What Is Nerve Growth Factor? The Science Behind Lion's Mane
Your brain builds, maintains, and rewires itself your entire life — forming new connections, reinforcing the ones you use, and letting go of the ones you don't.
That process has a name. And it runs on a molecule most people have never heard of.
Your brain runs on connection
A brain isn't powerful because of how many cells it has. It's powerful because of how those cells connect. Each neuron reaches out through thin branches — called neurites — to communicate with thousands of others. The strength and health of those connections is what we experience as focus, memory, and mental clarity.
Keeping that network alive and growing depends heavily on nerve growth factor (NGF) — a protein that helps protect neurons from dying off and encourages neurites to grow and extend. Research describes NGF as essential for maintaining and organizing neurons so they function the way they're supposed to.
Here's the catch: NGF is a large molecule, and the body's ability to support healthy neuronal maintenance can decline over time. That's why scientists have spent decades looking for compounds that may help stimulate the body's own NGF production from within.
Where Lion's Mane comes in
Hericium erinaceus — Lion's Mane — has been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Modern research has been working to explain why.
A 2010 review in the journal Mycology surveyed two families of compounds unique to this mushroom: hericenones, found in the fruiting body, and erinacines, found in the mycelium. Both have been studied as stimulators of NGF biosynthesis — meaning they're researched for their potential to support the signal that keeps neurons growing, branching, and intact.
Why it matters past 30
Neuronal maintenance and the body's neurotrophic signaling don't stay at peak forever. That decline is part of why NGF has become such an active area of research in the context of long-term brain health and aging.
For high performers who plan to stay sharp for decades, supporting that system is the kind of long-game thinking a performance formula should be built on.
Why 2,000mg in CHARGE
We built CHARGE with 2,000mg of Organic Lion's Mane per serving — a real, functional amount.
It doesn't work alone. It sits alongside the rest of the formula so that every serving supports the body and the mind — clean energy and clarity for the work in front of you, and the kind of ingredients that compound for the better over time.
Modern performance. Ancient wisdom. Built into every scoop.
Source: Ma B-J, Shen J-W, Yu H-Y, et al. Hericenones and erinacines: stimulators of nerve growth factor (NGF) biosynthesis in Hericium erinaceus. Mycology, 2010, 1(2): 92–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/21501201003735556
