Chemistry, Nutrition, and Health-Promoting Properties ofHericium erinaceus(Lion’s Mane) Mushroom Fruiting Bodies and Mycelia and Their Bioactive Compounds
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Abstract
The culinary and medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus is widely consumed in Asian
countries, but apparently not in the United States, for its nutritional and health
benefits. To stimulate broader interest in the reported beneficial properties, this
overview surveys and consolidates the widely scattered literature on the chemistry
(isolation and structural characterization) of polysaccharides and secondary metabolites
such as erinacines, hericerins, hericenones, resorcinols, steroids, mono- and diterpenes,
and volatile aroma compounds, nutritional composition, food and industrial uses, and
exceptional nutritional and health-promoting aspects of H. erinaceus. The reported
health-promoting properties of the mushroom fruit bodies, mycelia, and bioactive pure
compounds include antibiotic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antifatigue, antihypertensive,
antihyperlipodemic, antisenescence, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective,
and neuroprotective properties and improvement of anxiety, cognitive function, and
depression. The described anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and immunostimulating
properties in cells, animals, and humans seem to be responsible for the multiple health-promoting
properties. A wide range of research advances and techniques are described and evaluated.
The collated information and suggestion for further research might facilitate and
guide further studies to optimize the use of the whole mushrooms and about 70 characterized
actual and potential bioactive secondary metabolites to help prevent or treat human
chronic, cognitive, and neurological diseases.
[1
]Western Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California 94710, United States