Zhejiang Wu Yang Tang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Product Name

Boletus edulis Powder

Boletus edulis, is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus Boletus. Prized as an ingredient in various foods, B. edulis is an edible mushroom held in high regard in many cuisines, and is commonly prepared and eaten in soups, pasta, or risotto. The mushroom is low in fat and digestible carbohydrates, and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. The fungus also produces a variety of organic compounds with a diverse spectrum of biological activity, including the steroid derivative ergosterol, a sugar binding protein, antiviral compounds, antioxidants, and phytochelatins, which give the organism resistance to toxic heavy metals.

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Nutrients

Boletus edulis constitutes a food source which, although not rich in easily absorbed carbohydrates or fat, contains vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. Fresh mushrooms contain over 80% moisture.Carbohydrates make up the bulk of the fruit bodies, comprising 9.23% of the fresh weight, and 65.4% of the dry weight. The carbohydrate component contains the monosaccharides glucose, mannitol and ��,��-trehalose, the polysaccharide glycogen, and the water-insoluble structural polysaccharide chitin, which accounts for up to 80�C90% of dry matter in mushroom cell walls. Chitin, hemicellulose, and pectin-like carbohydrates��all indigestible by humans��contribute to the nutritionally desirable high proportion of insoluble fibre in B. edulis.

The total lipid, or crude fat, content makes up 2.6% of the dry matter of the mushroom. The proportion of fatty acids (expressed as a % of total fatty acids) are: palmitic acid, 9.8%; stearic acid, 2.7%; oleic acid, 36.1%; linoleic acid, 42.2%, and linolenic acid, 0.2%.

Medicinal use and research

Boletus edulis fruit bodies contain about 500 mg of ergosterol per 100 g of dried mushroom. Ergosterol is a sterol compound common in fungi. Additionally, the fruit bodies have about 30 mg of ergosterol peroxide per 100 g of dried mushroom. Ergosterol peroxide is a steroid derivative with a wide spectrum of biological activity, including antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity, and cytotoxicity to various tumor cell lines grown in laboratory culture.

Phytochelatins give B. edulis resistance to toxic heavy metals like cadmium.

The mushroom also contains a sugar-binding protein, or lectin, that has affinity for the sugars xylose and melibiose. The lectin is mitogenic��that is, it can stimulate cells to begin the process of cell division, resulting in mitosis. Further, the lectin has antiviral properties: it inhibits the human immunodeficiency virus enzyme reverse transcriptase. Other studies suggest that B. edulis also has antiviral activity against Vaccinia virus and tobacco mosaic virus grown in culture. Antiviral compounds from mushrooms are a subject of interest in biomedical research for their potential to advance the knowledge of viral replication, and as new drugs in the treatment of viral disease.

The fruit bodies have a high antioxidative capacity, due probably to a combination of various organic acids (such as oxalic, citric, malic, succinic and fumaric acids), phenolic compounds and alkaloids; the highest antioxidative capacity is in the mushroom caps. Furthermore, fruit bodies were determined to have 528 mg of the antioxidant compound ergothioneine per kilogram of fresh mushroom; this value was the highest among many food items tested in one study.