Fungal Protein – What Is It and What Is the Health Evidence? A Systematic Review Focusing on Mycoprotein

Abstract

Mycoprotein is a protein-rich fungal-derived sustainable food source that was first discovered in the early 1960's. Since then, a sizeable body of research has investigated the health benefits of mycelium protein. Given this, the present publication aims to systematically review the effects of mycoprotein on human health. A literature search of human studies was conducted using PubMed Central, ClinicalTrials.Gov, Google Scholar and a manual search. Sixteen controlled trials, totaling 432 participants were included – of these 5 studies reported total cholesterol, 5 reported on energy intake, 7 on insulin levels, 8 on glucose levels and 4 studied protein response. Risk of bias showed that 7 studies were good quality although heterogeneity was apparent between studies. Results showed that acute mycoprotein ingestion was associated with reduced total cholesterol levels, particularly amongst those with hyperlipidemia. Evidence was less conclusive for effects on blood glucose and insulin levels. Mycoprotein also appears to be a promising bioavailable source of essential amino acids that could induce muscle protein synthesis. Overall, given growing interest in sustainable proteins and accruing health evidence for mycoprotein, firmer embedment with food-based dietary guidelines is now worthy of consideration.

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and Protein Quality Definitions—Time to Move Forward and Encompass Mycoprotein?

“…Amongst those that have been updated, these have a tendency to include “plant-based” food proteins but overlook other nonanimal sources of proteins [ 32 ]. For mycoprotein, more than 16 controlled trials have studied inter-relationships with health, with evidence indicating that this is a bioavailable source of amino acids with the ability to promote muscle protein synthesis and reinforce human health [ 28 ]. Mycoprotein subsequently has a large body of clinical trials which justify its inclusion within future sustainable sets of FBDG.…”

“…Alongside well-established production methods, the health evidence for mycoprotein has been accruing. A systematic review of 16 controlled trials concluded that acute mycoprotein ingestion was associated with reductions in total cholesterol, particularly in adults with hyperlipidaemia [ 28 ]. An additional systematic review [ 29 ] of five randomised controlled trials linked acute mycoprotein intake to lower ad libitum and post-24 h energy intake in healthy lean, overweight, and obese adults.…”

Mitigating Off-Flavors of Plant-Based Proteins

“…Therefore, future research should also focus on exploring "new" plant proteins, as already exemplified for algae and fungi. 37 Finally, molecular breeding can serve as a core strategy to meet the flavor challenge in the future. New breeding approaches of genotypes resulting in lower concentrations of off-flavor stimuli could help to minimize the amount of adverse compounds, with special focus on sensory characteristics, allergenicity, and optimal techno-functionality depending on the planned use.…”

Production of Sustainable Proteins Through the Conversion of Insects to Proteins Using Beauveria bassiana Cultures

“…To solve the challenges of the food system there is no single silver bullet, but rather a set of different strategies, such as reducing food waste, increasing the efficiency of food production, and changing eating habits and the source of nutrients (Sovacool et al, 2021). This last strategy includes the use of non-traditional food sources such as insects (Rumpold and Schlüter, 2015), mycoproteins (Hashempour et al, 2020;Derbyshire and Delange, 2021), algae (Cherry et al, 2019), and meat analogs (Devi et al, 2020;Hwang et al, 2020).…”

“…A recent systematic review found strong evidence supporting the role of mycoproteins in lowering total cholesterol levels (Ruxton and McMillan, 2010). Mycoproteins also appear to be a promising bioavailable source of essential amino acids that could induce muscle protein synthesis (Derbyshire and Delange, 2021).…”