Mushrooms! Are they plants or animals?

Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, but they share some similarities with both. In a metabolic sense, mushrooms are more similar to humans than to plants.

Unlike plants, which take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, mushrooms breathe as we do. Nevertheless, they have rigid cell walls made from a type of sugar called polysaccharides, as plants do. These polysaccharides can be quite complex, and there are lots of different ways that the parts of the chain can be connected.

The cell walls in mushrooms consist of special polysaccharides known as beta-glucans. These beta-glucans have a significant impact on our immune systems if it is “pre-digested” through extraction (our gut is unable to digest mushroom cells).

If you want to get the most out of your mushroom supplements, look for ones that contain beta-glucan. This is one of the key active ingredients in medicinal mushrooms and this is why it's important to ensure that your supplement has a high percentage of this ingredient.