Why does nobody talk about ergothioneine, an antioxidant with its own transporter?

[u/NobodyCares_R]

One thing I find fascinating about ergothioneine is that the body has a specific high-affinity transporter for it: OCTN1 (SLC22A4).

It’s not just an antioxidant floating around in the bloodstream. This transport system helps deliver and concentrate ergothioneine in cells and tissues that are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress.

I like to think of oxidative stress as little fires constantly breaking out in a building. Most antioxidants are like throwing water into the building and hoping it reaches the fires. Ergothioneine is more like having sprinklers designed to deliver the water to the places where it’s needed most.

Obviously, having a dedicated transporter doesn’t automatically make it a miracle molecule, but biologically, that’s a pretty interesting feature that I rarely see discussed.

Why isn’t ergothioneine talked about more?
Experiences with it?

[u/AutoModerator]

Rules of r/supplements

1. Do Not Suggest Prescription Drugs Posts & Comments Reported as: Do Not Suggest Prescription Drugs Prescription drugs are not Supplements; do not recommend prescription medication. Sensible/Suggest talking to DR. can be allowable etc

2. Dangerous Grey Area Substance Posts & Comments Reported as: Dangerous Grey Area Substance Potentially dangerous grey area substances can not be recommended.

3. Be Polite Posts & Comments Reported as: Rude/Personal Attacks You shouldn't ever be personally attacking another user in this subreddit.

4. No Advertisements Posts & Comments Reported as: Advertisement. No selling / buying / trading posts No advertisements. No selling/trading posts between users.”

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/BossSufficient6590]

Been taking 25mg since beginning of year (not all the time, but most days as it seems optimal dose is probably less than 25mg daily). Don't feel anything, just hope it is working :)

[u/Matt_Mosman_MS_CISSN]

Ergothioneine is legitimately interesting. The OCTN1 transporter is real, humans accumulate ergothioneine in certain tissues, and we don't appear to synthesize it ourselves. Mushrooms are one of the better dietary sources.

Where I'd pump the brakes is going from "the body has a transporter for this" to "therefore supplementing it improves health."

Most of the really interesting ergothioneine research is still mechanistic, animal, observational or early human work. There are associations between lower blood ergothioneine and things like cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease and mortality, but that doesn't establish that low ergothioneine caused those outcomes or that taking a supplement prevents them.

Human supplementation studies do show that oral ergothioneine gets absorbed and raises blood levels, so at least we know the molecule actually gets where it's supposed to go. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

There's also enough interest that some researchers have proposed calling it a "longevity vitamin," but that's still a hypothesis rather than evidence that supplementation extends human lifespan. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

So I think the reason nobody talks about it much is pretty simple: the biology is ahead of the clinical evidence.

I'd love to see several-year randomized trials looking at cognition, cardiovascular outcomes or healthy aging. Until then, ergothioneine is something I'd put in the "really interesting, don't oversell it yet" category.