As per a new research, microwaving or grilling mushrooms would help preserve its antioxidant capacity and other health properties and become more healthy rather than boiling or deep frying. Mushrooms are rich in dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals such as zinc or selenium, low in calories and fat, as well as important source of betaglucans – biologically active compounds with potential medicinal value. The results, published in the International Journal of Food Sciences & Nutrition, revealed that frying induced more severe losses in protein, ash, and carbohydrates content but increased the fat and energy. Boiling improved the total glucans content by enhancing the betaglucans fraction. A significant decrease was detected in the antioxidant activity especially after boiling and frying, while grilled and microwaved mushrooms reached higher values of antioxidant activity. “Frying and boiling treatments produced more severe losses in proteins and antioxidants compounds, probably due to the leaching of soluble substances in the water or in the oil, which may significantly influence the nutritional value of the final product,” said Irene Roncero from Mushroom Technological Research Centre of La Rioja in Spain. A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name “mushroom” is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word “mushroom” is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem, a cap and gills on the underside of the cap.