A burgeoning flood of laboratory data, along with emerging studies on human subjects, indicate that Urolithin A effectively tames inflammation. Importantly, this molecule also stimulates mitophagy (See here), and it is emerging as a potentially important therapeutic agent.  The next two paragraphs, taken from recent scientific review articles, lay out the direction this specific branch of medicine is heading, a direction I believe has great promise. Read on.

“Chronic inflammatory diseases are the most significant cause of death in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks chronic diseases as the greatest threat to human health. The prevalence of diseases associated with chronic inflammation is anticipated to increase persistently for the next 30 years in the United States. in 2000, nearly 125 million Americans were living with chronic conditions and 61 million (21%) had more than one. In recent estimates by Rand Corporation, in 2014 nearly 60% of Americans had at least one chronic condition, 42% had more than one and 12% of adults had 5 or more chronic conditions. Worldwide, 3 of 5 people die due to chronic inflammatory diseases like stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, heart disorders, cancer, obesity, and diabetes.” (This quote comes from an excellent review article published in 2021. To find it, click here, and then click of Free full text.)

A powerful anti-inflammatory agent

“Urolithin A (UroA) is a gut metabolite produced from ellagic acid-containing foods such as pomegranates, berries, and walnuts. UroA is of growing interest due to its therapeutic potential for various metabolic diseases based on immunomodulatory properties. Recent advances in UroA research suggest that UroA administration attenuates inflammation in various tissues, including the brain, adipose, heart, and liver tissues, leading to the potential delay or prevention of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In this review, we focus on recent updates of the anti-inflammatory function of UroA and summarize the potential mechanisms by which UroA may help attenuate the onset of diseases in a tissue-specific manner. Therefore, this review aims to shed new insights into UroA as a potent anti-inflammatory molecule to prevent immunometabolic diseases, either by dietary intervention with ellagic acid-rich food or by UroA administration as a new pharmaceutical drug.” (To read in full this informative article, click here, then click on View Full-Text.) There is no doubt that Urolithin A tames inflation.

Important basics to remember

Before I go on, I think it bears emphasizing that healthy nutrition and continuing exercise are known to slow the declines in muscle strength as one ages and to inhibit the development of metabolic diseases. We must not forget these two healthful practices as we consider other options that stretch beyond them.

If you have been following this blog for a while, you may recall my mentioning the old truism that people who eat nuts daily (or at least often) tend to live longer than those who rarely eat nuts (see that post by clicking here)  In that article I explained that some types of nuts contain resveratrol, the substance that extends lives in lower forms, and possibly in humans as well, thus supporting the hypothesis that the resveratrol in nuts may explain why nut eaters live longer.

Another possibility

However, the precursors of Urolithin A also are found in certain nuts, so one might argue that Urolithin A’s anti-inflammatory effects could be responsible for lengthening the lives of those who often eat nuts. This too seems to be a reasonable assumption, even though not all of us have in our gut microbiome the necessary bacteria that convert the above-mentioned ellagic acids to Urolithin A.

Apparently only about 40% of us, at most, have detectable levels of circulating Urolithin A after eating the foods mentioned above. The rest of us are out of luck. How, you might ask, can we identify the lucky ones? Can we determine whether we have the necessary gut bacteria to convert those ellagic acids to Urolithin A? It wouldn’t be easy. I’ve searched online to see if any tests might be available, but nothing popped up.  Numerous research laboratories could perform such tests, but I found nothing commercially available. So, if you’re among the unlucky majority, you could stuff your tummy with pomegranates and end up with no healthful Urolithin A in your blood stream.

Hope for the unlucky 60%

What is described as pure Urolithin A is now available from at least one provider (See here). Full disclosure: I have been taking this product for the better part of a year (I believe in supplements), and I do believe it has strengthened my muscles and likely has improved my mitochondrial function. I have no connection with the company and will add that the product is expensive. A paper published this month (May 2022) reports that this specific Urolithin A improved muscle strength, exercise performance, and mitochondrial health in middle-aged adults (see that article by clicking here). I was particularly impressed by the evidence that this molecule stimulated mitophagy and improved mitochondrial performance, especially since mitochondrial performance is known to diminish as one ages. It seems beyond doubt that Urolithin A effectively tames inflammation. It is, I think, a compound to keep our eyes on.

A look ahead

I have identified a few more substances, molecules that may improve health and extend lives, that I plan to describe in later posts, but next time, if my intention holds, I plan to take a detour and look at changes in our medical system over the years, changes that have been, in my opinion, mostly bad. Stay tuned.