An exciting new scientific study. Has anyone used ergothionine? What are your experiences with this?
Ergothioneine Extends Lifespan, Reduces Body Weight, and Increases Physical Activity
The other study examining ergothioneine showed that this mushroom-derived compound not only significantly extended male mouse lifespan but it also reduced body weight and increased physical function. Furthermore, ergothioneine increased new neuron production and diminished neurodegeneration in these mice. These data suggest that, if applicable to humans, ergothioneine may reduce body weight, revitalize physical vigor, and counteract neurodegeneration, along with possibly promoting lifespan extension.
(Katsube et al., 2024 | Geroscience)Aged rats treated with ergothioneine displayed more physical activity. Compared to non-treated rats (Control; white bars), those treated with ergothioneine (ERGO; gray bars) showed more total movement throughout their lives.
It seems Shiitake mushrooms are a great source of Ergothioneine, providing 24.4mg per cup! I have been eating a cup a day of shiitake mushrooms for a few years too, which I was doing for the spermidine content. Great to know it has so much Ergothioneine as well
I suppose because itās raining so much here, but I canāt believe the yield Iām getting from cottonwood logs. The first year I got nothing.
My memory is that shiitake is good on ergo, but it depends a lot on the year and growing conditions. It has several very good components. If money was no object Iād get the snak shack oneās with glucose and spice sprayed on. Delicious and nutritious.
The control mice in this study lived a much shorter lifespan than normal. They werenāt fed standard chow.
Normal lifespan averages about 878 days for this strain. Just looking at the graph, 50% of control mice were dead by roughly 620 days. And they were all dead by 700 days.
I buy frozen shiitake mushrooms (the brand my Whole Foods sells is Woodstock) and then microwave them. Apparently microwaving them preserves the nutrition the most.
I have been taking erogothionine 5 mg./day for three years. Additionally, I love black beans and mushrooms of all kinds and have 3-5 servings a week of each. I take the supplement for theoretical and research-based reasons. I have not experienced any direct effects, positive or negative. Because it meets my minimum standard of conferring potential benefits with no identifiable harms, I will continue to take it and watch as the research develops. Note that erogothionine has a long half life; a small daily dose will build up to a much higher level before it stabilizes. My average total daily intake of erogothionine is perhaps 10 mg.
According to this calculator 5 mg/day ergothioneine may be an adequate dose. Given its ~30 day half life, levels plateau short of 200 mg. This is misleading, however, as the substance reportedly clears from circulation and, ā. . . is then retained in cells and tissues, with high levels found in the liver, whole blood (??), kidney, brain, erythrocytes, bone marrow, and seminal fluid.ā I recall a paper a few years ago suggesting that a small, consistent daily intake would build up to plateau levels in a period of months. The study with the 30 mg./day dose may have been given to achieve plateau quickly due to the short duration of the study.
Ergothioneine promotes longevity and healthy aging in male mice
(August 2024) Open Access Paper
Healthy aging has emerged as a crucial issue with the increase in the geriatric population worldwide. Food-derived sulfur-containing amino acid ergothioneine (ERGO) is a potential dietary supplement, which exhibits various beneficial effects in experimental animals although the preventive effects of ERGO on aging and/or age-related impairments such as frailty and cognitive impairment are unclear. We investigated the effects of daily oral supplementation of ERGO dissolved in drinking water on lifespan, frailty, and cognitive impairment in male mice from 7 weeks of age to the end of their lives. Ingestion of 4 ~ 5 mg/kg/day of ERGO remarkably extended the lifespan of male mice. The longevity effect of ERGO was further supported by increase in life and non-frailty spans of Caenorhabditis elegans in the presence of ERGO. Compared with the control group, the ERGO group showed significantly lower age-related declines in weight, fat mass, and average and maximum movement velocities at 88 weeks of age. This was compatible with dramatical suppression by ERGO of the age-related increments in plasma biomarkers (BMs) such as the chemokine ligand 9, creatinine, symmetric dimethylarginine, urea, asymmetric dimethylarginine, quinolinic acid, and kynurenine. The oral intake of ERGO also rescued age-related impairments in learning and memory ability, which might be associated with suppression of the age-related decline in hippocampal neurogenesis and TDP43 protein aggregation and promotion of microglial shift to the M2 phenotype by ERGO ingestion.
Ingestion of ERGO may promote longevity and healthy aging in male mice, possibly through multiple biological mechanisms.
