Mediterranean Diet and Mushrooms

The investigators hypothesize that consuming mushrooms as part of a healthy eating pattern will lead to greater improvements in fasting insulin concentrations and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The brain health-related outcomes and other cardiometabolic risk outcomes (e.g. lipoprotein particle size) are exploratory due to the paucity of human research addressing these important topics. Collectively, this short-term (8-week) randomized, controlled feeding trial will provide important pilot data to inform the plausibility, focus, and design of longer-term intervention trials, consistent with The Mushroom Council's research agenda.

Inclusion criteria

• Male or female;
• age 30-69 y;
• BMI: 25.0-34.9 kg/m2;
• Not severely or extremely depressed (Beck's Depression Inventory score ≤30)
• Total cholesterol <240 mg/dL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol <160 mg/dL, triglycerides <400 mg/dL, fasting glucose <110 mg/dL;
• Systolic/diastolic blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg;
• Body weight stable for 3 months prior (± 3 kg);
• Stable physical activity regimen 3 months prior;
• Medication use stable for 6 months prior;
• Non-smoking;
• Non-diabetic;
• Not acutely ill;
• Females not pregnant or lactating;
• Participants must be willing and able to consume the prescribed diets and travel to testing facilities.

Exclusion criteria

• BMI <25 or >35;
• Severely depressed (Beck's Depression Inventory score >30);
• Total cholesterol >240 mg/dL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol >160 mg/dL, triglycerides >400 mg/dL, fasting glucose >110 mg/dL;
• Body weight changes in previous 3 months (±3 kg);
• Changes in physical activity regimen in the previous 3 months;
• Medication changes in the previous 6 months;
• Smoking;
• Diabetic;
• Acute illness;
• Pregnant or lactating;
• Allergic to mushrooms