Abstract:
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne infectious disease that usually affects the lungs leading to severe coughing, fever,
and chest pains.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the effects of consuming sun-exposed mushrooms on the treatment outcomes of TB
Methods: Participants were TB patients and categorized into block-1 (32) and block-2 (32) based on their willingness to consume
sandwich bread containing sun-exposed oyster mushrooms. Blood and sputum samples were taken at the beginning (Day 0) and
end of the study (4th month). Assays of 25-hydroxy (OH) D, cytokines, LL-37, and CRP were performed using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique, and mycobacterial cultures were performed using Löwenstein Jensen media. A p-value
less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Consumption of the sandwich bread induced a 27.8% increase in the mean serum 25(OH)D level with 35.5% and 32.3%
reduction in the proportion of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and insufficiency (VDI), respectively. There were progressive changes
in TB score (mean ± SD of 2.6 ± 1.8; 95% CI of 1.95 to 3.17; p<0.001) and Karnofsky performance status scale (80.3 ± 6.9%, p <
0.001) with significant improvements in IFN-γ and LL-37 levels (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Consumption of sun-exposed oyster mushrooms effectively improved the deficiencies of vitamin D in TB patients.
The accelerated improvements on the clinical and immunological outcomes give us a clue that sun-exposed oyster mushrooms
could serve as a potential, safe, easily available, and affordable adjunctive treatment and help patients fight TB.
