Lead researcher Professor Robert Beelman, from Pennsylvania State University, said: ‘Some types are really packed with both of them.’
As the body uses oxygen, it releases free radicals. Scientists have long suspected that the toxic by-products fuel dementia.
These travel through the body looking to pair up with electrons, causing damage to cells, proteins and DNA – known as oxidative stress.
Professor Beelman said ‘eventually enough accrue to cause damage heavily linked to cancer, coronary heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
Replenishing antioxidants in the body, then, may help protect against this oxidative stress – however, some studies have cast doubt on this theory.
AND RED WINE TO SLASH DIABETES RISK
Women are less likely to develop diabetes when they indulge in a ‘moderate’ amount of red wine and dark chocolate.
These guilty pleasures contain antioxidants which are thought to protect against diabetes.
A study of more than 64,000 women found those who consumed the most antioxidants, also found in tea and blueberries, slashed their chances of getting the disease by 27 per cent compared to those with a low intake.
While the health benefits of fruit and vegetables are well known, experts are more concerned about the health risks of drinking.
The new study found Italy’s favourite mushroom, the wild porcini, had the highest quantities, while more common varieties appeared to have lower levels.
However, the mushrooms that contained the lowest amounts of ergothioneine and glutathione still had higher quantities than other foods.
Cooking mushrooms does not seem to significantly affect the compounds, Professor Beelman said in the journal Food Chemistry.
He suggests that the results could go some way to explain why the countries which have mushroom-heavy diets, such as France and Italy, also have lower rates of dementia.
But the US, which has low amounts of ergothioneine in the diet, has a higher rate of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Professor Beelman warned the results are preliminary, and don’t allow for a direct cause and effect.
However, he claimed that the difference between the countries and their diets is ‘something to look into’.
‘The difference between the countries with low rates of neurodegenerative diseases is about 3mg per day, which is about five button mushrooms each day.’
Previous evidence has proven mushrooms exhibit antioxidant, anti-tumor, antivirus, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-diabetic activities.
Mushrooms with anti-inflammatory properties may be used as functional foods to combating high blood pressure, which contributes to dementia.
And a Malaysian study in January was the first to delve into the specific effects of mushrooms against preventing dementia.
They found they contain properties that could enhance nerve growth in the brain and protect against the devastating disease.
