Fatty Acid Profiling in Selected Cultivated Edible and Wild Medicinal Mushrooms in Southern United States

Abstract

The fatty acid composition was determined in the cultivated edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus (white), and the wild medicinal mushrooms, Turkey-tail (Trametes versicolor), Artist Conk (Ganoderma applanatum) and Tinder Polypore (Fomes fomentarius). The most prominent fatty acids present in all of the species studied were palmitic (C16: 0), stearic (C18: 0), oleic (C18: 1), and linoleic acid (C18: 2n6). The amount of linoleic acid in the cultivated species ranged from 75.35 ± 1.54%; compared to 16.80 ± 1.54 to 30.30 ± 1.54% in the wild medicinal mushrooms. Unsaturated fatty acids were the most abundant in both the cultivated edible and the wild medicinal mushrooms studied, which varied from 79.74 ± 1.76 to 80.51 ± 1.75% and 58.35 ± 1.75 to 69.61 ± 1.75% respectively. The saturated fatty acid amounts ranged from 29.22 ± 1.73 to 41.65 ± 1.73% in the wild mushrooms and 19.49 ± 1.73 to 20.28 ± 1.73% in the cultivated mushrooms. Oleic acid was the most abundant fatty acid in the wild mushrooms and varied from 20.66 ± 0.87 to 37.21 ± 0.87%. The n-6: n-3 ratios were (ranged between 5.78 ± 7.38 to 28.45 ± 7.38% in cultivated edible compared to 16.19 ± 7.38 to 55.42 ± 9.03% in the wild medicinal mushrooms) generally higher than the recommended value of 2:1 or 3:1 in human diets.