Fulvic Acid and Sport – Up Your Game Naturally

The unrivalled potential of fulvic acid to improve endurance, decrease recovery time, and protect against injury in sport has been well documented. Yet, little seems to be known about this remarkable nutrient. As a supplement for sportspeople it is second to none. Here’s why:

What is fulvic acid?

Fulvic acid is a naturally occuring, organic compound which is formed during the decomposition of plant material (composting) over millions of years. The microbes responsible for the process of decomposition release oxygen into the soil with the result that fulvic acid contains approximately 45% oxygen (See Fig 2). This oxygen is highly bioavailable and readily absorbed by the cells of the body.

Element % in fulvic acid:

Carbon 45.8
Hydrogen 5.4
Nitrogen 2.1
Oxygen 44.8
Sulphur 1.9

What role does fulvic acid play in the physiological and biochemical processes of sport?

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Metabolism

Metabolism is the process by which the body converts food and drink into energy and metabolic rate is the speed at which this process occurs. ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) is the chemical that makes this conversion possible and is often referred to as the “molecular currency” of energy transfer; in other words it is able to store and transport energy within the cell.

The type of metabolism we use depends on the type of exercise we do. When exercise is aerobic (happens in the presence of oxygen) as is the case with jogging, a different metabolic pathway is followed and different by-products produced than when it is anaerobic (exercise in the absence of oxygen) as is the case with sprinting. Much more ATP is produced during aerobic exercise which is the reason why we can jog for longer than we can sprint.

During anaerobic exercise lactic acid is the by-product formed, whereas during aerobic exercise carbon dioxide (CO2) is the by-product formed. This is important as the different types of metabolism have different implications for performance and recovery. Both can be remedied with oxygen, however. This is where fulvic acid comes in, but more about that later.

Lactic Acid Buildup

Although the body prefers to generate most of its energy using aerobic methods (with oxygen) there are circumstances – such as lifting heavy weights or sprinting – during which the body can’t deliver oxygen fast enough and has to revert to anaerobic methods to deliver energy. This is done by producing lactic acid. Working muscles can continue this lactic acid method of energy production at high rates for only about one to three minutes during which lactic acid levels can accumulate to high levels. This causes the burning sensation often felt during extreme exertion. The painful sensation during lactic acid production acts as a kind of natural defense system and gets the muscles to stop overworking, thus forcing a recovery period during which the body clears the lactate and other metabolites by re-introducing oxygen. During a sprint or heavy weight lifting there is not much we can do to prevent lactic acid building-up but we can take measures to prevent a prolonged accumulation. One of these measure is to ensure that a high concentration of oxygen is present in the cells before and during anaerobic exercise.

Due to the fact that fulvic acid contains approximately 45% highly bio-available oxygen, it has the ability to deliver oxygen directly to the muscle cells and, thus, may reduce the detrimental effects of lactic acid and CO2 build-up. It is this characteristic of fulvic acid that makes it so useful in sport. If fulvic acid is taken regularly over a period of 2–3 months the problems associated with lactic acid and carbon dioxide build-up may be reduced.

Carbon Dioxide Buildup

In the same way, by delivering oxygen directly into the muscle cells, fulvic acid can help to counteract the negative effects of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) build-up during aerobic exercise. This build-up is the main reason why we run out of steam during aerobic exercise such as jogging. Maintaining a balance between CO2 and oxygen in the cell is a constant battle during exercise, and when the amount of CO2 via aerobic metabolism outweighs the amount of oxygen we are able to breathe in we run into oxygen debt. The way we repay this debt is by re-introducing oxygen into our cells through heavy breathing. If the point at which this oxygen debt becomes too much can be improved and the length of time it takes for us to repay the debt can be decreased, in theory, we can train for longer and recover quicker.

To achieve this, we need an extremely efficient exchange between oxygen and CO2 in our cells, an increased lung capacity, or a way of ensuring that oxygen levels in the muscle cells remain as high as possible.

