Ergothioneine-Amplified Antioxidant Blend by NNB Nutrition

What is ergothioneine?

Although it’s last on the list, the powerful L-ergothioneine compound has tremendous effects in a small form factor – and we firmly believe it’s the next generation of ingredients in both the immunity and longevity categories.

Ergothioneine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that possesses powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.^[1,2] The human body has a highly-specific transporter system responsible for its uptake,^[3-5] yet cannot synthesize the amino acid itself,^[6-9] so it must be obtained exclusively from the diet.

Considered an essential nutrient and “longevity vitamin” by experts

Because ergothioneine can’t be produced by the body yet has so many incredible effects (many detailed below), several researchers now consider it an essential nutrient, classifying it as a “candidate vitamin”.^[10,11] In fact, the prominent Dr. Bruce Ames even calls it a “longevity vitamin”.^[12,13]

With such a massive list of benefits shown from ergothioneine, why haven’t we heard more about it? This is a must-research immune system supplement ingredient that can protect numerous organ systems.^[14]

However, it’s not a new or novel ingredient by any measure — ergothioneine has actually been protecting organisms on the planet for billions of years. Researchers have begun to determine that this powerful antioxidant actually fueled the survival of life through the Earth’s “great oxygenation event” 2.4 billion years ago!^[15-19] It’s made its way through our food supply primarily in mushrooms and organ meats^[20-23] — two food sources that we sadly don’t eat enough of during the recent industrialization of our food supply over the past few generations.

This presents ample opportunity for supplementation, and as shown below, providing cells ergothioneine exhibits incredible effects. Even better, our bodies are able to store ergothioneine for future use,^[4,24,25] so it’s not wasted if it’s not presently needed.

The true master antioxidant

Many scientists and supplement experts call glutathione the “master antioxidant”. Glutathione is indeed powerful, but it turns out that when it comes to scavenging free radicals, L-ergothioneine outperforms glutathione, coenzyme Q10, and vitamin C!^[23,26,27]

• Outperforming glutathione

  This has actually been known since 1988, where researchers compared ergothioneine, glutathione, and other thiols in their effects in deactivating toxic singlet oxygen.^[26]Ergothioneine outperformed glutathione (and the entire group at large), stopping oxidation faster than the other compounds. The study suggested that ergothioneine was one of the most impressive skin-protective antioxidants.^[26] An additional study (image below) demonstrated ergothioneine’s inhibitory effects to be superior to both glutathione and Vitamin C as well!

  

  Inhibitory effects of Ergothioneine vs. Glutathione, Histidine, and Vitamin C^[23]

• Outperforming CoQ10

  In 2007, researchers tested ergothioneine and CoQ10 against cells exposed to highly-toxic alloxan, and then measured lipid peroxidation. Both worked, but it turned out that ergothioneine was twice as effective as CoQ10, and on a dose-dependent basis.^[27]

• Outperforming vitamin C

  Finally, a study published in 2016 showed that ergothioneine bested vitamin C and glutathione once again, this time in combating two reactive halogen species, hypochlorous acid and hypobromous acid.^[23]

• Improved cell viability

  Inversely, research has shown that cells lacking ergothioneine transporters are far more susceptible to stress-induced oxidative damage.^[24] There is a lot of research showing longevity benefits, since ergothioneine can boost cell viability by 45%,^[28] preventing DNA damage and protecting red blood cells.^[25]

The next-generation Immunity supplement

Ergothioneine serves several roles in the system, and we’re already wired for it! But are you getting any in your diet?^[4]

An incredible 2020 paper published in Antioxidants lays the evidence for ergothioneine’s role in immunity — it’s titled “Could Ergothioneine Aid in the Treatment of Coronavirus Patients?”.^[14] The paper is written by researchers with vast expertise in the ingredient,^[4] and shows that ergothioneine’s strengths align to combat our current immune concerns.

Inside, the researchers cite a plethora of research showing ergothioneine’s benefits, all of which are pivotal to immune function and our modern concerns:^[14]

• Overall inflammation reduction
• Strong ability to scavenge free radicals
• Acute respiratory distress mitigation
• Endothelial cell protection
• Protection against heart disease and injury
• Neuroprotection
• Ability to combat iron dysregulation
• Lung and liver disease damage reduction

Much of the research cited is also cited here, but the researchers dig far deeper into the mechanisms, arguing for ergothioneine’s more consistent use.

