06/26/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CbWzusp6R/?mibextid=wwXIfr
A massive new brain-aging study tested 991 blood compounds in over 1,000 people and found one molecule beat them all: ergothioneine, a compound found mainly in mushrooms.
Higher blood levels meant noticeably better memory and thinking, and the pattern held up across three separate studies, even predicting who later developed Alzheimer's.
Your body can't make ergothioneine itself. It imports it through a dedicated transporter and stockpiles it in high-stress tissue like the brain, bone marrow, and liver, a sign of how hard your physiology works to protect it.
Genetics barely explained why some people had more than others. Diet, gut bacteria, and medications did. One standout was that common antacids (PPIs) lowered ergothioneine enough to explain roughly a third of their link to worse cognition.
Most people are probably low. Mushrooms are by far the richest source, and decades of industrial tillage farming have cut natural ergothioneine in crops by up to 30%. So eat more mushrooms, or supplement directly.
Source: Ahmad, S. et al. “The blood metabolome of brain health in midlife and influences of genes, microbiome and exposome.” Nature Aging (2026). doi:10.1038/s43587-026-01149-4
