TITLE:
Macro- and Microelement Contents of Fruiting Bodies of Wild-Edible Mushrooms Growing in the East Black Sea Region of Turkey
AUTHORS:
Faik A. Ayaz, Hülya Torun, Ahmet Colak, Ertuğrul Sesli, Mark Millson, Robert H. Glew
KEYWORDS:
Wild-edible Mushrooms, Mineral content, Toxic Metals, Trace Elements, Turkey
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.2 No.2,
March
31,
2011
ABSTRACT: Eleven different wild-edible mushroom species growing in the Black Sea region of Turkey were analysed for their metal content. Specimens of mushrooms were gathered in Trabzon, Giresun and Ordu and analyzed for 31 minerals, four of which (Be, Sb, Te and Ti) were not detected. Whereas some minerals including Ag, As, Cd, La, Mo, Pb, Se, Y and Zr were detected in just a few mushroom species, another 18 minerals were found in all 11 species. All metal concentrations were expressed on a dry weight basis (d.w.). With regard to nutritionally important amounts of essential and trace minerals, the metal content (µg/g d.w.) of mushroom samples ranged from 21,800-39,800 for K, 2590-14,000 for P, 268-1600 for Ca, 561-1210 for Mg, 74-829 for Fe, 11.2-321 for Cu, 36.2-241 for Zn, 14.1-76.5 for Mn and 0.13-2.85 for Co. Small amounts of toxic metals such as As, Cd and Pb were found in all 11 mushroom species. L. laccata contained a large amount of As (145 µg/g d.w.). These results show that the investigated mushrooms can be a useful component for human diets because of their high content of many essential minerals and trace elements and low content of toxic metals.