Although further research on this topic is needed, testimonials have shown that when fulvic acid supplements are taken for a sufficient period of time, muscle soreness after exercise is decreased and the ability to train for longer is noticed.

Similarities with Creatine

Creatine is a substance that is found naturally in muscles cells. It helps the muscles to produce energy during heavy lifting or high-intensity exercise and also to increase muscle mass.

Creatine works by allowing the muscles to recycle the body’s prime energy currency, ATP, thereby making it available for further use and allowing muscles to work harder. Usually, during exercise, ATP is broken down into ADP and, in the process, releases energy. However, once in the ADP form, it takes a while for it to be converted back into ATP and once again be available as energy source.

The presence of high concentrations of creatine allows the cells to regenerate ATP from ADP much quicker than normal, allowing the cell to work for longer periods. According to the Mayo Clinic creatine, when used orally and at appropriate doses, is likely to be safe to take for up to five years. However, there is concern that creatine taken in high doses can be unsafe and could damage the liver, kidneys or heart. Also, creatine should not be taken if there is a history of kidney disease or diabetes that increase the risk of kidney problems.

Fulvic acid is an ideal replacement for creatine as this nutrient will offer all of the benefits of creatine. Not only that, it will also work for endurance athletes. Creatine has been shown to be effective only for high intensity sports and will, therefore, not work for endurance sport such as football, cycling and running. Furthermore, fulvic acid will not cause any of the side effects mentioned above.

Electrolyte Therapy

Electolytes are minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium that carry an electric charge. They balance the amount of water in the body, move nutrients in and waste out of cells, and have important roles in the way nerves, muscles, and the heart function. Without electrolytes in sufficient quantities muscle weakness, cramping and, in more severe cases impaired judgement, mental confusion, and fatigue, can occur. It is common knowledge that prolonged exercise leads to progressive water and electrolyte loss as sweat is secreted to promote heat loss. The question, therefore remains how best to compensate for loss of electrolytes during heavy exercise?

Many sports drinks contain a very limited number of electrolytes and use mineral ingredients which are known to be very poorly absorbed. Fulvic acid is one of nature’s most powerful electrolytes as many research articles have proven. The reason why it is so powerful is that it naturally contains around 75 different minerals and are able to deliver these on a cellular level. The other remarkable thing about fulvic acid is that it is, at times, available as electron donor and, at times, as electron acceptor, based on the cell’s requirements. It is therefore able to maximise the electrical chemistry of the cell.

When electrolytes are lost through the skin during intense exercise, fulvic acid will immediately replace these and prevent loss of performance. It is the only known substance with this ability.

Prevention and recovery from injuries

Another characteristic of fulvic acid is its ability to dissolve vegetal silica into a form easily utilised by the body. Silica is one of the 13 trace minerals the body needs to improve bone strength and density. It is also a key ingredient in collagen creation. Collagen is a key component of connective tissue such as ligaments and tendons and is, therefore, important in sport. It goes without saying that, if ligaments and tendons are kept strong, sports injuries are less likely to occur. A good source of bioavailable silica is also important when injuries do occur as it helps with the healing process. Sportspeople can get the maximum effect from taking vegetal silica if they take it in combination with fulvic acid.

Antioxidants

During exercise oxidants, which can cause damage to the body’s cells and tissue, are produced by the body’s own metabolism. As sportspeople have a faster average metabolic rate than non-sportspeople, their requirements for antioxidants are higher.

An oxidant is a very unstable molecule that basically wants to become stable and can do so only by ‘stealing’ from other molecules. If those other molecules are not anti-oxidants, oxidants can cause damage. The importance of preventing this is highlighted by the fact that, under certain conditions, oxidants can attack DNA. Therefore it is vital, especially for athletes, to consume a regular amount of antioxidants. Well known antioxidants include vitamins A, C and E, but the complex structure of fulvic acid makes it far more powerful an anti-oxidant than any other nutrient known.

