Alcohol is usually consumed with meals. Moderate alcohol intake stimulates our appetite and is good for health, but chronic alcohol consumption is the main cause of alcoholic liver diseases (ALD). Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) are one of the most popular edible mushrooms and are widely used in Japanese and Chinese cuisine. Suppressive effect of shiitake extract on plasma ethanol elevation.

Researchers investigated whether Shiitake extracts with high lentinic acid content (Shiitake-H) and Shiitake extracts without lentinic acid (Shiitake-N) could suppress the elevation in plasma ethanol concentrations by accelerating ethanol metabolism and preventing ethanol absorption from the gut. Shiitake-H and Shiitake-N were found to inhibit the elevation of plasma ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations (as shown in the tables below) and promote alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activities in the liver. However, these effects of Shitake-H were more prominent than those of Shitake-N. In addition, Shitake-H promoted the activity of ADH and ALDH in the stomach. We also investigated changes in plasma ethanol concentrations by injecting Shiitake-H or Shiitake-N with an ethanol solution into the ligature ring of the stomach or jejunum. shiitake-H suppressed the absorption of ethanol from the stomach and jejunum.

Table 1 Effect of shiitake extract on plasma ethanol concentration after oral administration of ethanol

Table 2 Effect of shiitake extract on plasma acetaldehyde concentration after oral administration of ethanol

In conclusion, lentinic acid is a functional component of shiitake, and shiitake extracts with high lentinic acid content suppressed elevations in plasma ethanol concentrations by preventing ethanol absorption from the gut and accelerating ethanol metabolism in the stomach and liver. In addition to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypercholesterolemic, and anti-thrombotic activities, shiitake, especially those with a high content of lentinic acid, seem to have potential properties to prevent alcohol-related diseases.

Furthermore, the consumption of shiitake mushrooms is beneficial to human health due to its rich content of protein, polysaccharides, dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins.

Uto-Kondo, H., Sakurai, A., Ogawa, K., Yamaguchi, Y., Saito, T., & Kumagai, H. (2020). Suppressive Effect of Shiitake Extract on Plasma Ethanol Elevation. Nutrients, 12(9), 2647. [Link]