By Elizabeth Barker
When it comes to boosting levels of vitamin D—a nutrient found to fight diseases ranging from diabetes to depression—munching on mushrooms might be just as helpful as popping a supplement. In a new study from Boston University School of Medicine, a group of healthy adults given either vitamin-D-rich mushroom powder or vitamin D capsules for three months during the winter had a similar increase in their levels of the sunshine vitamin. Just as sun exposure revs up vitamin D synthesis in your own skin, explains study author Michael F. Holick, soaking up ultraviolet light prompts mushrooms to produce significant amounts of vitamin D.
Although many mushrooms are grown sans sunlight, during the spring and summer months you can bump up the vitamin D content of store-bought fungi by letting them sit in the sun for about 60 minutes between 10am and 3pm.
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