Get The Whole Story of Vitamin D Enhanced Mushrooms
Xenon Corp Offers Major Research Paper

Wilmington, MA—Australia is a long way from Wilmington, Massachusetts, and the Australian mushroom industry may seem an unusual partner for Xenon Corp's pulsed UV technology, but the small continent’s mushroom growers have much reason to be grateful for Xenon Corporation. And the whole story is available in a downloadable Research Paper on Vitamin D from the Australian Mushroom Growers Association available on Xenon's web site.

While Vitamin D, valued for its contributions to bone health and disease prevention, is relatively rare in most foods, mushrooms have high concentrations of ergosterol. Studies have shown ergosterol can be converted to ergocalciferol (known as Vitamin D₂) through exposure to sunlight; in fact sunlight has been shown to boost Vitamin D₂ to levels of 10-20 mcg per 100g of fresh mushrooms (about 3 medium buttons). Sunlight and mushroom culture, however, are incompatible. Mushrooms are grown in the dark because light raises the temperatures in the cool rooms where they must be grown.

Recent trials at Australia’s University of Western Sydney have shown that Vitamin D, which occurs naturally in mushrooms, might be significantly enhanced by exposure to “cool” light, or pulsed light as well as sunlight and that the Vitamin D is stable and can be well absorbed from the mushrooms. In response to the news, Australian mushroom growers went looking for a solution. They collaborated with Warsash Scientific, the distributor for Xenon Corp's pulsed light equipment, to see if pulsed light could indeed have the same effect on mushrooms as sunlight.

Trays of two sizes of mushrooms with diameters of 35 mm and 50 mm, were placed on conveyor belts and passed under pulsed light for 1-2 seconds. The resulting Vitamin D₂ levels registered at least 10 mcg (400IU) which is the recommended daily amount for adults 50 to 70 years of age.

All the details of the study are included in the Research Paper which is divided into sections that cover: 1) the human health and nutrition aspects of Vitamin D and 2) the scientific “underpinnings” of the technology. Research findings are included as well as how they may be used commercially. There are also details on how the technology has been shown to mimic nature’s ability to produce Vitamin D naturally in mushrooms in the same way it occurs in mushrooms growing in the wild. Finally quality assurance and food safety issues are included to ensure the product consistently meets the Vitamin D information stated on the package label.

In addition to commercial mushroom growers, the manual should be of interest to medical people, nutritionists, and retail organizations.

The Research Paper from the Australian Mushroom Growers Association, liberally illustrated with diagrams, charts and photos, tells the story compellingly and in detail. Copies of the paper are offered on Xenon’s web site at www.xenoncorp.com/food_enhancement.html#paper as a downloadable Acrobat PDF file and by clicking on this link .

Xenon Corporation has over 45 years of experience designing equipment using pulsed UV light technology. With thousands of systems installed for both R&D and demanding 24/7 online applications worldwide, Xenon Corporation is well know for developing and manufacturing innovative products that deliver outstanding performance in industrial, medical and research applications. In addition to sintering R&D systems for the printed electronics industry, Xenon Corporation produces high performance, pulsed UV lamps, and decontamination and UV curing systems.

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