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Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Study Spotlight: Ursolic Acid Increases Skeletal Muscle and Brown Fat and What That Means

I had heard about this one through the Tim Ferriss podcast where he interviewed Patrick Arnold (LINK, it is worth the listen) and throughout the entire episode the covered everything but one part caught my attention in particular.  They were talking about Ursolic Acid and how it was turned into a spray in your mouth supplement (think Binaca) and they were getting some incredible results.  Mr. Arnold referenced a study that Steven Kunkel did with the supplement so I thought I would look it up
and have a look for myself and here it is in this Study Spotlight.

What They Did:
This was a mouse study and in it they took a look at mice that consumed a high-fat diet with one group supplementing with ursolic acid while the other group was not.  Both groups of mice were put on diets known to induce obesity and cause additional problems like glucose intolerance and fatty liver disease.

What They Found:
Researchers found that in skeletal muscle urosolic acid increased Akt activity and downstream MRNAs that promote glucose utilization, blood vessel recruitment and autocrine/panacrine IGF-1 signaling.  As a result the ursolic acid increased skeletal muscle mass, fast and slow muscle fiber size,  grip stretch and exercise capacity.  It also increased 'brown fat'.  

What It All Means:
That was a lot in the 'What They Found' so lets break it down.  Art activity in muscle stimulates muscle growth and imparts resistance to obesity, glucose intolerance and fatty liver disease.  With ursolic acid enhancing Akt activity that is a good sign and shows it can help with some of the above mentioned conditions.  Along with the benefits produced in skeletal muscle the increase in brown fat can be beneficial to you as well.  Brown fat is thought to be the 'Good Fat' and can actually help you burn more calories and up your metabolism.  (Tim Ferriss recommends some cold therapy to help enhance the function of brown fat.  Think cold showers.)  All these things can add up to some very simple and easy help to increase your bodies ability to function and burn more fat.

Supplement LINK: Of course it is out of stock but if you are looking again, make sure it is a spray.  Patrick Arnold made it very clear that was important.

Resource: Kunzel, Steven.  Ursolic Acid Increase Skeletal Muscle and Brown Fat and Decreases Diet-Inducded Obesity, Glucose Intolerance and Fatty Liver Disease.


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