Ursolic Acid by Labrada Nutrition
Lean Muscle Optimizer
* Supports Fat Loss
* Supports Lean Muscle
* Supports Cardiovascular Health
Fighting Fat While Sparing Precious Muscle
When it comes to getting in shape, do you ever find yourself in a “catch 22”? Coined in the early 1960s, this expression refers to a no-win situation – one where solving one part of a problem only creates another. Picture this as an example: You clean out the junk in your diet, you begin hitting the gym, and you lose 15 pounds. Great! Mission accomplished, right? Maybe not. In your effort to lose unwanted weight, you’ve also lost a precious commodity – muscle. Your waistline may be smaller, but your body is soft, lacking definition. You’ve solved one part of the problem (the number on your scale), only to encounter another (loss of muscle tone). This is the reality for many – having to choose between fat loss and muscle growth. If only there was a way to achieve both…
Trust the Old Adage
As it turns out, an apple a day does more than keep the doctor away. A naturally occurring ingredient found in apple peels (ursolic acid) has actually been suggested to support fat loss and muscle growth… and not just one or the other. People who are especially concerned about sparing – and ultimately building – muscle can be confident knowing that Labrada’s new Ursolic Acid Lean Muscle Optimizer has their goals for a lean, defined body in mind.* That’s because ursolic acid has been suggested to affect molecular pathways that could actually prevent muscle loss and weakness. In some studies involving both humans and mice, ursolic acid was surmised to help counteract the catabolic effects of fasting/dieting. Meanwhile, in studies with just mice, this natural ingredient was surmised to help protect against a decrease in muscle mass. In fact, when ursolic acid was added to the food of normal, non-fasted mice, it supported muscle growth.
While ursolic acid as a dietary supplement has only recently come into the spotlight, early findings are extremely promising and human clinical trials continue. Because plants containing ursolic acid have been used in herbalism for centuries, you can be confident this ingredient is natural, safe, and effective.
Fat Loss Anyone?
In the previously mentioned study where mice experienced muscle growth when given ursolic acid, it was also found that the mice became leaner and supported healthy blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides, already in normal range. This, again, is that coveted combination that many of us strive for – muscle growth and fat loss rolled into one. Supplementing with Labrada’s Ursolic Acid may help make all the difference. As further suggested in studies, mice that were fed ursolic acid and a high-fat diet had significantly lower body weights and abdominal (visceral) adiposity compared to mice on the same diet but without the ursolic acid supplement. Diet and activity levels were the same for both groups; the only “edge” was the ursolic acid. The question then remains: What could Ursolic Acid do for you?
It All Comes Back to Supporting Health
Labrada’s Ursolic Acid hasn’t just been designed to help support your goals. It may even help support cardiovascular health, making it a beneficial supplement for dieters and athletes of all ages. Because Ursolic Acid can help support healthy body composition, it provides nutritional support that may be beneficial for promoting weight loss. It also plays a role in bone and joint health.
WANT TO DIG DEEPER INTO THE SCIENCE?
While studies continue on ursolic acid and its role in fat loss and muscle sparing, you can view some of the current research by Monica Mollica BSc , MSc. below.
Ursolic acid is a newly discovered substance, which is a component of apple peels. Ursolic acid has generated a lot of scientific interest lately, because it has been found to affect molecular pathways that may help prevent muscle loss and weakness and promote healthy body composition.
What is it?
Ursolic acid, also known as urson, prunol, micromerol, and malol, is a pentacyclic triterpenoid compound which naturally occurs in a large number of vegetarian foods, herbs, and other plants, including apples and rosemary.
Anti-catabolic - Preservation of Muscle Mass
The anti-catabolic effect of ursolic acid was recently surmised by a study that looked at what happens to gene activity in muscles during catabolic situations like fasting. It was found that fasting in both people and mice changes gene expression in many genes. These gene expression changes were then compared to those seen in muscle fibers that had been exposed to a wide array of bioactive molecules. Of all the tested bioactive molecules, ursolic acid turned out to be a unique substance that induced a gene expression pattern that reduced the catabolic effects of fasting.
