Eating mushroom-rich breakfast makes you feel fuller: study

Eating a mushroom-rich breakfast may result in less hunger and a greater feeling of fullness compared to consuming meat, a study has found.

"Previous studies on mushrooms suggest that they can be more satiating than meat, but this effect had not been studied with protein-matched amounts until now," said Joanne Slavin, professor at the University of Minnesota in the US.

"As with previous published research, this study indicates there may be both a nutritional and satiating benefit to either substituting mushrooms for meat in some meals or replacing some of the meat with mushrooms," said Slavin.

Since protein appears to be the most satiating macronutrient, researchers wanted to match the amount of protein in the mushroom and meat interventions to essentially control for the influence of protein on satiety.
 

After matching the mushroom and meat by protein content, both ended up containing comparable amounts of calories as well, which is a common way to match interventions in satiety studies.

"This new study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests mushrooms may aid weight management and satiety, and thus contribute to overall wellness," said Mary Jo Feeney, nutrition research coordinator to the Mushroom Council.

The objective of the study, published in the journal Appetite, was to assess the differences with satiety and a 10 -day food intake between white button mushrooms (226g) and meat (28g).

Participants included 17 women and 15 men who consumed two servings of mushrooms or meat for 10 days.

Participants were given either sliced mushrooms or ground beef to consume for a total of 10 days, twice a day. Portion sizes were based on matching the same protein content and similar calorie counts.

Results showed a significant difference on satiety ratings between the mushroom and meat consumption.

Participants reported less hunger, greater fullness and decreased prospective consumption after eating a mushroom breakfast compared to a meat breakfast.