Mushrooms: Potential Agents for the Prevention and Slowdown of Alzheimer's Disease: A Review

Alzheimer's disease as a neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by a decline in cognitive abilities that makes it difficult or impossible to perform ordinary tasks. It is the most common form of dementia and its exact causes are still unknown. Approximately 45.0 million people are affected by this disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Although numerous commercial drugs are available on the world market, many of them have mutagenic, toxic, carcinogenic and other side effects. Therefore, today the world's trend is use of natural products without any harmful effects. Edible and medicinal mushrooms as producers of numerous biologically active compounds, such as polysaccharides, proteins, sterols, terpenoids, etc., could be a safe and effective neuroprotective agents and a promising therapy for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Mushrooms are highly valued functional foods and diet supplementation with them could significantly reduce the risk of apparence of Alzheimer's disease or slow down its development. The results of numerous studies have shown that the addition of mushrooms to the diet not only increases the effectiveness of conventional drugs but also reduces their harmful effects. However, despite numerous studies on mushrooms' medicinal properties, much more <i>in vivo </i>research and clinical trials are still needed to fully understand the potential of mushrooms for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as to determine their optimal administration. Reviewing all the results so far and considering future necessary studies were the main aims of this review article.