Why mushrooms are dangerous

Of the three thousand species of mushrooms, only four hundred are recognized as edible. The biggest danger for mushroom pickers lies in the fact that many of the illegal mushrooms are disguised as edible ones. It is very difficult for an amateur to recognize a dangerous double (porcini mushroom, chanterelles, honey agarics, etc.). Therefore, it is better to check seven times, ask knowledgeable people before putting an untested mushroom in the basket. Carelessness in this matter can have dire consequences.

For example, a seemingly harmless toadstool umbrella is deadly for humans. Pale toadstool is so poisonous that just one small mushroom (70 g) is enough for a person to die, and for serious poisoning, a tiny piece is enough. When a pale toadstool is consumed, the liver is catastrophically quickly destroyed. Often, medicine in such cases, alas, is powerless.

In addition, some twin mushrooms contain muscarine, a poison with a nerve-paralytic effect, which does not bode well if it enters the body. Of the inedible mushrooms, this poison is found in large quantities in fly agarics, which we know very well, which cannot be said about imitating mushrooms.

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, according to Rospotrebnadzor on July 5, three people have already been poisoned by lamellar mushrooms and morels, which they collected and cooked themselves.

Rospotrebnadzor experts warn that you can also get poisoned with russules, pigs (“dunka”), umbrella, as well as old overgrown mushrooms. In addition, to guarantee safety, you cannot buy mushrooms in places of spontaneous trade; lamellar mushrooms without legs, since it is difficult to establish their belonging to a particular species and there is a high probability of confusion with a pale toadstool; shredded mushrooms, processed at home; home-made canned mushroom preparations.

A mushroom is a very interesting substance that lives on its own. This is not a plant or an animal, but something else, combining the characteristics of both. Due to their high protein content, mushrooms are called “forest meat”. But this “meat” is not always harmless. It all depends on the conditions and where this one-legged “warrior” grows.

The fungus feeds indiscriminately on everything that falls into the “field of view” of its mycelium, which can extend over vast areas. The largest mycelium in the world covers an area of ​​up to 10 hectares. The mushroom, as an omnivorous substance, absorbs everything that is within the radius of its habitat. And if the soil contains substances harmful to health, the fungus sucks them in like a vacuum cleaner and accumulates in itself. He does not care whether these are useful substances or harmful ones. He assimilates everything equally well and can easily accumulate salts of heavy metals, radioactive substances, harmful chemical compounds, etc.

The second feature of mushrooms is that everything that they suck from the ground is stored in themselves, without giving anything out. The mushroom only takes everything from the outside, without giving anything there. And all this accumulated “wealth” migrates into our body. It is especially dangerous to pick mushrooms in dry weather, when the concentration of toxins in the soil is maximum, and they are all absorbed by the mushrooms like a sponge.

That is why many doctors are categorically against the use of forest mushrooms. In order not to become a mushroom victim, they advise using industrial mushrooms, that is, grown in special conditions (champignons, oyster mushrooms, etc.).