This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Mushroom intake increased, maintained vitamin D levels

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Consuming mushrooms containing vitamin D2 can be as beneficial at increasing and maintaining 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels as taking supplements for vitamin D2 or D3, according to researchers at Boston University School of Medicine. The findings were presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting and are to be published in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology.

“These results provide evidence that ingesting mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light and contain vitamin D2 are a good source of vitamin D that can improve the vitamin D status of healthy adults,” researcher Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Furthermore, we found ingesting mushrooms containing vitamin D2 was as effective in raising and maintaining a healthy adult’s vitamin D status as ingesting a supplement that contained either vitamin D2 or vitamin D3.”

The researchers randomly assigned 30 healthy adults to 2,000 IU of vitamin D2 or D3, or 2,000 IU of mushroom powder that contained vitamin D2 once daily for 3 months during the winter season. Twenty-five patients (six men, 19 women; mean age 35.2 years) completed the study, and serum 25-(OH)D was measured once weekly for 12 weeks.

Data indicate that serum 25-(OH)D levels gradually increased and remained consistent at 7 weeks and maintained for the following 5 weeks of the study. At baseline, 25-(OH)D levels were recorded as 17.1 ng/mL for supplemental D3, 19.4 ng/mL for D2 and 20.9 ng/mL for mushroom D2.

The researchers wrote that serum 25-(OH)D levels were not statistically significant in D3 (34.4 ng/mL), D2 (29.2 ng/mL) and mushroom D2 (31.1 ng/mL).

“These results confirm other studies that have demonstrated that ingesting vitamin D2 either from fortified orange juice, a supplement or a pharmaceutical formulation were all capable of increasing total circulating 25-(OH)D concentrations for at least 3 months and up to 6 years,” Holick said.

For more information:

Bogusz J. Evaluation of the bioavailability of vitamin D2 in mushrooms in healthy adults. Presented at: The 2013 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting; April 20-24; Boston.