Mushrooms have been a delicacy; ancient Egyptians often consumed mushrooms as they were thought by some to be an aphrodisiac and that was one of the reasons why mushrooms were popular even way back in 2400 BC. Today Mushrooms are almost one of the mainstays in the dining room and people eat them stir fried or as part of another dish and some even stuff and bake the same. But the fact remains that mushrooms do pack in various health benefits and if you need to know whether it is safe to eat mushrooms at night, and then you may want to read on. Incidentally, eating mushrooms are not aphrodisiacs – that was just a clever ad gimmick by an ancient trader but one that remained effective to the point that there are still people around who think that it does increase your mojo.
Health benefits of eating mushrooms
Mushrooms are neither a plant nor a vegetable but a type of edible fungus; you would think that consuming a fungus could not be all that great for the human body and generally, you would be right except in the case of mushrooms.
- Vitamins: Even though it is a fungus, mushrooms are known to be rich in various vitamins and minerals such as niacin and riboflavin among others. These vitamins and minerals help your body to produce various hormones and even maintain a healthy red cell count.
- Minerals: Mushrooms are also rich in various minerals such as Selenium, potassium, copper among others; these help your body to combat several diseases and even help protect your cells and promote better health in the process.
- Anemia prevention: Mushrooms are known to be effective in helping to prevent anemia. The fact remains that mushrooms do help your body to regenerate its red blood cells faster and with a diet rich in mushrooms you should be able to do just that.
- Stronger bones: Mushrooms also help your body to develop strong bones and can help prevent bone degenerative diseases.
Side effects:
While consuming mushrooms can indeed be healthy for your body, the fact remains that it can also provide to be harmful in more ways than one. Eating a partially cooked mushroom can cause you to experience gastrointestinal distress and can even lead to a severe case of food poisoning. Some of the varieties of mushrooms are known to be quite toxic to humans and often look like the safe button mushrooms. And not surprisingly, it also happens to be the first food item to be used to assassinate someone effectively. Claudius Caesar was assassinated by his wife as she fed him some poisoned mushrooms.
While it is perfectly safe to eat mushrooms at night, the fact is that they can cause you to experience unrest, mild abdominal distress and even abdominal pain in the case of eating partially cooked mushrooms. Given this, you may want to first check and see if the mushrooms have been cooked well before consuming the same and you may want to do so for breakfast or lunch rather than dinner.