In a nutshell: except for fulvic acid there is no other nutrient known which can:

reduce the impact of carbon dioxide during sport
reduce the impact of lactic acid during and after sport
provide optimal protection against the increased production of oxidants
provide the most powerful electrolyte known
dissolve silica to maintain strength of joints and connective tissue
provide useable oxygen directly to the cells to accelerate the healing process and increase endurance.

What to look out for when buying a fulvic acid supplement:

The quality is in the colour

Fulvic acids are small molecules that are yellow to yellow-brown (amber) in colour. Humic acids are much larger molecules and are grey to black in colour. The darker products are higher in carbon content and therefore lower in oxygen content. The darker products are also less able to balance pH and less soluble. Look out for products that are yellow-brown in colour when poured into a glass of water.

Beware of heavy metals

Certain fulvic acid products have been found to contain high levels of heavy metals such as mercury and lead. These have been associated with degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Oshun Health’s fulvic acid is extracted from Canadian peet and is guaranteed free from heavy metals. Furthermore, our products contain liposomes that are smaller and more stable than anything that scientists have been able to produce before. The significance of these liposomes – we call them fulvisomes – is that we are able to transport the benefits of fulvic acid and other bio-active compounds right to where it matters – the cells of the body.

And finally

Should you decide to try fulvic acid, it is important to take it consistently for at least two weeks to a month for it to realise its full potential in your body and as always: don’t try anything new on race day.

Let's Go Shopping!

Shop Now

Wholefood Supplements

Feel informed and confident knowing you are buying pure and wholesome supplement foods, from Oshun Health.

Buy Now

50% Discount for 1st time buyers

Don’t miss out on our 50% Citrus C Plus discount for first-time buyers, includes free delivery.

Family Combo Packs

We want to ensure your entire family benefits from our products, young and old.

Need to know anything?

See our FAQ page if you need more information or send us an email.

Wholefood Supplements

Fulvic Acid as a Potent Antiviral

Updated: 25 February 2025

Reading time: 10 minutes

Research shows that humic acid, of which fulvic acid forms part, binds so strongly to viruses that it can actually displace them from a cell surface. In vitro studies have shown, for example, that if you allow herpes simplex viruses to attach to host cells and then add humic acid to the solution, it will displace viruses from infected cell surfaces. That is, humic acid has a greater affinity for the virus than the virus does for the host cell. Thus, humic acid can actually displace a virus even after it has attached itself to the surface of a cell.[6]

The following article was originally posted by Michael Ash for the website of Clinical Education, a ‘Not for Profit’ organisation that brings a range of educational experiences to healthcare professionals. Follow Clinical Education by clicking on the following link: https://www.clinicaleducation.org/

The interview with Richard J Laub, MS, PhD, CChem, FRSC, was conducted by Focus Allergy Research Group.

*Note by Oshun Health: Humic Acids referred to in this article is the collective name for both humic acid and fulvic acid. In order to utilise humic acid, it is broken down to fulvic acid in the human gut. This is because humic acid is not soluble at the low pH (acidic) level of the stomach whereas fulvic acid is soluble at any pH level. The antiviral properties referred to in the article, therefore, applies to fulvic acid as well as humic acid.

An Interview with: Richard J Laub, MS, PhD, CChem, FRSC, is a chemist with nearly 150 peer-reviewed published research papers, sixteen patents, and numerous invited reviews and symposium presentations. He was formerly a professor of chemistry at The Ohio State University and San Diego State University, was a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in London, England, was an Alcoa fellow in San Diego, and a Science Research Council fellow in Swansea, Wales. For the last 17 years, Dr. Laub has focused exclusively on sourcing, analysing, studying, extracting and purifying humic acid, a remarkable high-mineral, healing substance with potent antiviral properties, found in ancient soil deposits.

Focus: You have devoted the last 17 years of your life to researching humic acid, an extract of ancient organic soil deposits. These ancient soil deposits—named humus, or humin, from the Greek word for soil—can be found all over the world and contain highly-concentrated minerals and healing substances. It’s interesting that in essence, the soil that nourishes plant life–and later the plant that dies and becomes part of the soil–contains such potent healing substances. Can you give us some basic facts about humic and fulvic acids before we discuss the health benefits?

