Vitamins B1 and B2 contents in cultivated mushrooms

Mushrooms have long been treated as a delicacy. Nowadays however, many researchers consider them to be nutraceutical foods, which has stimulated new and existing Brazilian producers to search for more productive techniques and to introduce other species. The objective of this study was to determine the vitamin B₁ and B₂ contents in mushrooms. The main species of mushroom cultivated in Brazil and analysed in this study are: Agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom and portobello), Lentinula edodes (shiitake) and Pleorotus spp. (shimeji and oyster mushroom). The methodology employed used acid hydrolysis followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and separation of the vitamins by high performance liquid chromatography using a C₁₈ reverse phase column and fluorescence detector. The results obtained for thiamine (vitamin B₁) were from 0.004 to 0.08 mg/100 g and for riboflavin (vitamin B₂), from 0.04 to 0.3 mg/100 g.