Vitamin D and Magic Mushrooms – Magic Mushrooms and Fungi Benefits To Humans
Nutritional researchers agree: a vast number of people are Vitamin D insufficient or outright deficient. It’s worth it to examine vitamin D and magic mushrooms for vitamin D benefits.
In fact, it’s believed that approximately half the global human population has insufficient levels of vitamin D —meaning that they aren’t getting enough for optimal health, and another one billion people are vitamin D deficient which can include not enough mushroom vitamins.
People are at risk for health complications like rickets, a condition which softens and weakens the bones, particularly in children. Could vitamin D enhanced mushrooms be a practical solution to the problem?
Vitamin D in Mushrooms and Psilocybe Cubensis Strains
Consumers of the psilocybe cubensis mushrooms variety don’t often realize the potential for valuable vitamin D in mushrooms for overall health supporting benefits. It’s best to increase vitamin D levels naturally from rotating your body regularly every 10 minutes during sun exposure, but it never hurts to get vitamin D enhanced mushrooms by exposing your psilocybe cubensis mushrooms or psilocybe cubensis strains to a more sun exposure before consuming them.
Needless to say, vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is one of the biggest health problems in the world today – which certainly doesn’t get nearly enough coverage in the mainstream media. There are many people in developed countries who likely aren’t even aware that their D levels are insufficient.
Vitamin D In Mushrooms Could Be The Solution – Psychedelic Mushrooms or Not
Magic mushrooms can be an absolute solution to many health challenges. That, of course, is a phrase we’ve had the privilege to pen on many occasions here. It seems that mushroom fungi, and getting vitamin D from mushrooms, whether of the psychedelic mushroom variety or otherwise, can offer many solutions for humans and the environment alike.
What is Vitamin D, Really? Why is it so Important for Your Body? What Happens When You Don’t Get Enough Vitamin D?
Vitamin D in Mushrooms
Vitamin D in mushrooms can be both a nutrient found in many of the foods we eat, and also a nutraceutical, but it’s also a hormone that our bodies make. As a fat-soluble vitamin, it helps the body absorb calcium—which is why it’s such a critical component of bone health, and why complications like rickets can arise in those with vitamin D deficiencies. Low levels of vitamin D can also lead to increased risk of colon cancer, and scientists believe it may be responsible for other forms of cancer as well.
In a nutshell, it’s very important to get enough vitamin D. However, it can be a challenge for a variety of reasons. Now, most people know how to get vitamin D: sitting in the sunshine!
Vitamin D is a pretty interesting substance whether found in Golden Teacher Mushrooms or in elusive Penis Envy Mushrooms.
How To Get Enough Vitamin D – Enhance Magic Mushrooms With Sunshine
But what if that’s not possible to get enough sunshine? People who live in areas of the world in northern climates where not a lot of sunshine gets through can have vitamin D deficiency even if their diets are perfect and they’re getting enough outdoor time.
People who work indoors most of the day, or those who work night shifts and sleep during the daytime, are also at risk. Darker skinned people, as a result of the higher level of melanin in their skin, will also reduce the amount of vitamin D that can be absorbed through direct exposure to sunlight.
Since much of the vitamin D in food comes from animal products, such as fish, meat, eggs, and dairy, vegetarians and vegans can also have trouble getting enough – though it’s worth noting that nutritionists agree that it’s pretty much impossible to get enough vitamin D from food alone. Magic mushroom consumption could help enhance levels of vitamin D in certain optimal conditions.
All of these problems, as you might imagine, have lead to the low levels of vitamin D found worldwide—and it’s why most nutritionists suggest taking a vitamin D supplement. What if you could just eat delicious, healthy mushrooms instead? Mycologists at Aarhus University and elsewhere believe they might have figured out how.
Vitamin D in Mushrooms: The Difference Between Farmed Mushrooms and Wild Mushrooms
Commercially farmed mushrooms versus wildcrafted magic mushrooms are usually grown under different circumstances than they would if found in nature. And there are many commercial mushroom cross strains that provide a multitude of mental and physical benefits to mankind.
Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms have a reputation of being darkness-lovers – and it’s true; they certainly can grow in the dark (sometimes a significant amount, which is why you can sometimes find them in your back yard in an area where they weren’t present in the day before!).
➢ Since commercially grown mushrooms are almost always grown in near total darkness, they don’t naturally have much vitamin D.
Just like people, when ultraviolet light—sunlight—hits a mushroom, it begins creating vitamin D. The exact process that causes this is fairly complex, but can be considered a photochemical phenomenon.
Ergosterol in Mushrooms
The ergosterol in mushrooms is, after exposure to UV light giving it the energy it needs, is converted into vitamin D.
Thus, mushrooms grown outdoors, like in wild mushrooms, are exposed to plenty of sunlight and thus generate a lot more vitamin D than commercially farmed mushrooms do in the dark. In fact, some wild mushrooms have a crazy amount of vitamin D in them naturally.
➢ Getting vitamin D from mushrooms can have over four times the recommended daily dosage of vitamin D for a human.
However, foraging all of our mushrooms is impractical at best, and it certainly won’t solve the worldwide vitamin D insufficiency problem. But what if we could give those farm grown mushrooms all the vitamin D they need in a controlled environment? At commercial scale? Researchers think it’s possible:
How Researchers Believe Farm-Grown Mushrooms Could Help Supplement Vitamin D Levels
If the problem with commercially grown mushrooms is that they don’t get enough sun to produce the high levels of vitamin D found in wild mushrooms, why not just farm them outdoors?
It’s possible in some situations to do that, but rarely at scale and without a huge expense. It also wouldn’t work in areas of the world without enough natural sunlight. Commercially farmed mushrooms are usually grown indoors because it’s more efficient (they can be stacked), cheaper, and much, much easier to maintain the sterility required of fungi in their formative stages.
But what if you “blasted” indoor farm-grown mushrooms with UV radiation? A number of experiments have done just that over the past few years, with the first noteworthy UV-blasted fungi project taking place in 2015. Researchers were able to increase the vitamin D content of commercially grown shiitake mushrooms by 97.7% in just two hours—and each serving contained a complete daily recommended value of vitamin D for humans.
Recently, scientists experimented with trying to add even more vitamin D to mushrooms. By suspending the mushrooms in an ethanol solution, they were able to add a lot more. Try 4,600% of the daily recommend value per serving!
Interestingly enough, irradiation adds a lot of other positive nutritional benefits to mushrooms as well. When hit by ultraviolet light, the cells of the mushroom enter a protective state—just like your skin would under the sun—and causes them to produce all kinds of beneficial molecules including antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.
An Amazing DIY Project: Adding Vitamin D to Your Mushrooms at Home For Free, No Extra Additives or Equipment Required
Bummed out that your store bought mushrooms probably aren’t helping enhance your vitamin D levels very much? There’s actually a pretty quick fix that you can do on your own, all without any special equipment, supplements, or anything other than a sunny day.
Yes, you guessed it—place your mushrooms in the sunlight. Mycologists recommend placing your mushrooms in the sun for about six hours with the gills facing up. In experiments done by Paul Stamets, a famous mycologist (or more like the preeminent mycologist in the public eye), was able to boost the vitamin D content of shiitake mushrooms by 460% using this method.
Hopefully in the future mushroom farmers will start utilizing the many benefits of UV irradiation in their products, but in the meantime this is a great way to get a little more vitamin D in your life with what might be one of your favorite foods.
Other Medicinal Mushrooms Used to Supplement & Maintain Your Body’s Health
If today’s topic interested you, that post is well worth a read as well. While we do touch on the benefits of psychedelic mushrooms (which is becoming increasingly accepted by the mainstream consciousness if the ever-changing legal framework surrounding magic mushrooms is anything to go by!), we also discuss a variety of other fungi, such as Lion’s Mane and Reishi. You’ll also learn about how Chaga isn’t actually a fungi, but is still very beneficial.