The Incredible Impacts of Ergothioneine on Aging & Longevity

Dr. Stengler: Ergothioneine — have you heard of it? This is a brain nutrient that most people have never heard about, but it has very exciting research on it. There are so many nutrients, foods, and supplements that protect your brain against aging and improve cognitive function like memory, but one nutrient that is up-and-coming — really a superstar that most people have not heard about — is ergothioneine.

Ergothioneine is a sulfur-containing amino acid and a very potent antioxidant. Here's the thing: your body does not make it, which means you have to get it in your diet or through supplementation. Ergothioneine is fascinating because it has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier — and not all nutrients can do that — and it's been shown to have a high distribution within the brain. It's a powerful antioxidant, it's anti-inflammatory, and it has many protective roles.

Let's review some of the roles ergothioneine has as a protector. First, it prevents mitochondrial dysfunction. The mitochondria are the energy-producing warehouses or factories in our cells, and ergothioneine helps prevent those factories from being damaged. Next, it counteracts inflammation, which is very important, especially for conditions that affect the brain and nervous system — often referred to as neurodegenerative diseases because they lead to degeneration of the nervous system. Ergothioneine also helps regulate aging pathways; it's been shown to regulate age-related signaling pathways and a process known as anti-senescence, which is very important when you're clearing out the debris of cells and helping old cells be replaced with new cells.

What's the clinical evidence linking ergothioneine and cognitive function? As you look through the literature — and I've done a literature search and written about this — it's very impressive, because numerous studies have shown a clear link between ergothioneine levels and cognitive health, especially in the aging population. Supplementation, or getting higher amounts in the diet, is correlated with reducing cognitive decline. Studies show a stepwise decline in ergothioneine levels that correlates with increasing severity of cognitive impairment, and low plasma or blood levels of ergothioneine are predictive of accelerated cognitive decline in people who are initially cognitively normal. There's a neurodegeneration link too: research has established that low ergothioneine predisposes people to neurodegeneration and is associated with cerebrovascular diseases like dementia. Those with the lowest ergothioneine concentrations are found in dementia patients, and these low levels are associated with physical brain changes like reduced cortical thickness and hippocampal volumes, which you can measure on MRI studies.

Let's look at an international comparison of ergothioneine consumption. It's estimated that the average ergothioneine consumption in America is about 1.1 milligrams per day, which is significantly lower than in some European countries like Italy, where they average up to 4.6 milligrams a day. This consumption gap coincides with a higher prevalence of chronic neurological diseases of aging and lower life expectancy in the United States. Ergothioneine can also have benefits for mild cognitive impairment. In a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study in people over 60 with cognitive decline, those who received a high dose of ergothioneine three times a week for one year had improved learning ability and showed stabilized blood levels of the neurofilament light chain, a key marker of neuronal damage, compared to a placebo group. Ergothioneine has also been shown to help cognitive decline in the elderly: a study examining over 470 adults over 50 attending about 50 different memory clinics for 5 years found that lower blood levels of ergothioneine were associated with poorer baseline cognitive performance and a faster rate of decline in multiple cognitive aspects including memory, executive function, and attention.

What's one of the ways you can get a rich source of ergothioneine? With my patients, I often recommend golden oyster mushroom. This is more than just a beautiful yellow fungus — it can be used as a functional food. It's rich in many compounds, and as I said, it's high in ergothioneine. Modern research shows golden oyster mushroom has powerful antioxidant properties and helps support cognitive function. What's unique about golden oyster is that it has other powerful antioxidants besides ergothioneine: it's rich in flavonoids and carotenoids, highly effective at protecting against oxidative stress in the brain and nervous system. It contains polysaccharides, certain beta-glucans that act as prebiotics promoting a healthy gut microbiome — and we know the connection between the gut microbiome and the brain, the gut-brain axis. It also has essential amino acids and minerals that help with cellular function. But the main star is the ergothioneine — a diet-derived sulfur-containing compound that the body cannot make on its own.

I use golden oyster mushroom in a product in our clinic — you can read about it on drstengler.com — our Mushroom Memory Wellness formula. It's in the formula along with reishi extract and lion's mane, powerful mushroom extracts shown to help with cognitive function. If you want to see other videos on dietary supplements that can help memory and antioxidants, you can see these on my YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed, now's a good time to subscribe. I'll talk to you in the next video.

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