FAQ

FAQ about Fulvic Acid

What is fulvic acid?

Fulvic acid is a naturally occurring organic compound formed during the decomposition of plant and microbial matter. It is the smallest and most bioavailable fraction of humus, fully water-soluble at all pH levels. Fulvic acid contains ionic trace minerals and can pass easily through cell membranes, allowing it to transport nutrients in soil, plants, and potentially living organisms.

Where does fulvic acid come from?

Fulvic acid forms in healthy soils, sediments, peat, freshwater sources, shilajit, and some coal deposits through humification and mineralisation. These processes involve soil bacteria breaking down organic matter into ionic minerals. Commercial fulvic acid is typically extracted from peat, freshwater lakes, or shilajit deposits.

How does fulvic acid support nutrient absorption?

Fulvic acid has a low molecular weight and electrical charge, allowing it to bind minerals and transport them across cell membranes. Research suggests it may increase cell membrane permeability, improving the absorption of vitamins, trace minerals, and electrolytes at the cellular level.

Can fulvic acid support gut health?

Fulvic acid may support gut health by improving nutrient absorption and creating a favourable environment for beneficial gut bacteria. A healthy microbiome plays a role in digestion, metabolism, and the production of compounds such as fatty acids and neurotransmitters. Human evidence is still limited, and most findings are preliminary.

Does fulvic acid help remove toxins from the body?

Fulvic acid is known to bind heavy metals and pollutants in environmental systems, such as mercury and certain pesticides. Researchers are investigating whether similar binding properties may support cellular cleansing in the body. While early studies are promising, there is currently insufficient clinical evidence to confirm detoxification effects in humans.

Can fulvic acid support the immune system?

Preliminary animal studies suggest fulvic acid may help regulate immune signalling and inflammatory responses. It may also support mitochondrial health, indirectly increasing the body’s antioxidant defences. However, most evidence comes from early-stage or animal research, and more human studies are needed.

Does fulvic acid improve energy levels?

Fulvic acid may support energy production by improving nutrient and oxygen delivery to mitochondria, the cell’s energy-producing organelles. It may also help maintain electrolyte balance, which supports efficient cellular energy production. These effects are primarily supported by experimental and animal data.

Can fulvic acid help with recovery after exercise or injury?

Fulvic acid has shown potential in supporting tissue repair and recovery by enhancing mineral transport and hydration. Case studies and anecdotal reports suggest it may reduce muscle fatigue and support bone healing, but controlled human trials are limited.

Is fulvic acid beneficial for skin health?

Early research suggests fulvic acid may support wound healing, protect collagen, and reduce oxidative stress in the skin. Small human studies and laboratory research indicate it can penetrate multiple skin layers and help maintain skin hydration and elasticity. More large-scale clinical studies are required.

Can fulvic acid support brain health or cognition?

Animal studies suggest fulvic acid may support learning, memory, and nervous system function. Laboratory research also indicates it may help dissolve protein aggregates associated with impaired nerve signalling. These findings are preliminary and have not yet been confirmed in human trials.

Does fulvic acid increase longevity?

Fulvic acid may indirectly support longevity by protecting mitochondrial function, reducing oxidative stress, and improving nutrient absorption. Since mitochondrial health is linked to ageing, researchers are exploring this connection, but no direct evidence currently confirms lifespan extension in humans.

Is fulvic acid the same as humic acid?

No. Fulvic acid and humic acid are both components of humus, but fulvic acid has a smaller molecular size, higher oxygen content, and is soluble at all pH levels. Humic acid is larger, less bioavailable, and only soluble in alkaline conditions.

Why don’t scientists fully understand how fulvic acid works?

Fulvic acid is chemically complex and does not have a single, fixed molecular structure. Despite extensive research, scientists have been unable to isolate a definitive structure, which makes its mechanisms of action difficult to fully explain.

Can I blend my Oshun Health products into a smoothie?

With the exception of the Pro32 Probiotics (has to be taken on an empty stomach) all our products may be added to juices or smoothies. We do not recommend blending it, however. Liposomes are quite delicate and blending (or vigorous shaking) or adding it to hot drinks can damage the liposomes. Rather stir it into the smoothie.

What about the use of high dose ascorbic acid’s success in the treatment of cancer and sepsis?

There is research to show that extreme doses of ascorbic acid can be helpful in the treatment of cancer, sepsis and infectious diseases. Oshun Health’s view is that high-dose ascorbic acid is beneficial under special circumstances such as the ones mentioned above. There is, however, also research that shows that high doses of ascorbic acid can cause DNA damage. A study in the American Journal of Clinical  Nutrition (Vol. 87, No. 1, 142-149, January 2008) reveals, that supplementation with ascorbic acid devastates the muscle, causing impairment in mitochondrial function, loss of endurance, and inhibition of the body’s own antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase. In this case, rather than being a beneficial antioxidant, ascorbic acid has been shown to work as an adverse pro-oxidant.

Therefore, a high dose of ascorbic acid can be beneficial but, depending on how high the dose of ascorbic acid is, it can be an extreme intervention and should not be undertaken lightly or in the long term. For daily use and under normal circumstances a natural Vitamin C is preferable.

Why are almost all the Oshun Health products only available in liquids?

As Pharmaceutical Sciences professors Vladimir P. Torchillin, Ph.D., and Volkmar Weissig, Ph.D., write in their definitive text:

Liposomes: A Practical Approach: “In order to produce liposomes (of whatever kind), lipid molecules must be introduced into an aqueous environment. “Water is the most common aqueous material in liposomal supplements.” Therefore, a liposomal product will always be in a liquid.

Why should I take a whole food supplement?

Unlike whole food, synthetic supplements contain isolated, synthetically made nutrients. In other words nutrients that are taken out of the context (in combination with phytochemicals, nutritional cofactors etc) in which they optimally function. This situation you will never find in nature/food, which already gives an indication that it’s unnatural. In addition, these supplements are often foreign to the body; they, therefore, have to be converted into a form that the body can use or they have to be excreted through the urine, placing an undue burden on the organs.

It is now widely believed that the actions of antioxidant nutrients alone do not explain the observed health benefits of diets rich in fruit and vegetables. Taken alone, individual, isolated antioxidants studied in clinical trials do not appear to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, in the same way that diets rich in fruit and vegetables do. Work done by scientists has shown that fruit and vegetable phytochemical extracts exhibit strong antioxidant and anticancer activities and it is proposed that this is due to the complex additive and synergistic effects of the combined nutrients in fruit and vegetables. This also explains why no single antioxidant can replace the combination of nutrients in fruit and vegetables. The above explains why whole food supplements, as offered by Oshun Health, are better than isolated, synthetic nutrients.

Why should I take a whole food Vitamin C containing 75mg of Vitamin C per dose if I can take an ascorbic acid which contains a 1000mg per dose?

Citrus C cannot be compared to ascorbic acid, the synthetic version of vitamin C at all. Except for the fact that Citrus C contains the whole Vitamin C molecule which ascorbic doesn’t (see explanation above) whole food vitamins also, due to the phytochemicals and other nutritional cofactors in the product, functions in a completely different way as far as dosage is concerned. Studies on apples show, for instance, that although an apple contains only about 5mg of Vitamin C, the phytochemicals and nutritional cofactors in the apple work synergistically to provide the equivalent of 1500mg of Vitamin C! (reference: Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits). It follows, therefore, that natural Vitamin C does not have to be taken in high doses to be potent