[Fine Chemicals] Ergothioneine is called a high-end antioxidant ingredient — is it only because it's expensive? | Ingredient Special 22
In recent years, ergothioneine has been widely studied in medicine, food, and cosmetics because of its antioxidant and cell-protective physiological functions. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found that adults aged 60 and over who ate more mushrooms had a lower chance of developing mild cognitive impairment. So ergothioneine from mushrooms and ergot fungi may help delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases [1].
Cosmetics is one of the fields where ergothioneine is most widely used. Its growing range of applications in the cosmetics industry has been one of the important drivers of the rapid development of China's ergothioneine market in recent years. As early as 2014, ergothioneine was added by the State Food and Drug Administration to the catalogue of cosmetic ingredients already in use.
Among the many cosmetic ingredients, ergothioneine's steep price is also one of its hallmarks. Formulator Rex once mentioned in an article that pure ergothioneine raw material can cost tens of thousands of yuan per gram.
However, when the reporter checked several manufacturers with the highest sales volumes of ergothioneine raw material on the Alibaba app, the prices varied quite a lot between them.
Most of these sellers claim the ergothioneine they sell is a pure substance, but some product detail page titles mention pine mushroom extract (a mixture).
Among them, Bloomage Biotech's ergothioneine raw material is a mixed liquid. The seller provided the reporter with assay information for the ergothioneine content (about 0.013%, which works out to about 7,500 yuan/g for the pure substance). So while the price of one gram of the pure substance may not reach tens of thousands, it is still jaw-droppingly expensive.
In addition, ergothioneine marketed as 98%–99% pure varies in price by nearly a hundredfold between different sellers. A person in charge at a domestic company told Julimei that because fermentation yields aren't very high, production costs for ergothioneine are relatively high, and its normal price is generally several hundred yuan per gram. It's understood that ergothioneine raw material is currently mainly produced through chemical synthesis and biological fermentation, and the different production routes, purity, and quality ultimately determine the different prices.
Basic research and applications of ergothioneine by cosmetics companies
As one of Estée Lauder's signature ingredients, ergothioneine appears in several of its product lines. In 2002, Estée Lauder subsidiary Applied Genetics Incorporated Dermatics was granted an invention patent titled "Methods and compositions for the protection of mitochondria."
In this patent, the effective application and delivery of L-ergothioneine is enhanced through liposomal encapsulation, and the approach helps counter damage to skin and the body from radiation, free radicals, and reactive oxygen species.
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