The Anti-Diabetic Potential of Mushrooms: A Review

Diabetes is emerging as a pandemic, so it is essential to find new nutraceuticals or drugs to treat or prevent it. Some mushrooms appear to be effective in controlling blood glucose levels and correcting diabetes problems without any negative side effects. Mushrooms with immune-modulating polysaccharides are used in limited areas as palatable food or health-promoting dietary supplements or medicine. However, to date, scientific or clinical research on mushrooms has not been sufficient to allow them to be used as recognized medicines or nutraceuticals worldwide. These functional fungi may have a greater impact on the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify their active compounds for improving diabetes drugs or nutraceuticals. This review focuses on prospective mushrooms that have demonstrated anti-diabetic effects in clinical or experimental studies and prevent or slow the progression of diabetes mellitus.