Fungus Dictyophora indusiata

Mushrooms possess high contents of qualitative protein, crude fibre, minerals and vitamins. Apart from their nutritional potentials, mushrooms are also sources of physio-logically beneficial bioactive substances that promote good health. They produce a wide range of secondary metabolites with high therapeutic value. Health promoting properties, e.g. antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, cholesterol lowering and immunostimulatory effects, have been reported for some species of mushrooms. Both fruiting bodies and the mycelium contain compounds with wide ranging antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.
As sources of antioxidants, edible mushrooms are desirable since they are safe to eat and known not to place addi-tional stress on the body. Hence, edible mushrooms serve as a good alternative to synthetic antioxidant such as butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) which are known to be carcinogenic.