The Importance of Eating Oyster Mushrooms

You can eat them as a meat replacement, or steamed with vegetables. You can put them in a soup, or turn them into jerky. The options seem limitless, and so do their potential health benefits.

Life Cykel co-founder Julian Mitchell sat down recently with Dave Asprey on Bulletproof Radio this week to talk about the importance of functional mushrooms.

During the episode, Dave asked why oyster mushrooms are important to eat, and how they can be beneficial for the body.

What does research show about the potential benefits of eating oyster mushrooms?

There are a number of different types of oyster mushrooms such as the Pearl, the King, the Blue, the Pink, the Yellow and we grow all of these in Australia at our farms and they all have great compounds and nutrients.

Julian noted two major research points of interest:

The antioxidant ergothioneine- involved in the protection of mitochondrial DNA in chronic inflammation.
Shikimic acid- A study out of the University of Japan in 2014 showed that by growing oyster mushrooms from mycelium under blue light increased the expression of shikimic acid by 200 fold. This acid is important because it has shown to inhibit the enzyme for influenza A and B viruses, which are responsible for the flu.

Julian said oyster mushrooms also include compounds such as B vitamins, calcium, folic acid, iron, zinc and potassium.

Dave mentioned that "research has been done around oyster mushrooms looking at the mushroom's potential for lowering cholesterol levels and reducing inflammation".

Life Cykel photo

How should oyster mushrooms be consumed?

Well, that is up to you!

Unlike turkey tail or reishi mushrooms, which are too tough to eat, oyster mushrooms are delicious and can be added to a wide variety of dishes.

They can also be taken in powdered forms or made into an extract flavourings, but the most common way to consume oyster mushrooms is just to include them regularly in your diet.

Grow your own oyster mushrooms at home:

With Life Cykel Grow Kits, you can turn your back yard, your balcony, your living room, your neighbours shed... WHEREVER, into a beautiful oyster mushroom farm.

Your mushrooms will be grown from waste coffee grounds that have been collected from all around the country. When coffee grounds are sent to landfill they release a heck of a lot of methane gas, which has 20 times the global warming capacity than carbon dioxide! Therefore we want to introduce circular economy principles into everyone's day to day life by using waste products as valuable resources and spread the mushroom love.