This is from Paul Stamets book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
Portobello Mushroom of the genus Agaricus
"This mushroom contains compounds that inhibit the enzyme aromatase. Aromatase is associated with tumor growth. Compounds inhibiting aromatase have potential for the treatment of breast cancer(Bankhead, 1999). A diet of mushrooms in mice with implanted tumors showed a decrease in aromatase as mushroom consumption increased. However,
Agaricus brunnescens contains hydrazines, carcinogenic compounds that
have been thought to dissipate only from prolonged, high temperature heating. More than 80 percent of known hydrazines are carcinogenic. The most notable carcinogenic hydrazine from this mushroom is agaritine, a powerful mutagen, which is activated by the mushroom enzyme tyrosinase, making it heat stable. Enzymes in the digestive system convert agaritine into carcinogenic by-products. The chemical culprits worthy of concern are: 4-(hydroxymethyl)phenylhydrazines and 4(hydroxymethyl)benzene diazonium ions(Walton et al. 1997). Free radicals can also activate Agaricus hydrazines into highly carcinogenic subconstituents (tomasi et al 1987) as well as catalytic processes in the kidneys (Price et al. 1996). Hence, there are several modes of activating agaritine into highly carcinogenic derivatives.
The damaging effects of agaritine's derivatives may be partially suppressed by the mushroom's antioxidants, which, in turn help create host-generated superoxide dismutases (SODs), and the activity of aromatase inhibitors. Walton et al. 1998 asserted, however, that the mutagenic and pre-mutagenic compounds are not affected by quick cooking(10 minutes at 437F/225C) but are only slightly reduced by prolonged heat treatment in boiling water for 4 hours at 212F/100C). A study of blanched, canned mushrooms showed that the agaritine content was reduced tenfold in comparison to fresh mushrooms, from 229mg/kg to 15-18mg/kg(Andersson et al. 1999). However, this reduction may have been due to leaching of the hydrazines into the surrounding water used for blanching in combination with prolonged, high pressure steaming processing used for canning. Another report by Sharman et al. 1990, found most fresh samples of this mushroom had agaritine levels within the range of 80-225mg/kg but with one dried sample having 6,520 mg/kg, a comparatively high level. This result suggests that agaritine production may be a strain specific trait, as this one dried, sliced sample had more than 8 times the agaritine content of other samples in this same study. In contrast, dried Shiitake mushrooms, Lentinula edodes, have either undetectable or extremely low levels of agaritines, in the 0.082 mg/kg range (Stijve et al. 1986; Hashida et al. 1990). Hashida's study reported marked reduction of agaritines from boiling water at 212F(100C) for 10 minutes, a report in direct contradiction of Walton's 1998 study.
A Swiss report estimated that with the average consumption of 4 grams per day of Agaricus bisporus(=Agaricus brunnescens) the lifetime increase in cancer risk would be approximately two cases per hundred thousand lives(Shepard et al. 1995). In a metropolitan area of twenty million residents, approximately the size of Los Angeles, two hundred people would be expected to get cancer in their lifetime from eating Agaricus brunnescens mushrooms, all other factors being equal.
However, other investigations have questioned the cause and effect relationship of agaritine in Button mushrooms and its mutagenic properties(Pilegaard et al. 1997; Matsumoto eet al. 1991; Papaparaskeva et al. 1991; and Pool-Kobel 1990). Benjamin 1995 noted that early studies are controversial and potentially flawed. One study had the intravenous introduction of mushrooms into mice. Another study showed that mice implanted with cancer cells (Sarcoma 180) and then fed dried mushrooms showed inhibited tumor growth(Mori et al. 1986). More recent studies reconfirm that a diet of this mushroom, both raw and baked, induced tumors in mice(Toth et al. 1998)
The cited research is highly controversial and raises concerns about the human consumption of Agaricus brunnescens as a health food. For years, the conventional wisdom was that hydrazines would be destroyed with cooking. Anti-cancer polysaccharides, aromatase-inhibiting compounds, and antioxidants known from Agaricus brunnescens(Kweon 1998), may neutralize the carcinogenic effects of hydrazines, but in my opinion, the jury is still out on this issue. Eating this mushroom raw, especially with free radical inducing foods, is definitely not recommended. And yet, in the United States, up to 80 percent of all Button mushrooms consumed are eaten uncooked. I am disturbed that the most commonly cultivated mushroom in the world has few studies authenticating its beneficial medicinal properties, in stark contrast to the numerous studies on Shiitake, Maitake, Reishi, Yun Zhi, and others. The Portobello mushroom may be gourmet, but in absence of scientific studies, I doubt that, at this time, Agaricus brunnescens can be considered medicinally beneficial.
What to do? The financial future of the Button/Portobello industry may well depend on recognizing the risks, and aggressively developing low agaritine or agaritine-free strains. As analyses have shown more than an eight-fold difference in the concentrations of agaritine in Agaricus brunnescens mushrooms, clearly some strains already in cultivation are much lower in agaritine content than others. Pursuing low agaritine strains should be top research priority within the Agaricus industry, especially within the venue of the spawn producers. Given variations in agaritine levels in existing strains, a breeding program for creating agaritine free strains is a task preeminently achievable in the near future. Certainly the button mushroom industry has clear economic and ethical incentives for doing so."
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