You may not be aware of this, but wherever you are surrounded by fungi.
Fungi are almost everywhere, constituting a large proportion of the life and biomass on the planet, and maybe “mushroom” is not the first word that comes to mind when you think about your health. However, many fungi have been found hidden in your local grocery store to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and help the body fight off viral infection.
Found in soft drinks containing citric acid, produced by a fungus called “Niger aspergillus“, And many detergents contain citric acid just like soft drinks There is a large list of foods that enters fungi into their industry, Like bread, cheese, chocolate, coffee, tea, pickles, olive, pastrami, soy sauce, and some fruit juices, Sometimes it has a bitter taste, it is processed by fungi, red salmon I’m afraid the color red, sometimes as a result of a fungus called “phaffia“, and protein in pet food, is actually produced from fungi and also produces alcoholic beverages with the help of fungal yeast where they are used to turn sugars into alcohol.
Health Benefits of Fermented Foods
In addition to great flavors and vitamin boosters, fermented foods are beneficial to the human body in many ways:
- Helps in the formation of useful gut microbiota.
- More digestible.
- Contains biologically active compounds produced by microbes
Fungi are also present in the gut, helping and enhancing the good bacteria in the gut, which in turn helps the entire system of the body. New research shows that fungi (and fermented foods) are “prebiotics” rather than “probiotics“, meaning they promote conditions and act as nutrient substrates for bacteria.
Why fermented foods are good for humans
Fungi are great and useful in cracking complex molecules into smaller and more absorbable forms such as glucose, where enzymes break bonds of large molecules that are difficult for humans to digest basically. Fermented foods can digest food for us, making nutritional energy more readily available.
During the active growth of yeast, fungi are used and many compounds are made, they can be divided into two: primary receptors, secondary receptors, the first is necessary for growth and vital functions, while the latter is not directly used.
Digestive enzymes are primary receptors, and because fungi do not have mouths or digestive tracts, They have to take these enzymes out in their environment, where they dismantle the food to reabsorb, So fermented foods contain enzymes that help digest carbohydrates and complex proteins As for secondary receptors, the ideal example is antibiotics like penicillin, excreted by fungus to protect themselves from bacteria that may harm or compete with them, and when we eat fermented foods we get a dose of secondary receptors
The fungal kingdom remains a mysterious group of organisms, the world of fermented foods and fungi is vast, growing, and exciting. Most people do not realize how diverse, important, and exotic these organisms are, and how our presence depends on them, together with the State of the World’s Fungi Report, fungi scientists and fungi lovers like us champion the fungal case in all its aspects. We want a more productive relationship with this fundamental part of the natural world, encouraging you to discover unique flavors and benefits as part of a healthy lifestyle, as well as our mushroom, of course.
