Ursolic Acid is a trendy new dietary supplement ingredient that purportedly burns away fat, builds muscle, and reduces your risk of obesity. Is it really the secret to weight loss? Find out today in our guide to ursolic acid.
What Is Ursolic Acid?
Ursolic acid is a chemical compound found in the waxes of apples. The acid was first identified way back in the 1920s, when it was found in fruit peels as well as herbs like rosemary and thyme.
Today, we know that ursolic acid is present in many plants, fruits, and herbs – including many common foods you consume every day. Ursolic acid, for example, can be found in apples, basil, cranberries, peppermint, rosemary, lavender, oregano, thyme, and prunes, among others.
Typically, however, when people take ursolic acid, they get it from apple peels because they contain the largest quantity of ursolic acid relative to other foods. When ursolic acid is used in supplements, it’s typically derived from rosemary extract.
You’ll also find ursolic acid in a wide variety of cosmetics, where it’s used as an additive.
Other names for ursolic acid include urson, prunol, or malol. It also goes by its chemical name, 3-beta-3-hydroxy-urs-12-ene-28-oic-acid.
Benefits of Ursolic Acid
Why is ursolic acid suddenly a popular supplement ingredient? Well, a number of potential biochemical effects of ursolic acid have been investigated over the last few years.
To date, there have been no human clinical studies showing that ursolic acid has any beneficial effects on our health. However, in vitro studies (on cells outside the human body) and mice studies have linked ursolic acid to a number of health benefits.
These studies have shown that ursolic acid can inhibit the proliferation of various cancer cell types, for example. Researchers have observed it working by inhibiting the STAT3 activation pathway. It’s also been observed inducing apoptosis and decreasing the proliferation of cancer cells, among other benefits.
Other benefits of ursolic acid include weakening leukemia cells.
However, ursolic acid isn’t a trendy supplement ingredient because of its purported anti-cancer benefits. Instead, it’s become a popular supplement ingredient for its ability to increase the amount of muscle and brown fat while decreasing white fat in your body.
Once again, the muscle boosting benefits of ursolic acid have not been observed in any human clinical studies. However, they have been observed in studies on mice. In studies on mice, the acid was shown to stimulate muscle growth, provide a cardioprotective effect, and reduce the risk of obesity.
Ursolic Acid Supplements
Ursolic acid supplements have started to appear online. Labrada Nutrition recently launched their own ursolic acid supplement, which features 120 capsules of ursolic acid at a price of $16.43 USD. You can buy it online through Labrada.com or through Amazon.
That supplement claims to offer all of the following benefits:
-Supports fat loss
-Supports lean muscle
-Supports cardiovascular health
In their introduction for that product, Labrada talks about how important it is to preserve lean muscle mass while you lose weight. Losing 15 pounds of fat is great, but it’s also important to add lean muscle while you’re doing it. Otherwise, you’re just becoming atrophic. That’s where ursolic acid claims to help.
Labrada admits that no human trials on ursolic acid have been performed thus far, and all the benefits are associated with studies on mice. Nevertheless, they claim their supplement can be used to enjoy anti-catabolic effects (i.e. the preservation of muscle mass) along with fat loss and improved bone and joint health.
The ursolic acid used in this supplement comes from rosemary leaf extract. There are 200mg of ursolic acid in each 4 capsule serving.
That dosage is actually controversial. In the now-famous Korean study on ursolic acid, the recommended dose was 450mg per day. Considering that there’s only 200mg of ursolic acid in each four capsule serving, you may want to double or triple your dose (especially if you’re over, say, 150 pounds).
What do Customers Have to Say About Ursolic Acid?
There are a number of ursolic acid supplement reviews available online through Amazon and the official Labrada online store. Here are some of the pros and cons reviewers have stated about the supplement.
Pros
-Increased energy levels
-Contributed to an increase in muscle mass
-“I seem to be getting bigger and leaner”
-Muscles feel harder and denser
-Anti-catabolic properties
-“I think ursolic acid is the most significant muscle-growth enhancing compound to come along in decades”
Cons
-The dose in the Labrada Ursolic Acid supplement is too low, as you need to take 8 capsules per day to use the same dose used in the studies on ursolic acid
-Pill is difficult to swallow, possibly due to the “Bitterness or the fumes coming off of it” (it’s also a big gelatin capsule with only a small amount of green powder inside)
-Not backed by significant human trials
Overall, the supplement has a poor rating on Amazon, clocking in at 2.4 stars out of 5 with a total of 26 reviews thus far. The Labrada official website tells a different story, as the reviews on the official website are overwhelmingly positive (and many are written with a suspiciously fake tone).
Reviewers seem split into two groups: some people believe ursolic acid is the next big thing in the athletic supplement industry, and this group observes lean muscle mass gains and better energy because of it. And another group believes ursolic acid is not backed by a significant amount of scientific evidence, and this group did not observe any beneficial effects on their health.
Should You Take Ursolic Acid to Preserve Lean Muscle Mass and Burn Fat?
Ursolic acid has shown early promise as a weight loss agent and muscle boosting compound. However, it’s important to remember that no human studies have been performed thus far. All of the benefits of ursolic acid are based on in vitro studies and rodent studies – so we don’t know if it’s effective (or even perfectly safe) in humans.
If you’re willing to try out a new supplement, and want to complement an existing weight loss/muscle gaining routine, then ursolic acid may be worth a try. Many people, however, will want to wait for more scientific evidence – like human trials – to be published before they believe in the power of ursolic acid.
