N. Korea Proclaims Creation of Fungus Sports Drink

Mmm, liquified mushrooms
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 30, 2014 3:45 PM CDT
N. Korea Proclaims Creation of Fungus Sports Drink
In this Sept. 13, 2013, photo, shitake mushrooms grow on a log in Shrewsbury, Vt.   (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

Gatorade better watch its back: North Korea's scientists have invented a "very effective" sports drink that they claim can both enhance physical ability and speed recovery, the Korean Central News Agency reports. The miracle ingredient? "Mushroom fungus." While the report doesn't say much beyond that about the drink—no word on the specifics of how it works, or whether it tastes like mushrooms—it seemingly plays into Kim Jong Un's passion for fungi.

The Guardian points out that the Central Mushroom Research Institute recently opened in Pyongyang, having been built "according to the noble intention of Kim making a new history of industrialization of mushroom growing." The report announcing the sports drink detailed two other new inventions, including a substance for "separating the shuttering from concrete by making use of leftovers from the processing of duck feathers and tanning." (More North Korea stories.)

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