ABSTRACT:
Mushrooms are known for their nutritional and culinary values and used as medicines by humans for centuries. They are also known for their high quality proteins, vitamins, fibres and thus called as “nutraceuticals”. The chemical nature of the bioactive compounds present in this mushroom includes: polysaccharides, lipopolysaccharides, proteins, peptides, glycoproteins, nucleosides, lipids and their derivatives. Mushrooms are one of the prominent functional food, rich in protein but also as a source of biologically active compounds of medicinal values which include medicine/dietary supplements for anticancer, antiviral, hypotensive, immunomodulatory agent and many others. Pleurotus ostreatus possesses many medicinal properties and also used as health promoter. It is gaining more importance than any other mushrooms as therapeutic agent and for health benefits. In the present paper the medicinal properties of Pleurotus ostreatus is being discussed.