MagicLION™ – Natural Neurogenic & Nootropic

MagicLION™ – Natural Neurogenic & Nootropic

#embracethelion is more than just a marketing hashtag, it’s a call to awareness for the people. It’s an introduction to a new class of ingredients that many people haven’t even heard of, yet the majority of them need in today’s fast-paced world where multi-tasking is a prerequisite of survival.

Unfortunately for most, our mental energy is limited, and the presence of distractions at work, at home, on television, the internet, social media and our mobile devices creates an environment where the depth of penetration of any single piece of information is very shallow. We end up ‘aware’ of thousands of things going on around us, but never really understand them or have the requisite mental focus and energy to block out the noise and learn.

This is why movies like ‘Limitless’ intrigue us – the potential ability to continue to live in the fast-paced world of today and not just survive – but thrive. The concept of being able to focus on any given task despite the noise, and quickly concentrate, learn, and execute. It translates into many facets of our lives, from focusing on the task at hand at work or in school, to summoning your inner beast into squeezing out that last rep at the gym. This is where a mental energy nootropic formula like RAVE can help.

MagicLION™ is a specialized extract of Hericium erinaceus exclusive to ANS Performance and our new product RAVE. While this wild mushroom is commonly known as ‘Lion’s Mane’, there is nothing common about it. From it’s incredible physical form from which its name is derived – Lion’s Mane is a powerful traditionally used Chinese medicine with benefits that are just starting to be studied by the Western world.

Also known as the bearded tooth mushroom, bearded hedgehog or locally in Japan as yamabushitake which means ‘mountain priest mushroom’, Lion’s Mane has been a staple in traditional Asian medicine and folklore for thousands of years. It is said that Lion’s Mane gives you ‘nerves of steel and the memory of a lion’.

The chemical makeup of Lion’s Mane is very unique. While a lot of therapeutic research has been focused on the immune boosting properties of mushrooms, Lion’s Mane has the unique ability to enhance cognitive function and actually act as a ‘neurogenic’ – that is, it promotes the maintenance and regeneration of nerve cells.

Lion’s Mane contains a number of polysaccharides, including β-glucans – the key immunomodulating class of polysaccharides common to several therapeutic mushroom species. What separates Lion’s Mane from other mushrooms however is the presence of the triterpenes known as hericenones and erinacines. It’s these compounds, found in the fruit body and mycelium, that are considered to be responsible for the neuro-regenerative effects of this species.

Figure 1: Examples of Hericenone and Erinacine structures

These triterpenes have been studied extensively in Japan, and scientists have found that these relatively small molecules are able to cross the blood brain barrier and stimulate Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) production in the nervous system.  NGF is a protein that plays a major role in the maintenance, survival and regeneration of neurons in both your central and peripheral nervous systems.  With many neurological disorders, the brain is unable to manufacture NGF, and external sources of NGF protein cannot cross the blood-brain barrier; this absence or shortfall of NGF is what contributes to the progressive deterioration of brain neurons over time and the related cognitive decline.

Hericenone and erinacine, the key triterpenes found in Lion’s Mane are potent natural inducers of NGF synthesis. In 2014 a breakthrough study on rats looked at efficacy of a Lion’s Mane extract in promoting nerve regeneration after a surgically induced ‘crush’ injury that severed nerve connections.  Results of the Lion’s Mane test group demonstrated several enhancements in biochemical markers indicating improved recovery and enhanced nerve regeneration.

As the world’s first ‘smart mushroom’ Lion’s Mane was put to the test in a human study on older adults with mild cognitive decline. They took powdered Lion’s Mane three times daily for 16 weeks and compared to a group taking a placebo. The Lion’s Mane group scored significantly higher on the cognitive function scale with no adverse effects!

So what is MagicLION™?

MagicLION™ is the exclusive Lion’s Mane extract found in ANS Performance new product RAVE. As an extract it’s far more potent and expensive to produce than some of the more common mushroom powders that may be available on the market.

MagicLION™ is produced using an ethanol/water solution in order to extract the full spectrum of beneficial β-glucans and triterpenes from the entire fruit body of the mature mushroom. For every gram of MagicLION™ Lion’s Mane extract that is produced, 10 grams of dried mushroom powder are used. Thus the potency is approximately 10-fold higher when compared to a powdered mushroom material.

As a far more concentrated extract with over 50% standardization for bio-active components, MagicLION™ packs an unparalleled nootropic and neurogenic punch with even a relatively low dose of 50-100mg as found in RAVE.

The benefits of this powerful natural neurogenic nootropic are just starting to get uncovered by modern medicine, and studies are continuously emerging with more compelling arguments for turning to nature as a source of potential health support.