Abstract
Macrofungi production and economic value have been increasing globally. The demand for macrofungi has expanded rapidly owing to their popularity among consumers, pleasant taste, and unique flavors. The presence of high quality proteins, polysaccharides, unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, triterpene sterols, and secondary metabolites makes macrofungi an important commodity. Macrofungi are well known for their ability to protect from or cure various health problems, such as immunodeficiency, cancer, inflammation, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity. Many studies have demonstrated their medicinal properties, supported by both in vivo and in vitro experimental studies, as well as clinical trials. Numerous bioactive compounds isolated from mushrooms, such as polysaccharides, proteins, fats, phenolic compounds, and vitamins, possess strong bioactivities. Consequently, they can be considered as an important source of nutraceuticals. Numerous edible mushrooms have been studied for their bioactivities, but only a few species have made it to the market. Many species remain to be explored. The converging trends and popularity of eastern herbal medicines, natural/organic food product preference, gut-healthy products, and positive outlook towards sports nutrition are supporting the growth in the medicinal mushroom market. The consumption of medicinal mushrooms as functional food or dietary supplement is expected to markedly increase in the future. The global medicinal mushroom market size is projected to increase by USD 13.88 billion from 2018 to 2022. The global market values of promising bioactive compounds, such as lentinan and lovastatin, are also expected to rise. With such a market growth, mushroom nutraceuticals hold to be very promising in the years to come.
Highlights
Introduction conditions of the Creative CommonsMacrofungi, includes members of the phylum Basidiomycota, and a few Ascomycota that fruit above or below the ground, with large sporocarps or fruiting bodies that can be seen with the unaided eye [1]
China has made some significant breakthroughs in the breeding and cultivation techniques of edible mushrooms, as well as product innovations, which has led to increased mushroom production [8]
At least 270 species of macrofungi have been explored as sources of important secondary metabolites and have the potential to be developed as food supplements for medicinal applications [11]
Summary
Macrofungi (from the Greek “makros”, meaning large), includes members of the phylum Basidiomycota, and a few Ascomycota that fruit above or below the ground, with large sporocarps or fruiting bodies that can be seen with the unaided eye [1]. (oyster macrofungi), and Volvariella volvacea [23,24] Macrofungi such as Ganoderma lingzhi–G. sichuanense (Lingzhi or Reishi), Inonotus obliquus (Chaga), L. edodes (Shiitake), and many others have been collected in the wild and utilized as medicines for hundreds of years in many Asian countries, such as Korea, China, Japan, and eastern Russia. Such practices have prompted modern scientific studies of fungal medicinal properties, especially anticancer bioactivities [25]. Macrofungal resources have not been fully explored yet, a lot of studies are still needed to unlock their diverse potential applications [2]
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