Functional Properties of Mushroom Dietary Fibres

Posljednjih desetljeća se prilikom razvoja nove hrane veliki naglasak stavlja na njezine fi ziološke funkcije obzirom na sve veću brigu potrošača o zdravlju te sve češći odabir minimalno procesiranih namirnica. Tako je sve veće zanimanje i za konzumacijom gljiva i njihovih ekstrakata kojima se pripisuju brojni zdravstveni učinci među kojima je prvenstveno jačanje imunološkog sustava. Bez obzira na veliki broj dodataka prehrani na tržištu koji obećavaju povoljne učinke u borbi protiv različitih oboljenja i stanja, provedeno je vrlo malo kliničkih studija koje bi potkrjepljivale takve tvrdnje. Stoga je svrha ovog rada pružiti kratki pregled o znanstveno i klinički dokazanim zdravstvenim učincima polisaharida, kao najintenzivnije istraživanoj skupini bioaktivnih spojeva u gljivamaIn the past few decades much attention has been paid to physiological functions in the process of developing novel foods due to consumers’ growing health concerns and to a frequent selection of the minimal processed food. Thus, there is a significant interest in the use of mushrooms and mushroom extracts based on opinions they possess many protective health effects and enhance immune function. Regardless the large number of dietary supplements present on the market, there is a paucity of scientific results obtained in clinical studies which would affirm health claims assigned to these products. Therefore the aim of this paper is to give a short review of scientific and clinically approved health benefits of fungal polysaccharides, the most extensively investigated bioactive constituents in mushroom