By the numbers: Sales of functional mushrooms in Salt Lake City have jumped nearly 600% — from $428,700 in the first half of 2021 to $3 million during the same period this year, according to NielsenIQ.
State of play: We're not talking about "magic" mushrooms.
"Functional" mushrooms include lion's mane, chaga, reishi, shitake and cordyceps.
Reality check: Despite their growing popularity, University of Utah Health dietitians say such "claimed benefits don't stack up to the research" and studies on human are limited.
"The more established benefits surrounding mushrooms are due to their richness in prebiotic fibers," Sofia Whitefields, a registered dietitian at the OSHER Center for Integrative Health, said in an article last year.