How to make mushroom soup that contains more Vitamin D than a supplement.
If you don’t walk around shirtless under the sun for 1 hour between 11am to 2pm, you are probably Vitamin D deficient.
That’s what this 160-person trial in Pune, India concluded.
Even if you do, there is a chance your body may not be able to make enough Vitamin D.
If you don't have enough cholesterol in your skin...
....or don't sit in sunlight at the right time....
....or have a liver / a kidney that isn't functioning properly...
...your body won't be able to make enough Vitamin D.
It’s no surprise that a recent study shows that 76% of people in India are indeed Vitamin D deficient.
So what if I am deficient?
Here’s what happens:
Your body cannot absorb calcium from food, so it will use calcium from your bones. The result: brittle bones making you more prone to fractures.
You’d have a weaker immune system, and be more likely to catch a cold, or influenza
Should I start vitamin D supplements?
Here’s how they make a cheap Vitamin D supplement.
Take sheep’s wool
Wash it to remove impurities
Use detergent to extract a waxy substance called Lanolin
Use chemicals to refine lanolin until you get cholesterol
Shine UV light on cholesterol to get Vitamin D3
Pack into a tablet and sell.
Then, they test that supplement in human trials to see if it actually works.
Result: Nearly 100 years and 1000+ studies later, researchers still don’t know for sure if it works.
Very poor evidence that Vitamin D supplements improve cardiovascular health
Conflicting evidence that Vitamin D supplements improve bone mineral density
Very poor evidence that Vitamin D supplements help in managing blood sugar.
Conflicting that Vitamin D supplements help in managing cancer.
Here is a line from Harvard Health’s blog in 2014
“In other words, there’s no solid proof that taking vitamin D helps.”
Here is a line from Harvard health’s blog in 2021
“They [Doctors] disagree about the benefits and optimal dosage of supplements.”
Said differently: everyone has observed that people with auto-immune conditions, chronic diseases, poor cardiovascular health and poor skeletal structure usually have low levels of Vitamin D.
But few people agree that Vitamin D supplements actually work.
One possible reason: Vitamin D usually works alongside other nutrients like Calcium and Omega 3.
For example, calcium makes bones stronger, and vitamin D helps to absorb calcium.
If calcium is low or missing from your diet, it is likely that you Vitamin D supplement - - on its own - will do very little in your body!
This pattern of unproven vitamin claims is not unique to just Vitamin D.
Research has shown time and again that a nutrient from whole food is safer and more effective than the same nutrient as a supplement.
Vitamin E from food reduces risk of cancer, but vitamin E supplements increase the risk of stroke and prostate cancer.
Folic acid from food reduces the risk of cancer, but folic acid supplements increase the risk of oesophagal cancer.
Green tea is known to improve liver and brain health, but green tea extracts can damage liver function permanently.
You can learn more here.
I prefer getting my Vitamin D from the sun or whole food.
One incredible whole food option: mushrooms.
Mushrooms can make vitamin D just like humans can.
When sunlight hits our skin, our body converts one type of cholesterol into a form of Vitamin D.
When sunlight hits the skin of a mushroom, the mushroom converts ergosterol into a form of Vitamin D.
The only difference: we make D3, and mushrooms make D2 and D4.
Sunlight can increase Vitamin D in mushroom by 200x.
Interestingly:
It does not matter how the mushroom is grown.
It does not matter whether the mushroom is dry or wet.
At any point, if you expose a mushroom to UV light or UV light from the sun, the Vitamin D content will drastically increase.
How you can do it at home.
All you need to do is dry and pulverize 100 gms of mushrooms into a powder, and leave them out in the sun for 1 hour between 12 PM and 2 PM.
That’s it.
Why powder? Because it increases the surface area, and allows sunlight to ‘hit’ more of the mushroom creating more Vitamin D.
Why 1 hour? That’s how long it takes for mushrooms available in the Indian market to reach 15 to 20 mcg.
Why 12pm and 2pm? This is when UV-B radiation from the sun is strongest, and creates the most Vitamin D.
Keep in mind that if you leave the mushrooms out for a longer time, it will make even more Vitamin D.
So be careful.
I usually mix 50gms of button (white) mushroom powder into my mushroom soup and consume it two times a week.
Side note: it is a GREAT source of selenium too, something else we are missing in our diets (and very deficient in).
Does it work?
A team of German researchers working out of the University Medical Center in Freiburg ran a trial on 26 people. They gave some people Vitamin D-enriched mushroom soup, some people a Vitamin D supplement and others a placebo.
Here are the results:
The concluded that the increase in 25OHD after 5 weeks was similar.
i.e. the mushroom soup performed unbelievably well!
But D2 vs. D3?
A gold-standard, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial says:
”Therefore, vitamin D2 is equally as effective as vitamin D3 in maintaining 25-hydroxyvitamin D status.”
i.e. There isn’t much difference between the two.
Doesn’t heat from the soup affect Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is surprisingly stable under heat. Take a look:
It survives frying and baking.
It survives temperature shocks.
An important note:
If you are overweight, be cautious with Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it is stored in body fat (adipose tissue).
When you lose weight, some of that Vitamin D comes into your blood, raising your Vitamin D level.
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If you have more questions or want to get in touch, just email me on harsh.doshi@hatabevtech.com.
Disclaimer: This information in this article does not constitute medical advice. To start or stop your medication / supplementation, please visit your physician. This article only reflects the author’s views (and techniques).