal decomposer of agricultural and forest litter. Additionally, mushrooms are obligatory saprophytic, spore-forming eukaryotic organisms belonging to the fungal group, which can be harnessed mostly in a healthy environment. Their dominance as a medicinal food gained global traction and are now cultivated worldwide. Mushrooms, in addition to vitamins, nucleic acids, and minerals, contain β-D-glucan, a prebiotic that has immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties and can be used as an adjuvant in conventional chemotherapy. Furthermore, mushrooms increase food palatability, and their protein and carbohydrate qualities are ideal counterparts to muscle foods such as meat and fish. These edible macrofungi can be considered a superfood and a nutri-med crop with a wide range of biological potentials due to their significant benefits as a combination of food and medicine and because they are grown in an environmentally friendly manner.