Neuroprotection

Ergothioneine Benefits, as provided by NNB Nutrition’s website

Since 1966, scientists have understood that ergothioneine plays a role in central regulatory function.^[29] Further research showed that it’s quite neuroprotective,^[30] and can attenuate oxidative stress in neural cells and inhibit cognitive decline in animal models.^[31]

This makes sense, with research showing that humans with neurological disorders have low levels of ergothioneine,^[32,33] while the ergothioneine transporter (OTCN1) is strongly expressed in the neural stem cells and gets heavy concentration in the brain once ingested.^[32,34]

Protective from other forms of biochemical stress

Many of ergothioneine’s incredible effects are due to the fact that it can combat numerous types of stress – going well beyond reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Research has shown the amino acid antioxidant successfully fighting the following:

• Hydrogen peroxide induced stress^{[24,27,35,36]}
• Damage due to chlorine and bromine exposure^[23,37]
• Singlet oxygen^[26]
• Reactive nitrogen species^[38,39]
• General inflammatory stress^[1,23,40,41]
• Red blood cell oxidation^[25]

Found in mushrooms and organ meats, ergothioneine is the oldest — and most overlooked — energy-supporting immune system booster / antioxidant on the market. Prepare to have your mind blown by this ingredient.

Interestingly, human-based studies have even shown ergothioneine to work well with other common joint supplement ingredients to combat joint pain and range of motion!^[42]

Available as MitoPrime, but now in MitoGreens

The wondrous ergothioneine was first available in NNB Nutrition’s MitoPrime (and still is), but now comes packaged in a superior antioxidant greens formula that includes 29 additional botanicals – many of which are covered below. NNB has solved the problem of L-ergothioneine’s availability and stability, and is now making it easier for brands to take advantage of.

If you wish to further research this potent ingredient, see our article titled Ergothioneine: The Immunity and Energy Protector.

Quercetin, Green Tea Extract, and other important polyphenols

In our introduction, we mentioned that too many immunity supplements include a zinc ionophore alongside a high-bioavailability zinc. While there’s no added zinc to MitoGreens, they come with two powerful zinc ionophores in quercetin and green tea extract!^[43] These types of compounds help the body drive zinc into cells (through the plasma membrane) so that the zinc can work its antiviral effects.

For the sixth installment of our Formulator’s Corner series, we drafted up a powerful Immunity Supplement with modern concerns in mind — and it featured NNB Nutrition’s MitoPrime (L-Ergothioneine) along with zinc ionophore quercetin

Knowing this, researchers have had several successful antiviral trials that utilize quercetin alongside zinc and other immunity ingredients like vitamin C (some of which will also be in MitoGreens).^[44-48] Before this, quercetin was very well-known for its ability to combat allergies.^[49,50] In addition, it can inhibit inflammatory cytokines and downregulate their production, helping with immune response.^[50]

Quercetin also possesses anti-aging properties as a CD38 inhibitor,^[51,52] which will allow NAD+ levels to stay higher for improved cellular energy. Since the CD38 enzyme is a major consumer of NAD+ levels,^[53] and CD38 goes up as NAD+ goes down as we age,^[54,55] we strongly believe in using quercetin on a daily basis, and it pairs incredibly well with NAD+ booster BioNMN, NNB Nutrition’s trademarked form of NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide).

Beyond its position as a zinc ionophore, green tea extract is also considered the “Swiss army knife” of metabolic support ingredients, given that it can increase fat oxidation,^[56] boost blood flow,^[57] improve insulin sensitivity,^[58,59] reduce blood pressure,^[60] and generally improve well-being.^[60]

Having these two ingredients inside of MitoGreens enables formulators to build flexible anti-aging and/or immune supplements, allowing them to choose their preferred form of zinc to drive into cells.

Spices and herbs

When creating MitoGreens, NNB Nutrition added some very unique components that we don’t normally see in other greens formulas. The addition of clove, rosemary, curry extract, garlic, oregano, mint, and white pepper extract lead to some effects that may not be realized by competing formulas.

Garlic possesses incredible anti-parasitic effects that most don’t talk about, outperforming popular pharmaceutical drugs in certain situations

Clove is an ingredient we don’t commonly see in dietary supplements – it’s been shown to mitigate damage from oxidative stress and liver injury by preventing cell proliferation in numerous types of cells.^[61]

Rosemary provides rosmarinic acid, which exhibits great antioxidant qualities that lead to anti-allergy effects that reduce nasal congestion.^[62]

We also added garlic into our recent hypothetical immunity formulation, discussing its potent anti-parasitic effects (outperforming popular drugs)^[63] in addition to its antiviral behavior.^[64,65]Oregano also has incredible anti-parasitic properties.^[66]

These are some very unique properties that aren’t expressed in most greens powders.