Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr 1;27(7):2302.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27072302.

Health-Promoting Properties of Medicinal Mushrooms and Their Bioactive Compounds for the COVID-19 Era-An Appraisal: Do the Pro-Health Claims Measure Up?

Jennifer Mary Phillips  1   2 , Soo Liang Ooi  1 , Sok Cheon Pak  1
Affiliations
Review

Health-Promoting Properties of Medicinal Mushrooms and Their Bioactive Compounds for the COVID-19 Era-An Appraisal: Do the Pro-Health Claims Measure Up?

Jennifer Mary Phillips et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Many mushroom species are consumed as food, while significant numbers are also utilised medicinally. Mushrooms are rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds. A growing body of in vitro, in vivo, and human research has revealed their therapeutic potentials, which include such properties as anti-pathogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, gut microbiota enhancement, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 specificity. The uses of medicinal mushrooms (MMs) as extracts in nutraceuticals and other functional food and health products are burgeoning. COVID-19 presents an opportunity to consider how, and if, specific MM compounds might be utilised therapeutically to mitigate associated risk factors, reduce disease severity, and support recovery. As vaccines become a mainstay, MMs may have the potential as an adjunct therapy to enhance immunity. In the context of COVID-19, this review explores current research about MMs to identify the key properties claimed to confer health benefits. Considered also are barriers or limitations that may impact general recommendations on MMs as therapy. It is contended that the extraction method used to isolate bioactive compounds must be a primary consideration for efficacious targeting of physiological endpoints. Mushrooms commonly available for culinary use and obtainable as a dietary supplement for medicinal purposes are included in this review. Specific properties related to these mushrooms have been considered due to their potential protective and mediating effects on human exposure to the SARS CoV-2 virus and the ensuing COVID-19 disease processes.

Keywords: ACE2 regulation; COVID-19; anti-inflammation; anti-oxidant; immunomodulation; β-glucans.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Medicinal mushrooms demonstrated modulatory and regulatory effects via the actions of bioactive compounds. These effects may apply in the pathophysiology and sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection in humans. Potential benefits to consider and investigate specifically in this context involve mitigating disease risk factors, reducing disease severity, and supporting recovery.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Factors to consider if medicinal mushrooms are to be utilised for therapeutic and treatment purposes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gargano M.L., van Griensven L.J.L.D., Isikhuemhen O.S., Lindequist U., Venturella G., Wasser S.P., Zervakis G.I. Medicinal mushrooms: Valuable biological resources of high exploitation potential. Plant Biosyst. 2017;151:548–565. doi: 10.1080/11263504.2017.1301590. - DOI
    1. Venturella G., Ferraro V., Cirlincione F., Gargano M.L. Medicinal mushrooms: Bioactive compounds, use, and clinical trials. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021;22:634. doi: 10.3390/ijms22020634. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hetland G., Johnson E., Bernardshaw S.V., Grinde B. Can medicinal mushrooms have prophylactic or therapeutic effect against COVID-19 and its pneumonic superinfection and complicating inflammation? Scand. J. Immunol. 2021;93:e12937. doi: 10.1111/sji.12937. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wasser S.P. Current findings, future trends, and unsolved problems in studies of medicinal mushrooms. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2011;89:1323–1332. doi: 10.1007/s00253-010-3067-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Patel D.K., Dutta S.D., Ganguly K., Cho S.J., Lim K.T. Mushroom-derived bioactive molecules as immunotherapeutic agents: A review. Molecules. 2021;26:1359. doi: 10.3390/molecules26051359. - DOI - PMC - PubMed