Health Benefits of Baby Bella Mushrooms

Baby bella mushrooms -- also called crimini mushrooms or simply brown mushrooms -- share the dense, meaty texture of their larger portobello cousins but have the small, button-like shape of white mushrooms. They make a hearty addition to stews, soups and stir-fries, and also stand up well to grilling. Consuming baby bellas offers a range of benefits, because they provide you with essential minerals and vitamins that support good health.

Baby bella mushrooms offer health benefits due to their copper content. Copper activates enzymes needed to make neurotransmitters -- a family of chemicals essential for healthy brain function. It also nourishes your skin and hair, helping you make the melanin that protects these tissues from the sun. Copper keeps you going throughout the day by allowing for energy production in your cells. Each cup of baby bella mushrooms contains 435 micrograms of copper, just short of half the copper you need each day, recommended by the Institute of Medicine.

Baby bella mushrooms also help you consume more selenium, a mineral essential for good health. Like copper, selenium activates cellular enzymes. These enzymes keep your thyroid gland functioning, support healthy muscle metabolism and allow for sperm production in men. Other selenium-dependent enzymes protect your cells from toxic free radicals and combat cellular damage. Eating a cup of baby bella mushrooms boosts your selenium intake by 23 micrograms and provides approximately 42 percent of the selenium you need each day, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Baby bella mushrooms also boost your vitamin intake and provide you with niacin, or vitamin B-3. A 1-cup serving of baby bellas offers 3.3 milligrams of niacin -- 24 percent of the recommended daily intake for women and 21 percent for men, according to the Institute of Medicine. Niacin helps your cells carry out chemical reactions, including reactions needed to convert food into energy. It also helps guide new cell growth, aids in cell communication and helps your cells repair damaged DNA before it can threaten your health.

Add baby bella mushrooms to your diet to reap the benefits associated with their pantothenic acid content. Pantothenic acid, or vitamin B-5, activates coenzyme A, a compound that regulates your cholesterol levels, and also helps you produce hormones and chemicals needed for brain function. Pantothenic acid also helps you make the fatty acids that comprise your cell membranes, and also allows you to produce myelin, a fatty substance essential for nerve function. A cup of baby bella mushrooms contains 1.3 milligrams of pantothenic acid, or 26 percent of the recommended daily intake set by the Institute of Medicine.