RJL: Both humic and fulvic acids are extracts from composted organic matter and prove to be excellent mineral supplements. They excel at providing all the trace minerals we need. Fulvic acid is a small and somewhat rigid molecule, with a molecular weight of about 1,500 daltons (a dalton is a unit of mass commonly used in chemistry). Humic acid is equally potent as a mineral supplement, but is a much heavier, bigger molecule. It weighs about 50,000 daltons. Humic acid is flexible, because it is made up of many chains of molecules. It looks a bit like a series of wagon wheels, one inside the other, with spokes going from one wheel to the next. This flexibility is a very important contributor to its antiviral properties.

Focus: What do these very different shapes—small and rigid, or large and flexible—mean in terms of human health?

RJL: Because of its size and flexibility, certain humic acids from particular soil deposits turn out to be potent, broad-spectrum antivirals. That is because humic acid contains many kinds of “functional groups” (specific groups of atoms) that can bind to a multitude of viruses. Research has shown certain humic acids to be effective in vitro against a wide range of viruses, including influenza, HSV, HIV, and others.[1],[2],[3],[4],[5]

Focus: How exactly does humic acid bind to a virus?

RJL: Binding occurs through hydrogen bonding. Electropositive atoms attract electronegative atoms. These are the same forces that hold DNA together. What is remarkable is that humic acid, with its many kinds of functional groups, binds more strongly to viruses than do our own cells. Certain humic acids from certain soil deposits are essentially like a really, really sticky piece of Velcro. Viruses also have really sticky sites—that’s how they manage to bind to a host cell. When these two very sticky pieces of Velcro come together they bind together very strongly.

Focus: Can you explain what a virus does once it attaches to a cell receptor?

RJL: It essentially pokes a hole in the cell, and injects either its RNA or DNA–its genomic material–into the cell. At that point the virus has essentially spent itself, but the viral material inside the cell uses the cell’s machinery to create more viruses, which then leave the cell and go on to bind to and infect other cells.

Focus: What happens to a virus when it binds to humic acid instead of a cell surface?

RJL: Humic acid essentially neutralises a virus’s chemical “stickiness”. Doing so in turn prevents the virus from reproducing since it can no longer attach (“fuse”) to the surface of a host cell. The immune system can then begin to eliminate the virus (largely through the action of macrophages). Also, viruses don’t live forever: if not allowed to reproduce, influenza viruses, for example, die out in 36-48 hours.

Focus: What happens if viruses have already attached to your cells? Can humic acid help?

RJL: Humic acid binds so strongly to viruses that it can actually displace them from a cell surface. In vitro studies have shown, for example, that if you allow herpes simplex viruses to attach to host cells and then add humic acid to the solution, it will displace viruses from infected cell surfaces. That is, humic acid has a greater affinity for the virus than the virus does for the host cell. Thus, humic acid can actually displace a virus even after it has attached itself to the surface of a cell.[6]

Focus: That’s quite amazing—that this natural substance can displace viruses that have already locked onto cells. Is this true of any humic acid from around the world?

RJL: No. Humic acid varies dramatically from site to site. Humic acids from different deposits have very different physicochemical properties. Just like coal—the coal from South Africa is very different in makeup than the coal from Birmingham in Britain. For instance, one of the better-known humic acid deposits in the United States occurs in the state of New Mexico, where humic acid is mined for agriculture–as a fertiliser–and also for the petroleum industry as a drilling mud additive. From an agricultural standpoint New Mexico humic acid is great, but it is not very effective at combating human viruses. A lot of the research I carried out in the early days was simply obtaining samples of humic acid from around the world and testing them to see which ones were efficacious against human viral disease. Remember, humic acid is the result of composted organic matter that is 50-100,000 years old, and that can be found almost anywhere—places where there are freshwater deposits and vegetation living around freshwater lakes, other places where there are saltwater deposits and decomposed organic matter at the edge of marine environments. Some humic acids come from decomposed forests, others from marshes, peat bogs, or scrub-brush. Any plant can be composted into humic acid, but the enormous variety of plant life means that each source of humic acid is unique.

