Eating mushrooms could help alleviate some features of pre-eclampsia, new research has found.
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can occur in pregnant women when there is a problem with the placenta - the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s.
And it can cause serious consequences for both mother and baby including growth problems in the unborn baby.
While expectant mothers experience high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine.
But now researchers in University College Cork (UCC) and the University of Liverpool have shown that the substance L-ergothioneine found in mushrooms can alleviate some of the features of this condition.
Mild pre-eclampsia can affect up to 10% of first-time pregnancies. More severe pre-eclampsia can affect 1-2% of pregnancies.
There is currently no cure for the condition other than delivery which can present major medical problems if the condition results in an extremely premature birth.
Significant research suggests that pre-eclampsia may be caused by substances released from the placenta that disrupt normal biological processes in the mother.
In particular, disruption of mitochondrial function can lead to exaggerated oxidative stress.
Ergothioneine is a potent and effective mitochondrial antioxidant and can be found in a wide variety of foods, but the chief source of ergothioneine in the human diet is mushrooms.
Leader of this research at UCC, Dr. Cathal McCarthy said: “We wanted to see if this natural antioxidant could ameliorate some of the biological features of pre-eclampsia using our model of disease.
“Our research shows that treating rats with pre-eclampsia with the natural antioxidant L-ergothioneine reduced blood pressure, prevented fetal growth restriction and dampened production of the damaging substances released from the placenta during pre-eclampsia.
“Furthermore, using an exciting new approach we identified that treatment with ergothioneine diminished mitochondrial-derived oxidative stress.”
The new research opens up a new avenue for therapeutic investigation in the elusive search for a treatment for preeclampsia.
According to researchers, ergothioneine appears to be a safe, natural diet‐derived antioxidant whose therapeutic potential looks promising.
But remains to be validated by the gold standard of sufficiently powered, human clinical trials.
