If you look up mushrooms in the US Department of Agriculture's food composition databases , you will find that mushrooms have little nutritional value, in the sense that they are mostly water, with few calories, and practically no fat or protein. They are a good source of potassium, but not of any other vitamins or minerals, and they contain very little fiber. Nevertheless, mushrooms do have properties which go beyond their taste. For millenia, people have attributed special properties to mushrooms. These range from poisoning to protection against cancer.
Wild mushrooms can be lethal.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers recommends that you never eat a wild mushroom that has not been identified by an expert. To learn more about wild and edible mushrooms, you can vist the mushroom page of the MIssouri Department of Conservation . Because clotting is thought to be involved in the development of atherosclerosis, some scientists believe that these and related mushrooms may protect against heart attacks and stroke. Whether mushrooms promote or protect against cancer is an open debate. Evaluation of the health risk of mushroom consumption.