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and for a 14-day free trial. [♪ INTRO] As you get older, your brain doesn’t maintain
itself the way it used to. And mushrooms could be a key to keeping your
brain healthy. People have known about the medicinal value
of mushrooms for centuries. And academic research, mostly on lion’s
mane mushrooms, seems to support the generational knowledge
on the topic. Through studies in individual cells, in rodents,
and in humans, scientists have found that specific compounds
in lion’s mane mushrooms stimulate nerves and brain cells to grow,
and keep them alive longer. And labs across the world are now uncovering
some important clues as to why mushrooms can be so beneficial. Under usual circumstances, many different
cells in your body, including neurons and other brain cells, grow and survive thanks
to the work of nerve growth factors. These are proteins that your body makes, which
bind to receptors on those cells and initiate a whole cascade of signals, ending
in either the cells’ death or growth. So nerve growth factors are really important
in keeping your cells alive and well. And scientists have figured out that extracts
of lion’s mane mushrooms stimulate cell growth by making those growth
factors better at their job. They basically tell your body to make more nerve growth factors so they can initiate
more growth. For example, when scientists exposed adrenal
cells from rats to the lion’s mane extracts, they found that the
cells grew more. And not just more than cells that didn’t
get any mushrooms, but even more than cells that were exposed to natural amounts
of nerve growth factors. So mushroom extracts stimulated growth in
those cells better than what they’re exposed to in a
healthy living rat! And that happens because they both stimulate
activity in those nerve growth factors and mimic them, using compounds called hericenones to produce
similar growth on their own. So they not only stimulate growth factors,
but they also simulate growth factors. Through those methods, lion’s mane mushrooms
help brain cells grow bigger, extend outward to interact with other cells,
and stay alive. And all of these cellular benefits can translate
to better brain function. A 2017 collaboration across Switzerland, Italy,
and Slovenia found that supplementing mouse diets with lion’s mane
mushrooms for two months improved their memory. In that study, mice were fed mushrooms for
2 months and then observed as they performed a commonly used memory test. The mushroom-eating mice were drawn more toward
new things, which suggested that they remembered the old
stimuli better than mice that didn’t eat a mushroom
enriched diet. So, sometimes, the data really does add up,
because the experiments on cells in dishes lined up nicely with the experiments
on mice. Lion’s mane mushrooms increased the creation
of new cells in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, and improved
memory. So those new cells are doing things! The same study found that mushroom consumption
was also associated with brain cells in the hippocampus being
more active and releasing more neurotransmitters. So brain cells were not only growing more
to reach out and connect with more cells, but also actively communicating
more with other cells. Now, in addition to apparently improving growth
and communication, there’s also evidence that some of these
mushroom compounds may help your brain cells live longer. In brain cells and the brain’s immune cells, there’s an enzyme that causes inflammation
and often leads to cell death. A Korean study on mice published in 2019 found
that a low dose of lion’s mane mushrooms decreased the number
of brain cells expressing that enzyme, providing an anti-inflammatory
effect and keeping those cells from dying. That effect comes from a different set of
mushroom compounds called erinacines, which initiate another cascade of signals
that reduces inflammation. So some cellular studies are pointing to hericenones, and some rodent studies are suggesting erinacines
are the mushroom compounds to thank for the improved brain cell function
and memory. But what happens in us humans? Well, the mushrooms seem to provide similar
benefits to us, but scientists aren’t quite sure which compounds
are creating those effects. In a 2019 Japanese study, people who took
mushroom powder four times a day for 12 weeks scored higher on a memory test
than the placebo group and higher than they had scored before taking
the supplements. And the growth factors that were so critical
in cellular experiments are also deficient in people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease, so there may be some important implications
for this research in the future. For now, evidence suggests that nerve growth
factors are the proteins behind this mushroom’s effect, but researchers
still aren’t quite sure how the mushroom makes
them tick. Some researchers suspect that hericenones
are major contributors, because there are a lot of them in the fruiting
part of the mushroom, and they’re known to stimulate growth factors. Other compounds like erinacines have also
been proposed, because studies in human cells have found
that hericenones alone don’t provide the same benefits as whole
mushrooms do, at least not at natural concentrations. And erinacines are also known to stimulate
growth factors. So researchers are still trying to figure
out what exactly about the mushrooms leads to their restorative
effect. It might be a combination of hericenones,
erinacines, and maybe even others too. But either way, they tend to agree that lion’s
mane mushrooms have the potential to be really good brain
food. Speaking of things that are good for your
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SciShow video! [♪ OUTRO]
