Vitamin D Enhanced Mushrooms Make Debut at Tesco

28 Sep 2016 --- Mushroom that have been grown in extra light to load them with vitamin D are debuting at UK Tesco stores just ahead of the darker, winter months.

Tesco says it is reacting to recent health advice which says people need a vitamin D boost through diet and have produced the enriched mushrooms to help consumers reach the recommended daily levels over the forthcoming cold season. 

In July Public Health England said that ‘in spring and summer, the majority of the population get enough vitamin D through sunlight on the skin and a healthy, balanced diet. During autumn and winter, everyone will need to rely on dietary sources of vitamin D.’

Tesco says the vitamin D boosted Portobellos, Chestnut and Baby Chestnut range helps consumers get their daily recommended vitamin D dose. Mushrooms contain a substance called ergosterol which allows them to naturally make vitamin D, needed to keep muscles, bones and teeth healthy, when they are exposed to light. 

These new vitamin D enriched mushrooms are similar to wild outdoor grown varieties and are grown exclusively for Tesco by Republic of Ireland-based grower Monaghan Mushrooms. In 2010 Monaghan Mushrooms started to develop a commercial process for giving mushrooms 100 per cent of the daily vitamin D need in only one serving.

Calcium and phosphate in people’s bodies is helped by vitamin D levels which are also found in other foods like oily fish, red meat and egg yolks. It is also naturally created when we are exposed to sunshine. 

“As we head into the winter months, we know it can be increasingly difficult to meet the daily recommendations for vitamin D from a natural source. These delicious mushrooms will make it easier than ever for shoppers to get all of their allowance from a key cooking staple, says Tesco mushroom expert Marek Kutera. “Just one portion- around four Chestnut or one to two Portobello mushrooms – is all it takes.”

The new Tesco range will include the chestnut mushroom varieties; Vitamin D Chestnut mushrooms (250g pack), Vitamin D Portobello mushrooms (150g pack) and Vitamin D Baby Chestnut mushrooms  (150g pack). A 100g portion is on average four to five Chestnut mushrooms,14 Baby Button mushrooms or one to two Portobello mushrooms.

In 1923 American scientist Harry Steenbock discovered that by giving UV light to some foods and organic materials it could cure rickets in those who ate the food. The process became well known for milk at this time during the 1920s. However, it was never explored for use with mushrooms until the 1990s when Finnish university researchers started to look at it.