Mushrooms on the plate: Trends towards NAFLD treatment, health improvement and sustainable diets

Abstract

Food and diet shaped human and nature histories. From the hunter-gathering communities to cooking with fire, to domesticating animals, planting crops and urbanization, to industrial revolutions, and to artificial intelligence, dietary habits influence human metabolism and consequently the condition of health and disease.Dietary habits from the Neolithic to the present, and the accompanying food production and processing procedures, have introduced some critical alterations in nutritional status, concerning glycaemic load, fatty acid, macronutrient, micronutrient or fibre content, acid-base balance, or sodium-potassium ratio, 1 leading to major shifts in metabolism traits. Although they also include heritable components, some of those traits like the high risk for obesity, 2 or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) 3,4 (See Box 1), 4 a most important cause of liver disease, can be heavily affected by diet and other lifestyle conditions (e.g., sedentarism and sleep deprivation).Actually, over the last four decades, the rapid environmental changes contributed to the increase in mean body-mass index (BMI) and obesity, including among young people (ages 5 to 19 years) in most regions, 5 with important implications for public and global health.Dietary risk factors exacerbate metabolic risk factors 6 and the non-communicable diseases (NCD) mortality and morbidity, 7 that is, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), excess weight, obesity, type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and NAFLD. In 2017, around 22% of all deaths from NCD, among adults, were associated with dietary risk factors, representing a higher mortality risk than any other cause 7 ; such dietary risk factors include high levels of trans fat, sugary drinks, and high levels of red and processed meats, and vice versa, too low amounts of fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. 7 In 2018, the WHO estimated that NCD caused 71% of all deaths globally (41 million people per year). 8 Diet quality should cover variety and diversity, adequacy, moderation and balance; still, there are major gaps about defining diet quality, metrics for monitoring diet quality, and/or for diet quality monitoring in global

A Randomized Controlled Trial on Pleurotus eryngii Mushrooms with Antioxidant Compounds and Vitamin D2 in Managing Metabolic Disorders

“…As for SGOT/AST levels, consumption of several mushroom species, including those of the genus Pleurotus, can reduce AST levels according to results obtained from animal models [ 50 ]. Pleurotus species can generate the paths for diffraction of different liver enzymes and reduce the levels of serum enzyme activities [ 51 ].…”