In a recent article in FUNGI magazine, Robert Beelman, professor emeritus of food science in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, drew comparisons between ERGO and penicillin. These are both products of fungi and have positive influence on human health but in different ways.
According to Beelman, ERGO is found in high levels in the blood of humans, but it declines during aging. Previous research found levels declined significantly more in individuals with cognitive impairment, and further studies demonstrated that people with numerous chronic diseases of aging have significantly lower blood ERGO levels than age-matched healthy people.
Beelman said this suggests that increasing those levels might be a good prevention strategy. He noted that while mushrooms are known to be the best source of ERGO, plants are the primary source of nutrients in the human food chain. But plants don’t create ERGO on their own and appear to depend on fungi in farm soils to pass it on to them through their roots.
“If Americans want to boost their ERGO consumption to get in the range of 4.6 mg a day, that would be about 3 to 4 ounces of button mushrooms a day,” Beelman said. “Specialty mushrooms, like shiitakes, have higher levels of ERGO, so people would need to aim for about one ounce of those a day.”