Next, ursolic acid was given to fasted mice, and found to reduce muscle catabolism. When ursolic acid was added to the food of normal (non-fasted) mice for five weeks, their muscles grew. These effects were mediated by enhanced insulin signaling in muscle and counteracting of the gene expression pattern causing muscle catabolism.
Fat Loss
In the same study, it was further suggested that mice given ursolic acid also became leaner and supported healthy body composition.
Another study specifically evaluated ursolic acid for its effects on blood glucose, lipids, and abdominal fat deposition in mice. Mice supplemented with ursolic acid had significantly decreased body weights, abdominal (visceral) adiposity, and supported healthy levels of blood glucose and plasma lipids that were already in healthy range. Also, a significant increase was observed in levels of leptin with a decrease in ghrelin.
Ghrelin is a hormone secreted in the stomach. It has an orexigenic (appetite increasing) effect through its action on the hypothalamic appetite-regulating pathways. It also promotes adipose tissue accumulation.
Leptin, a hormone secreted from fat cells, has wide ranging effects in the body. Among all, it plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure.
Thus, the increase in leptin and decrease in ghrelin levels may have contributed to these ursolic acid supported fat loss effects. Ursolic acid also has been suggested to increase liberation of fatty acids from body fat stores, and inhibit fat absorption by reducing the activity of pancreatic lipase (an enzyme that is necessary for fat absorption). Thus, ursolic acid can help support healthy body composition via several complementary mechanisms. Supports healthy blood lipid profile and promotes blood sugar control.
The ability of ursolic acid to support healthy blood sugar already in normal range, was further surmised in another study, which also found that ursolic may help support healthy levels of total blood cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol) already within normal range, and support levels of HDL (the good cholesterol), and stimulates liver glycogen synthesis.
May Help Support a Healthy Heart
The walls of large arteries, when activated, recruit circulating monocytes (a type of white blood cell). A common condition that affects monocytes in a negative way is high blood sugar, which can be caused by a high carbohydrate diet and physical inactivity. High blood sugar levels cause a low grade inflammatory state, and monocytes are important in orchestrating these effects. In light of this, it is interesting that ursolic acid may help support healthy monocyte function.
Ursolic acid may also beneficially affect endothelial cells and thereby promote cardiovascular health via other mechanisms. One of those is via an up-regulation of eNOS expression in endothelial cells and increase in bioactive vascular nitric oxide, and parallel downregulation of eNOS-dependent production of free radicals in human endothelial cells.
eNOS stands for endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and is the enzyme in blood vessels that produces nitric oxide. In the body, nitric oxide is an important cellular signaling molecule. Nitric oxide has gained status as one of the most important signaling molecules in the cardiovascular system, and is regarded to be a ubiquitous mediator of cardioprotection. Supporting nitric oxide levels and activities in the heart and blood vessels may help support cardiovascular health. Thus, ursolic acid may hold great potential in being a natural dietary compound that promotes eNOS actvity and nitric oxide levels.
Promote Bone and Joint Health
There has been growing interest in supplements that support healthy bone mass. It has been suggested that ursolic acid has anabolic effects on the skeleton by supporting osteoblast differentiation, bone mineralization to promote healthy bone formation.
Safety
Ursolic acid is a natural dietary substance that only recently has started to generate scientific interest. While most of the studies on ursolic acid have been made in mice and cell cultures, plants containing ursolic acid have been used in herbalism for centuries. It has been established that ursolic acid is non-toxic, so we can count on seeing products being developed with ursolic acid as the active ingredient for different supplements in the near future.
Bottom Line
The presence of ursolic acid in apple peels and many edible plants contributes to their overall health benefits. Ursolic acid not only helps reduce catabolism during conditions like fasting and dieting, but may also help to reduce body fat, and support healthy sugar and lipid levels in blood, when already in normal range. These effects may be beneficial for promoting healthy body composition.
Ursolic acid is generating a lot of scientific interest as being a novel and bioactive molecule for supplement use. With all the recent studies on ursolic acids, the old cliché "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" could more specifically be restated as "an apple a day helps keep muscle loss and body flab away".