Vitamin D Boosts, Drug-Resistant Cancer Wins, and Better Morel Flavor

IN TODAY’S EDITION

• 🪵 | Building boards

• 💡 | Vitamin D boost

• 👅 | Better morel flavors

Hi Shroomers! I The 2026 Festival Directory is getting a refresh, and I’d love to include your favorite mushroom events. And in today’s roundup, we’re digging into the latest research on blood sugar support, liver health, trauma access, nutrient-rich shiitake, and more.

THE 2026 MUSHROOM FESTIVAL DIRECTORY

I'm updating the 2026 Festival Directory this week, gathering every fungi festival, foray, conference, art show, and mycology workshop happening next year.

If you help organize an event — or just have a favorite festival you think more people should know about — I’d love to include it! Share the details below, and I’ll review it for the directory.

Thank you for helping grow this resource for the mushroom community 🍄

👉 Submit your event here.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Blood sugar control 🍽️ Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.) produced powerful bioactive peptides that slowed carbohydrate breakdown by blocking two key enzymes, α-amylase and α-glucosidase. Enzymatic processing boosted this inhibitory activity by up to 72%, and the peptides remained active even after simulated digestion. Both large and small peptide fractions were effective, positioning oyster mushroom proteins as a natural tool for moderating post-meal blood sugar spikes. 

Liver support 🛡️ Mushrooms produce ergostane and lanostane compounds that may help protect the liver by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic damage linked to fatty liver disease. This review identified 20 mushroom-derived molecules with anti-MAFLD potential, most from polypore species known for potent triterpenoids.

Antioxidant & anticoagulant 🌿 Milky mushroom (Calocybe indica) showed strong antioxidant effects and moderate blood-thinning (anticoagulant) activity in vitro, pointing to possible therapeutic benefits for oxidative stress and clot-related issues. The findings suggest this edible species may offer dual support: reducing oxidative damage while helping modulate blood coagulation.

Vitamin D balance ☀️ Researchers identified two mushroom-derived compounds, grifolin and grifolic acid, that block sphingomyelin synthase, an enzyme tied to metabolic dysfunction. In obese mice, these natural inhibitors prevented further weight gain and restored healthy vitamin D balance, revealing a new metabolic pathway through which edible mushrooms may influence body weight regulation and nutrient homeostasis.

Drug-resistant cancer cells 🦠 A protein named GMI, derived from a relative of Reishi (Ganoderma microsporum), was found to kill drug-resistant lung cancer cells through two distinct pathways. In standard, drug-sensitive lung cancer cells (H1975), GMI triggered apoptosis (programmed cell suicide). Crucially, in cells that had developed osimertinib resistance, GMI induced a self-eating cell death process called autophagy. Confirming this mechanism, blocking autophagy effectively reduced GMI's killing effect. This breakthrough is the first to show GMI's ability to overcome a major clinical challenge—drug resistance—by switching its cell death strategy.

PSILOCYBIN & LEGISLATION 

Schemas don’t steer outcomes 🧩 Long-standing cognitive patterns (early maladaptive schemas) did not meaningfully predict how people responded to psilocybin- or LSD-assisted therapy. In a cohort of 192 adults, including 74 treated patients, schema scores showed little connection to either the intensity of the acute psychedelic experience or later symptom improvements, and both psilocybin and LSD produced comparable therapeutic effects.

Trauma processing unlocked 💠 People with PTSD who received psilocybin-assisted therapy described a unique ability to engage with traumatic memories more safely and openly than in standard psychotherapy. Participants reported reduced avoidance, greater emotional access, and a sense of psychological softening that allowed them to process trauma directly or symbolically without becoming overwhelmed. The experience was consistently described as markedly different from conventional treatments. 76

How it feels 🌈 Across 13 qualitative studies, people receiving psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, OCD, and anorexia described consistent themes: emotional release, deepened self-understanding, shifts in perspective, and powerful meaning-making moments. These lived experiences help explain why psilocybin can be therapeutically effective, adding context that quantitative measures alone can’t capture.

ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION

Building boards 🪵 Scientists transformed leftover oyster mushroom substrate (Pleurotus spp.) into strong, formaldehyde-free biomass boards that meet furniture-grade and load-bearing standards. By pretreating the substrate with citric acid and epoxidized soybean oil, they boosted durability and water resistance while cutting hot-pressing energy use by more than 63%, offering a low-carbon alternative to wood-based panels and keeping agricultural waste out of landfills.

Clean the substrate 🧲 By pairing edible mushrooms with engineered nanopowders, researchers created a targeted “directed mycosorption” system that pulls toxic metals out of the cultivation substrate. Species like oyster and button mushrooms still absorbed beneficial minerals such as magnesium and zinc, but nanopowders trapped harmful contaminants like cadmium and lead, preventing them from entering the mushrooms and dramatically improving food safety during cultivation.

Thriving in toxic waste 🧬 Long-read PacBio sequencing uncovered more than 1,400 fungal species living in heavy-metal-contaminated mine tailings ponds. Many of these fungi tolerate extreme acidity and appear to transform metal sulfides, including 74 species linked to oxidation processes that influence pollution levels.

GROWING & GOURMET

Wine waste 🍇 Filamentous fungi grown on winery by-products were transformed into high-quality meat analogues with impressive texture, nutrition, and sustainability benefits. The fungi efficiently converted grape residues into protein-rich biomass, producing a fibrous structure similar to meat while reducing reliance on animal agriculture and upcycling a major food-industry waste stream.

Vitamin D boost 💡 X-rays can dramatically increase vitamin D₂ levels in shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes). When exposed to targeted X-ray radiation, the mushrooms rapidly converted ergosterol into vitamin D₂, creating a nutrient-enriched food without altering the mushroom itself. The same effect appeared in yeast, showing how X-ray treatment could become a practical way to fortify everyday foods.

Better morel flavors 👅 Hot air, freeze-dried, or sun-dried: each method changes how Morchella importuna tastes. Freeze-drying preserved the richest umami compounds, while hot-air drying created stronger, more complex aroma shifts. The study shows that drying technique shapes both flavor intensity and the overall culinary quality of morels.

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