Study on Nutritional Composition of Fungus Ganoderma Lucidum

Abstract

Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) (also known as Reishi or LingZhi) is a medicinal mushroom known since ancient times and widely used in Traditional Asian Medicine. Even in modern times, it is recommended as a functional food and alternative treatment for various diseases of the body. Compounds with biological activity are numerous, but there are three classes of compounds that have been intensively studied and their therapeutic activity has been proven by both in vitro and in vivo tests. Polysaccharides, terpenes and phenolic compounds are the most abundant biocompounds. They mainly exhibit antioxidant, antitumour, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, cardioprotective, hapatoprotective activities and are involved in metabolic regulatory processes. In the present study, we aimed to determine the nutritional values in the alcoholic extract of the fruiting body of the mushroom G. lucidum, purchased from a mushroom farm. The total content of polysaccharides and polyphenols was determined spectrophotometrically. The antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH and FRAP methods. The results obtained correlate with the reference studies and we conclude that the analysed mushroom, G. lucidum, is a mushroom with nutritional and therapeutic potential for the human organism.