Evaluation of nutraceutical components and antioxidant potential of north Indian wild culinary-medicinal Termitophilous mushrooms.

Mushrooms have long been treated as a delicacy. Nowadays, however, many researchers consider them to be nutraceutical foods. The objective of this study was to determine the nutraceutical components in 7 edible species of Termitomyces (T. microcarpus, T. radicatus, T. badius, T. medius, T. heimii, T. striatus, and T. mammiformis) collected from different localities in North India during the monsoon season; their antioxidant properties also were determined by DPPH free radical scavenging ability and reducing power ability. The various nutraceutical components evaluated include phenolics (15.0-25.85 mg/g), flavonoids (1.38-2.02 mg/g), ascorbic acid (0.018-0.15 mg/g), β-carotene (0.11-0.27 µg/g), and lycopene (0.03-0.19 µg/g).