Comment · Fri, January 1, 2021 · ND Owner
Ergothioneine
Original post in this thread
Allan314 · 8 points
Ergothioneine (ET) is an amino acid with extremely strong evidence for its theoretical (but largely unappreciated) therapeutic importance. To wit:
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* ET has a specific dedicated transporter ( SLC22A4/OCTN1 )
* ET has undergone positive selection in Europeans i.e. it's fitness benefit to carriers is appreciable as a more active variant increases fitness by at least a few percent -- a substantial evolutionary benefit for a single change
* ET is ubiquitously found in tissues
* ET levels are highly conserved -- ET is excreted a very slow rate
* ET preferentially locates in area of injury
https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1873-3468.13123
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-020-0855-1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2885499/
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Strong benefits may of course be limited/more noticeable in pathological, aged, or otherwise non-healthy populations. But a very interesting potential supplement nonetheless.
What they were answering
TheOptimizzzer · 4 points
Ahh yes I also did some research into this a while back, I believe it’s action is theoretically similar to glutathione. I think shiitake mushrooms is one of the most concentrated sources. Wonder if ND has ever tested the amounts in their mushroom products.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
We have not tested the ergothioneine levels in any of our mushrooms, but I am curious! Reference standards are available from multiple suppliers, so I will have my team order some and we can see what it would take to formulate some methods.