Consumption of edible mushroom helps controldiabetes and reduces the level of cholesterol significantly, a latest study conducted by Bangladeshi scientists has revealed.
The scientists said the study is the first of its kind in the world conducted on human beings.
Diabetic patients who are categorised as type 2 were given one-fifth of a kilogramme of oyster mushroom and their triglyceride (Tg) cholesterol and blood sugar came down.
The study was conducted on 200 primary diabetic patients mostly from Dhaka and its adjoining areas. The world's largest diabetic hospital in Dhaka -- BIRDEM -- conducted the study over a period 12 months.
Senior Nutrition Officer of BIRDEM hospital and main initiator of the research, Khaleda Khatun, said 200 patients were selected for the trial.
An identical number of patients who took no mushroom were monitored (they are called control), Khaleda, also co-investor of the research project tilted, "Effect of Edible Mushroom on Type2 Diabetic Subjects", said.
When asked, Khaleda said that the research was conducted on newly diagonsed patients who took oral medicine instead of insulin. In medical terminology they are called 'oral hypoglycemic agents.'
Some 43 cases were completed during the full one year research conducted between November 2010 and November 2011, she said.
Mushroom consumption (oyster mushroom) reduced the blood sugar and Tg cholesterol significantly and kept blood pressure normal in the patients who took mushroom; but this did not happen in case of patients who did not consume mushroom.
The research also revealed that mushroom eating also increased the presence of good cholesterol (HDL).
Khaleda informed the FE the study would be published in national and global journals within a few weeks.
When asked, Ms Khaleda told the FE that she was first asked in 2007 by the then project director of National Mushroom Development and Extension Centre (NMDEC) Md Ruhul Amin, to find out the possibility of mushroom for the diabetic patients.
Many patients at Savar told him about the usefulness of mushroom, she said.
When contacted, Md Ruhul Amin said: "It is well known that mushroom has herbal remedy. Many mushroom traders and patients told me about the medicinal value of mushroom."
Md Amin said the price of mushroom is within the people's purchasing capacity and it is easy to produce.
The research would encourage the farmers and individuals across the country to increase production of oyster mushroom, Amin added.
Professor Emeritus Dr Hajera Mahtab of BIRDEM said the result was outstanding in the medical history of the world.
Prof Mahtab, also the principal investor of the project, said this research will lead to great remedy for millions of diabetic patients at home and abroad due to easy availability of the food item.
Earlier, Bangladeshi private pharmaceutical company Renata jointly with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) developed a new variety of rice that diabetic people could eat without fear of fluctuating blood glucose levels.The new findings of BIRDEM will take the global diabetic research ahead.
The Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation for Diabetes, Endocrine and metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) was founded by late National Professor Dr Muhammad Ibrahim.
According to the Bangladesh Diabetic Association, nearly 4.0 per cent of the population in the country suffer from diabetes.
