Second Hand Vitamin D? The Effect of UV Light on Vitamin D Production in Mushrooms.

please enjoy!

I chose my project because I know that in Saskatchewan, we get some of the coldest and longest winters in the world. Because of this, we have to take supplements to account for the massive drop in sunlight, going from 14 hours worth daily in summer to a sudden drop with next to no sunlight in winter. I researched a way to add vitamins to our lives without supplements, and found diet to be one of the easiest methods. After researching which foods have vitamin D, I found that it is in most proteins, so I chose mushrooms because they are easy to grow and have vitamin D. This information can be used by anyone who needs more vitamin D in their lives, but most notably children with Rickets. Rickets is the unfortunate result of low vitamin D and calcium levels, causing weak and deformed bones. While uncommon in most parts of the world, places like the Middle East have a nearly 70% rate of children developing Rickets. There is only one cure for Rickets, and that is receiving daily doses of vitamin D. These results could change the world, but especially in cases where most children don't get diagnosed, and if they do, often don't get treated because of low income, lack of access or not wanting to deal with the daily (sometimes up to 5 times a day) doses of vitamin D. Finally, anyone who wants to increase their vitamin D intake would benefit from these findings.

I did my background research through a mix of books, Google and people. To verify all information, especially the areas that I am not familiar with, I first made sure that the information was the same everywhere, or similar at least. I did not take any information from any sources that could be incorrect, i.e. Wikipedia, Instagram, etc. My experiment was conducted by growing mushrooms for a set amount of time, extracting the sap, then testing it for nutrient levels six times on each mushroom group. I collected the data on a piece of paper to later create a spread sheet on Microsoft Excel. I tested four samples total, one for each spore. I controlled the experiment by making sure to let each group grow in identical spaces, have the same lights, same type of mushroom, same amount of tests, same testing method, same water, same amount of time to grow, and same amount of water. The only variable I had in this experiment was the amount of light that each group received; 12 hours, 8 hours, 5 hours and 0 hours worth of light.

The main finding of my project was how much a mushroom can absorb UV light in order to produce vitamin D. The mushrooms with less UV exposure created much less vitamin D when compared to the one with twelve hours' worth of UV light exposure, which created a significant amount of vitamin D. These results show just how amazing fungi can truly be. I was blown away when I saw the results, as they show the major change in the Vitamin D levels, and although this was predicted in my hypothesis, I did not expect such a large jump. During the testing period, I found that the mushrooms with less UV light seemed to not gain many vitamins. This is because the sun is a significant source of vitamin D, and when used in this way, can also become a form of "second hand" vitamin D for us to consume in our diet.

To conclude my experiment, I found that the amount of UV light exposure in Fungi (mushrooms) can drastically change how much vitamin D they can create. The mushrooms with more exposure to the UV light gained much more vitamin D, not only proving my hypothesis correct, but simultaneously showing how much UV light can affect the development of vitamins in mushrooms. From these results, we can learn how we can easily grow mushrooms at home with extra vitamin D. This is important for many reasons, for example, if you live in a cold/ dark climate in winter, you can use this information to help you get extra vitamin D in your diet in the cold months when you usually need supplements. This also helps with the problem of many children not getting treated for Rickets. With this information from my project, I feel like this would be a perfect treatment option for Rickets, as it can easily be incorporated into meals. Oyster mushrooms, which were used in my tests, are cheap, easy to grow, and are native to the Middle East.

After finishing and reflecting on my project, I could have tested multiple mushroom breeds and species in the future. To improve my project, I could test the effects of the mushrooms on people, to see if the mushrooms help improve the condition of a child with Rickets. If I were given the chance to test this, it would also be 100% safe to test because the mushrooms contain no toxins, and can only improve a condition and cannot worsen it, since no matter what, they will be receiving vitamin D.

I would love to thank all my family and friends who helped me with my project. I appreciated all of your love and support. I would love to give special thanks to my science teacher, Mme E. Stephenson, who helps set up our school's science fair, supports kids at regionals, and then at nationals. She provides just the right amount of support to help students. She helped lend me supplies, create my board and get this far. I couldn't get here without you, so I think I speak for all your students when I say, out of all the possible multiverses, we got the best science teacher possible. Thank you!

UVA vs UVB light:

Canada Grow Supplies. (n.d.). UV and UVB: The full guide. https://canadagrowsupplies.com/blogs/main/uv-and-uvb-the-full-guide

Hollósy, F. (2002). Effects of ultraviolet radiation on plant cells. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 67(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1011-1344(02)00226-1

mushrooms and how they can absorb light to produce vitamins:

Cardwell, G., Bornman, J. F., James, A. P., & Black, L. J. (2018). A review of mushrooms as a potential source of dietary vitamin D. Nutrients, 10(10), 1498. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10101498

La Mycosphere. (n.d.). Do mushrooms need light? https://lamycosphere.com/en-int/blogs/the-future-is-fungi/do-mushrooms-need-light

Mushroom Council. (2017, November). Mushrooms: Nature’s hidden treasure of vitamin D [Fact sheet]. https://www.mushroomcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Mushrooms-Vitamin-D-Factsheet.pdf

Rickets:

Cleveland Clinic. (2022, February 21). Rickets. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22459-rickets

Images:

Canva. (2024). Magic Media [AI Image Generator]. https://www.canva.com/