Chapter 9: Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr.

Mushrooms have been used for medicinal and nutritional purposes for centuries. Moreover, they have been consumed as part of the human diet for thousands of years. All around the world, edible mushrooms grow in the wild or are cultivated as a crop. Mushroom extracts and secondary metabolites have lately attracted a lot of attention due to their biological capabilities. As a result, phytochemists, nutritionists, and consumers are becoming increasingly interested in the phytochemical composition of mushrooms, which has been proved to benefit humans in terms of health promotion and disease risk reduction. In addition, they can be used as functional foods, as well as to help with the treatment and prevention of some of the side effects of life-threatening illnesses. Low and high molecular weight polysaccharides, fatty acids, lectins, and glucans are found in abundance in mushrooms, and these compounds are responsible for their medicinal effects. As there are so many different kinds of mushrooms, it is difficult to determine what chemical components they contain and how they are beneficial to humans. Scientific papers on the nutritional, phytochemical, and pharmacological characteristics of mushrooms have flooded the literature in recent years. The botanical taxonomy, cultivation, sustainability, phytochemical and pharmacological qualities of Fomes fomentarius, as well as biological activity, are discussed in this chapter.