Mushrooms and Truffles: Historical Biofactories for Complementary Medicine in Africa and in the Middle East

Abstract

The ethnopharmaceutical approach is important for the discovery and development of natural product research and requires a deep understanding not only of biometabolites discovery and profiling but also of cultural and social science. For millennia, epigeous macrofungi (mushrooms) and hypogeous macrofungi (truffles) were considered as precious food in many cultures based on their high nutritional value and characterized pleasant aroma. In African and Middle Eastern cultures, macrofungi have long history as high nutritional food and were widely applied in folk medicine. The purpose of this review is to summarize the available information related to the nutritional and medicinal value of African and Middle Eastern macrofungi and to highlight their application in complementary folk medicine in this part of the world.

Redox modulation of cellular stress response and lipoxin A4 expression by Coriolus versicolor in rat brain: Relevance to Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis

“…Mushrooms, from which LXA4 is derived, have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years (Elsayed et al, 2014;El Enshasy et al, 2013). Many controlled studies have since investigated the long list of medicinal actions thought to be associated with extracts of these and other mushrooms, including antitumor, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and hepatoprotective effects (Paterson and Lima 2014).…”

Dietary Supplementation of Mushroom Water Suppresses Fat Accumulation in High Fat Diet Induced-Obese Female Mice and Enhances Immune Cell Development in Non-Obese Mice

“…High fat diet (HFD) is one of main factors that contribute to the development of obesity (Buettner et al, 2007;Lee, 2013). Mushroom is an important natural source of medicine and healthy food with high nutrition, low-calorie, high quality proteins, vitamins and minerals (El Enshasy et al, 2013). Dietary supplementation with Shiitake mushrooms in a high-fat diet can prevent body weight gain, fat deposition, and plasma TAG (triacylglycerol) in rats (Handayani et al, 2011).…”

Ethnomycological survey of traditional usage and indigenous knowledge on desert truffles among the native Sahara Desert people of Algeria

“…Their popularity is due to their unique taste and nutritional value. Their chemical composition has been the subject of numerous studies that have demonstrated their richness with proteins (20-27%), amino acids, fiber (7-13%), fatty acids (3-7.5%), ascorbic acid (2-5%), diverse mineral content (Si, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Al, Cu, Zn), carbohydrates (60%), with sterols and terpene compounds (Al-Delaimy, 1977;Bokhary et al, 1989;Ahmed et al, 1982;Bokhary and Parvez, 1993;Dabbour and Takruri, 2002b;El Enshasy et al, 2013). In the present investigation, the desert truffles are most popular than meat in 50% of the subjects surveyed, secondarily as a source of vitamins at 65%.…”