Let's say you're trying to find some solid information about a serious health problem that concerns you, high blood pressure, diabetes.

Yet everywhere you look, someone's trying to sell you something like vitamins

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The facts welcome to the nutrition facts podcast All we bring you are the facts.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast.

I'm your host Dr. Michael Greger.

Today we explore the power of the mighty mushroom.

Did you know that it may be even more important to include mushrooms or tempe in our

diet as we age?

Here's our first story.

Of more than 100 compounds measured in the bloodstream of thousands of individuals, the one most

associated with the lowest rates of disease and death was ergo-fione.

Higher blood levels were associated with lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and death from all causes put together over a period of more than 20 years.

Ergothyone is an unusual amino acid, although it was discovered more than a century ago, it was ignored until recently when researchers found that humans have a highly specific transporter protein in our body specifically designed to pull ergothionine out of food and into body tissue.

It's even upregulated right before meal times.

This suggests that ergothining plays an important physiological role, but what?

Our first clue was the tissue distribution. Ergotthyning concentrates in parts of your

body where there's lots of free radicals, the lens of your eye and liver, for example, as well as sensitive

tissues such as bone marrow and semen.

Researchers found it acts as a cytopotectant, a cell protector. Depriving human cells of Virgothane leads to accelerated DNA damage and cell death.

Because we can only get it in food, and there's toxicity associated with its depletion.

Johns Hopkins University researchers conclude that Ergothining may represent a new vitamin.

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