When ingested, mushrooms offer antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, meaning they can boost your overall health! Mushrooms contain two specific antioxidants (ergothioneine and glutathione) that may help protect against free radical damage that can contribute to everything from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer. There’s also a good deal of research on other healing properties like lowering of cholesterol and blood pressure.
When it comes to skincare, mushrooms were originally used for their lightening benefits (in fact, kojic acid, a well-known skin-lightener, is found in shiitake mushrooms). However, thanks to their antioxidant and inflammatory properties, mushrooms can also help reduce inflammation and irritation, even fine lines and wrinkles!
Mushrooms can be very helpful and benefit the body in many ways, but there are a few circumstances in which you’d want to be careful: if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have low blood pressure, if you have blood-clotting disorders, or if you have certain autoimmune disorders.
These little wonders aren’t hard to come by! A serving of mushrooms a day makes all the difference. Mushrooms provide many valuable nutrients, including fiber, niacin, selenium and copper. Always take full advantage of all the skincare benefits mushrooms have to offer! Mushroom derivatives can be discovered in cleanser, serums, moisturizers, eye cream - even makeup primers and foundations!
