A new study out of Australian has found that a small portion of mushrooms every day may slash the risk of breast cancer by two-thirds. Researchers found that women who at about 1/3 of an ounce of fresh mushrooms daily were 64 percent less likely to develop a fatal tumor.

Dried mushrooms were found to have a slightly less protective effect, and reduced risk by around half.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia in Perth came to these conclusions after analyzing the eating habits of more than 2,000 women in China. Half of them suffered from breast cancer. They concluded that “Higher intake of mushrooms decreased cancer risk in both pre- and post-menopausal Chinese women.”

Some evidence suggests that mushrooms behave in a similar way to breast cancer drugs which are called aromatase inhibitors and block the body's production of oestogen, a cancer-feeding hormone.

Another recent study also showed that mushrooms may help significantly with weight loss. Researchers found that trading meat for fungus in four meals a week as a part of a balanced diet saw people shed an average of 12.7lbs. in just five weeks.