African Mushrooms as Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals
Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Olugbemi T. Olaniyan, Juliana Bunmi Adetunji, Osarenkhoe O. Osemwegie, Benjamin Ewa Ubi
Abstract
The world population is projected to reach 9 billion people in the year 2050 doubling the current pressure on the earth’s finite resources (water, soil, air). There is therefore a need to proportionate effort to meet the food demand of the ever-increasing global population especially those populations suffering from serious life-threatening diseases and food security challenges. Mushrooms have been recognized by people around the world, especially from Africa, as food. They are also consumed as food supplements due to their healthy and beneficial nutritional components like minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins, and proteins. Moreover, the world view on mushrooms has advanced, and it is now listed among functional foods, nutraceuticals, and candidates for drug development. Medicinal uses of mushrooms include anticancer, antihypercholesterolemic, antitumor, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, wound healing as well as the treatment of other life-threatening diseases. This chapter aims at a comprehensive review of the African perspectives on mushroom sources, their mycophagy, ethnobotanical, nutraceutical, and therapeutic significances