Focus: Once you found the ideal antiviral humic acid, what did you do?

RJL: The next challenge was to purify and sterilise it without degrading it. When you first dig humic acid out of the ground it is dark-brown or even black. Shilajit is a very crude form of humic acid that has been used around the world for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. The most familiar form of humic acid looks like coal, and is sometimes called leonardite or brown coal—though it isn’t actually coal. So, the challenge was to extract the humic acid without damaging it. Methodologies suitable for sterilisation of the final processed product also took very considerable research and development. (The original microbes that created the humus are of course long since dead, but other bacteria and moulds flourish in such soil deposits.) Overall, ten solid years of research and development were required to identify a quality source of humic acid that could also be purified and sterilised without diminishing its effectiveness as a human antiviral agent.

Focus: If one takes humic acid orally, when do peak blood levels occur?

RJL: Peak levels occur at about four hours. By eight to twelve hours the substance is pretty much cleared out of the bloodstream.

Focus: Do you think it has any other special properties beyond being a great mineral source and a potent antiviral?

RJL: Some researchers claim it boosts the immune system, but I’m not convinced it does so directly.[7] I think that humic acid’s wide spectrum of important trace minerals, coupled with its antiviral properties, result in a stronger immune system indirectly. Some of the trace minerals are present in very, very tiny amounts—just a few parts per million—but that’s exactly what we need to support enzyme functions among other things. I also think there are a lot of viruses we are all carrying that haven’t yet been identified (“stealth” viruses). But humic acid will bind to them, regardless.

Focus: That just shows you the broad-spectrum action of humic acid, so that it’s likely to work on many viruses we carry that have not yet been identified. I assume you take it yourself?

RJL: Of course. And I haven’t had a cold or the flu since 2004. Not one.

References

[1] F. J. Lu, S. N. Tseng, et al. In Vitro Anti-Influenza Virus Activity of Synthetic Humate Analogues Derived from Protocatechuic Acid. Arch. Virol. 2002, 147(2), 273-284 View Abstract

[2] C. E. J. van Rensburg, J. Dekker, et al. Investigations of the Anti- HIV Properties of Oxihumate. Chemotherapy 2002, 48(3), 138-143. View Abstract

[3] G. Kornilaeva, A. Becovich, et al. New Humic Acid Derivative as Potent Inhibitor of HIV-1 Replication. Med. Gen. Med. 2004, 6(3), A10360 View Summary PDF

[4] R. Kloecking, B. Helbig, G. Schotz, et al. Anti-HSV-1 Activity of Synthetic Humic Acid-Like Polymers Derived from p-Diphenolic Starting Compounds. Arch. Chem. Chemother. 2002, 13(4), 241-249

[5] Laub Biochem Specialty Labsl, 2001-2002, research conducted by contract for Virology Branch of the Antiviral Research and Antimicrobial Chemistry Program (Dr. Christopher Tseng, Program Officer), Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) Screening and Testing Program for Antiviral, Immunomodulatory, Antitumor and/or Drug Delivery Activities, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, Maryland)

[6] Laub Biochem Specialty Labs, Humic Acid Inhibition of HSV Infection. 1998

[7] G. K. Joone, J. Dekker, et al. Investigation of the Immunostimulatory Properties of Oxihumates. Z. Naturforsch. C: J. Biosci. 2003, 58(3/4) 263-267. PMID: 12710739 View Abstract LinkedInFacebookTwitterEmailPrintMor

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Do natural products have a role to play in the fight against Corona Viruses and, more importantly, when a person is already symptomatic with a disease caused by these viruses? | Oshun Health – […] Fulvic Acid: Research shows that, because of the strong positive charge on humic acids, of which fulvic acid forms…

Fulvic Acid and Sport – Up Your Game Naturally

What is fulvic acid?