Mushrooms: The ingredient to staying young?

Mushrooms really are magic, says Dr Andrew Weil, but in a way far superior to that short-lived hallucinogenic mumbo-jumbo. Weil, who has been called America's best-known complementary care physician, says mushrooms straddle the line between food and medicine and can combat the effects of aging, including the scariest spectres such as cancer and Alzheimer's. Think of penicillin, he says, which is derived from mould, a lower fungi. Mushrooms are a higher fungi, with immune-enhancing and anti-inflammatory effects.

'I think anti-aging philosophy is wrong from the start,' says Weil, who has been named one of Time magazine's most influential people. The aim, he says, should be to separate aging from age-related diseases - cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer.

Weil's latest book, Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being, describes how we can shrink the length of time at the end of life affected by illness and experience good health well into our golden years. His non-profit Weil Foundation, based in Arizona, supports integrative medicine by educating health practitioners and promoting public education, research and policy reform.

But don't rush out and stock up on those white button mushrooms that dominate supermarket shelves; they aren't beneficial. In fact, Weil says, they contain three carcinogens, only two of which are broken down by cooking.

Instead, pick up Asian mushrooms with medicinal properties. Weil recommends:

• Oyster - said to help lower cholesterol. It has a frilly, fluted cap and varies in colour from white to reddish brown. Choose ones that are uniform in colour and eat them within three days of purchase
• Shitake - with antiviral and immune-enhancing properties. The meaty brown caps can grow to several inches across. Buy ones with plump, dry caps and store them in a paper bag
• Enoki - said to protect against cancer. These small white mushrooms (pictured above) with small caps and long slender stems are good in soups. Select ones with firm, white shiny caps and store them in a paper bag in the refrigerator

Mushrooms' beneficial effects can also keep your skin looking younger. Weil has developed a mushroom-based skincare regimen with Origins that reduces the skin's inflammatory response and calms redness.

But the doctor is firm on one point: 'These are not anti-aging products.' Instead, they support the natural defences of the skin and improve its appearance by keeping it healthier. 'They feel good, they smell good, and the effects are obvious,' he says. Origins Mega-Mushroom Face Cream (£45) and Serum (£40) include mushroom serum, holy basil and extract of narcissus lily bulb. For stockists, call 0800 731 4039. Profits go to the Weil Foundation.

So forget about staying young forever. Eat mushrooms, promote the health of your skin and you'll feel so good that you won't mind a few grey hairs and wrinkles.

To find out more about healthy living, aging well and Dr Weil, visit his website, www.drweil.com.