An international team of scientists concluded that mushrooms can lower blood pressure and ease the course of hypertension.
Several bioactive compounds from mushrooms, including lovastatin, cordycepin, ergosterol and eritadenine, have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system. They could be used to develop drugs for high blood pressure.
Adding mushrooms to your diet can work as prevention, but it doesn’t replace blood pressure medication. More research is needed to understand how mushroom polysaccharides affect cholesterol absorption.
Diets built on functional foods are becoming a more popular way to manage chronic diseases, hypertension included. Mushrooms are a strong candidate. They are rich in bioactive compounds, dietary fiber, amino acids, sterols, protein, vitamins and minerals that can affect heart and blood vessel function. Mushrooms also contain plenty of flavonols, quercetin in particular, and fibrinolytic enzymes, which widen blood vessels and prevent plaque from forming in the arteries. Whether mushroom dishes can prevent complications of hypertension is still unclear.
Several studies have shown that mushrooms in Mediterranean-style diets bring real benefits for people with high blood pressure. The list includes portobello, maitake, shiitake, reishi, oyster, shimeji and enoki mushrooms. Oysters and shiitake from that list can be grown at home without a lab or a greenhouse, and our guide to growing mushrooms at home covers what that takes.
