What is Ursolic Acid?

The ursolic acid is a natural compound found in several plant species, mainly from the Lamiaceae family. It’s a type of phytochemical with a pentacyclic triterpenoid structure, and a wide range of studies are showing its health benefits, such as:

• Antioxidant
• Antimicrobial
• Anti-inflammatory
• And even anticancer (as chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agents)

Ursolic acid can also promote muscle strength and growth, reduce muscle catabolism, and support fat loss. You can find it in sports supplements, cosmetics, and health products.

Given these features, ursolic acid is becoming more and more popular for people looking to improve body composition—that is, reduce fat and maintain muscle tissue, boost metabolism, and regulate blood sugar levels, which could be quite interesting for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Sources of Ursolic Acid

What are the properties of Ursolic Acid?

The main property of ursolic acid is that it’s a completely natural component, making it a very feasible option for many people who want to avoid synthetic compounds or pharmaceuticals.

Using ursolic acid alongside proper eating habits and physical activity will significantly improve people’s health, minimizing the chances of metabolic syndrome. This health condition involves a series of disorders that increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, or stroke as more serious cases.

Among these factors is overweight and obesity, inhibiting cell differentiation and adipogenesis. This compound modulates the expression or activity of many proteins or enzymes involved in fat cell differentiation, fatty acid synthesis, and oxidation. Other studies have shown that ursolic acid increases phosphorylation and AMPK activity and the protein expression of Sirt1. Thanks to this, studies confirm the improvements it causes in body composition through the use of ursolic acid.

Benefits of Ursolic Acid

Increase muscle mass

Studies show that ursolic acid stimulates muscle Akt activity. Akt is a protein kinase whose function is to regulate cell proliferation, stimulating growth through activating protein synthesis. Along with this signaling, it also promotes better glucose use by mRNA, recruitment of blood vessels (Vegfa), and autocrine/paracrine signaling of IGF-I (Igf1).

With this hormonal cascade, the results you can see are:

• Increase in skeletal muscle mass
• Size of fiber types (fast and slow)
• Physical performance, both in strength and capacity and endurance.

Ursolic acid can act as an aromatase inhibitor, the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen.

Lose fat and increase calorie consumption

Another interesting point is the increase in activity of a type of tissue, brown fat, and as a result, the metabolic rate.

Brown fat is one of the two types humans have. The other is called “white fat.” Newborns have a higher amount of this brown tissue. Its main function is to maintain body temperature. It gets its name from the color given by the iron content.

The difference between brown and white fat is that the first has more capillaries, leading to higher oxygen consumption; white fat results from storing excess calories; meanwhile, brown fat generates heat by burning calories. In cold environments, lipid deposits in fat are depleted.

Ursolic acid can convert white fat tissue into brown, probably due to increased irisin.

Treat diseases causing muscle atrophy

Ursolic acid has been recognized as a potential therapy to treat muscle atrophy caused by disease or aging, and even to stimulate hypertrophy. This process was observed through ursolic acid’s inhibition of mRNA expression in skeletal muscle, which is associated with atrophy, along with increased insulin in skeletal muscle and insulin-like growth factor (IGF1). IGF1 is thought to become more sensitive.

Skin health

An important action of ursolic acid is its ability to inhibit tumor progression in the skin. Some studies show that ursolic acid, along with its isomer, oleanolic acid, inhibit tumor growth induced by TPA in mice. This treatment is being tested to prevent skin cancer, and studies are ongoing on its usefulness in treating other tumors.

Ursolic acid also has cosmetic applications, as it’s an anti-aging compound for skin, improving and strengthening skin collagen, which gives skin more elasticity and improves the appearance of wrinkles and spots. It’s used in wrinkle cosmetics.

Ursolic acid can increase ceramide and keratinocyte levels, promoting regeneration of the skin’s hydrolipid barrier. Oleanolic acid and ursolic acid also promote positive expression of genes required for differentiation of some structural proteins, like involucrin and filaggrin. Other studies had already found that ursolic acid liposomes promote collagen synthesis and increase ceramide numbers.

Decreased ceramides and collagen are directly linked to hydrolipid barrier permeability, leading to dry, flaky skin. Likewise, decreased collagen levels are associated with loss of firmness and wrinkle appearance.

These changes relate to both biological aging and sun exposure. For this reason, topical application of ursolic acid fights both types of aging: genetic and photoinduced.

Anti-inflammatory effect

It has an anti-inflammatory effect. This is a characteristic function of triterpenic compounds (30 carbons). Ursolic acid can inhibit the cyclooxygenase, 5-lipoxygenase, and elastase pathways in human leukocytes.

Reduction of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

According to studies, ursolic acid could be interesting as it may offer protective effects against BPH. The prostate gland surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. As the prostate enlarges, it can squeeze or partially block the urethra. This often causes urination problems. This tends to happen in older men, caused by hormonal imbalances and cell growth, and although it’s not cancer, it can cause serious symptoms like bladder obstruction, making urination impossible or extremely difficult.

Hair strengthening

Ursolic acid is also used to help hair growth as it can stimulate blood circulation in the scalp and activate keratinocytes.

Protection against memory decline

Ursolic acid offers neuroprotective mechanisms by reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, which relates to lipid peroxidation, along with glutathione (GSH) depletion in the hippocampus.

How to take Ursolic Acid?

According to human studies, the recommended dose is 150 mg divided into 3 times a day with meals, to complete 450 mg daily (source: examine.com).

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