Urolithin A: Strong Lab Results, Thin Evidence in People
Graded Preliminary — a review without a described systematic search, whose findings come mostly from cell and animal experiments.
- Design
- Narrative review
- Participants
- N/A
- Duration
- —
- Funding
- Ministry of Education of China (Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Fund)…
Urolithin A affects mitochondria in cell and animal experiments, but human studies so far are short and involve healthy people.
Urolithin A forms in the gut when bacteria break down certain plant compounds, such as those in pomegranates. It has drawn attention as a possible anti-aging compound. Its main role seems to involve the cell's power plants, the mitochondria. A review now offers a sober verdict: most findings come from cell and animal experiments.
Human research so far consists mostly of short studies on muscles and endurance. In one trial, people were chosen at random to get urolithin A. Middle-aged and older adults with a fairly high BMI walked farther in a six-minute walking test. An inflammation marker in the blood also fell. In older adults, however, the walking test showed no clear difference. In another study, only about 40 percent of healthy people turned pomegranate compounds into meaningful amounts of urolithin A. The first human study saw no serious side effects.
A review cited by the authors found just five human studies with 250 healthy people in total. None lasted longer than four months. Trials in patients with clinically meaningful outcomes are still missing.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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