Fulvic Acid Benefits

Fulvic Acid (FA) has numerous potential health benefits to not only our bodies, but that of our pets, livestock, and also our gardens and agriculture. Often referred to as “nature’s miracle molecules”, fulvic acid has been gaining in popularity as dietary supplement. What is it, anyways? Why is it needed in your daily routine? And where do you get the best fulvic acid to take?

What Is Fulvic Acid?

Fulvic acid, an organic acid found in humus, is essential for maintaining optimal nutritional balance.

Getting FA from a nutritious diet can be challenging, but it is often found in Shilajit, a mineral-rich pitch that comes out of the rocks in the Himalayas.

Fulvic acid assists in delivering essential vitamins and other nutrients to different parts of the body.

Fulvic acid can transport up to 80 minerals and trace elements into cells, bringing numerous advantages.

In recent years, we’ve gained an understanding of how to use fulvic acid and other humic materials present in the earth’s soil for its potential health benefits.

Related: Read our blog – What Is Fulvic Acid?

Benefits of Fulvic Acid

There are many benefits of fulvic acid supplementation. This substance is absolutely critical to human health, containing bioavailable sources of trace minerals, essential nutrients, fatty acids, humic substances, and many other active compounds needed for optimum health.

Nutrients

With fulvic acid, nutrients from your diet and your other supplements are absorbed more easily and effectively. This also allows minerals to be replenished and increases the length of time that crucial nutrients stay in place. It enables cells to access essential nutrients.

It also allows nutrients to synergistically collaborate with each other, enhancing their effects on our body and cells. Fulvic acid electrolytes help to break down substances into their most basic ionic forms, allowing for more efficient usage and transportation, as well.

FA’s ability to combine with metals and other minerals makes those elements more easily transported. This holds true for animals, including ourselves, and plants. For instance, it can complex with inorganic iron found in soil and make it more available to plant roots, and ultimately more absorbable into cell walls.

FA can also make vitamins, coenzymes, hormones like auxins and gibberellins, and natural antibiotic compounds more bioavailable for plants and animals to assimilate. Better assimilation means better nutrient absorption. Those processes, called biochemical reactions, are often rooted in enzymatic processes, and fulvic acid has a unique relationship with enzymes.

This means that because humic acid compounds and minerals and amino acids other vital nutrients are taken into our foods more readily, the fruits, vegetables, and meats that we eat are much more nutrient dense than what modern farming practices produce through NPK-based agriculture programs. And with more beneficial nutrients in our food, the better the nutrition our body will receive so that it may utilize those nutrients to rebuild and repair.

Pretty awesome fulvic acid benefits so far, and we are just getting started!

Immune Function

What’s more, fulvic acid has been found to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which can help support the immune system. But…what is the immune system?

In short, the immune system is a biological network that is capable of a reactive response to the presence of dis-ease. For instance, we have been dealing with a widely publicized event for several years now, and our immune system, when properly taken care of, will be able to handle itself and keep you healthy.

But our diets have been losing nutrient content. And we have not been giving our bodies what they need to maintain our immune health systems. In fact, our immune responses have been growing more erratic. Digestive disorders, free radical damage, and poor metabolic functions have been leading to more and more autoimmune diseases. 

Inflammatory diseases like arthritis, allergic reactions, carditis, inflammatory bowel disorders, among many others, have been on the rise in recent decades, and instances seem to be logarithmically exploding. Our immune cells are misbehaving, leading to overreactive autoimmune reactions.

Which is why the ultimate natural substance, fulvic acid, has been popular among a small but growing number of people in the health community. Animal studies as well as in vitro studies have shown that FA has anti-inflammatory properties, and can limit the release of TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor) and COX-2 expression.

There was also a study in which 20 HIV-positive people found that taking shilajit, a revered compound in Ayurvedic Medicine and made predominantly of fulvic minerals and humic minerals, in combination with antiretroviral medications had better health outcomes than those on pharmaceuticals alone. Lower instances of nausea, weight loss, and diarrhea combined with protection of the liver and kidneys from the side effects of the prescriptions were reported in the shilajit enhanced group.

Digestive Health

Our digestive tract plays an important role not just with our immunity, as it is responsible for the absorption of nutrients that prepares the body for the energy production it needs to fight, but with our overall health, in general. It not only allows in vital nutrients, but also repels things like heavy metals and other harmful substances. And FA can help tremendously in keeping the human body free of these compounds.

Poor gut health has been sufficiently linked to unhealthy inflammatory response, leading to disease. As the largest interchange between the outside world and your inner world, the health of the gut is critically important to your longevity and quality of life. And the constitution of the microbiome can affect that health as well, as shifts in the types of microbes can drive those changes.

In plant studies, FA was shown to influence the composition of the microbiota in soil as well as demonstrate the ability to conjugate to various inorganic minerals to aid in the uptake of said minerals in organic form, like phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminum.

Another example, really the only example studied so far, of the intestine bacterial diversity was done in loach fish. The fish were fed a light fulvic acid supplement for 60 days, and demonstrated increases in Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, and Variovorax bacteria, as well as an increase in Firmicute.

Clinical trials are sorely lacking in this area of understanding fulvic mineral supplements, especially human studies. Anecdotal health claims shine a light on the potential benefits of fulvic acid’s biological properties.

Detoxification

A low molecular weight and a small molecular size is a powerful one-two combination to toxins that have built up in your system. Heavy metals and radioactive compounds can bury themselves deep into hard to reach soft tissues, leading to chronic health issues if not addressed properly and as quickly as possible.

FA is quite unique in that it can donate and accept electrons to complex or bond to these toxins in our cells and tissue. And we collect these inorganic metals from our environment in numerous ways. Air pollution, industrial waste exposure, flame retardants, food containers, paint, even the fillings in our teeth could expose us.

Heavy metal ions are stored in our cells, and they combat with other compounds over the ability for nutrient uptake, crowding out proper nutrient levels of good vitamins, proteins, and minerals. However, FA has the ability to bind with, or chelate, these metals, and turn them into free-moving metalloproteins that can then be excreted through our biological processes, usually through urine.

Numerous fulvic acid benefits are associated with clinical study as well as anecdotal evidence. Immune function, gastrointestinal function, nutrient uptake, and detoxification scratch the surface of the benefits of fulvic and humic acid compounds on our body. We didn’t even touch upon the benefits for cognitive function, hair, skin, and nails and other topical applications, hormone production, oxidative stress, free radicals, agricultural and livestock applications, and so much more.

With all these potential health benefits, are there any side effects to taking fulvic acid? 

Fulvic Acid Side Effects

Currently, the data suggests that fulvic acid is relatively safe for general consumption. When taken in high doses, a few side effects may occur, though these are also closely associated with symptoms of detoxification. Those include headaches, cramps, fatigue, nausea, and diarrhea. 

An overdose of fulvic acid is also not likely. Its small size and light weight allows it to be easily dissolved in water, and can easily be flushed out should you feel you may have had way too much.

Some contraindications to taking FA could include: those with blood clotting issues, early pregnancy, those on immunosuppressants, a lack of dietary or supplementary selenium and Kashin-Beck Disease, and those with thyroid hormone levels being managed by medication.

If you are beginning your journey with fulvic acid, consult with your health provider prior to starting. It is recommended to start with a lighter serving size to prevent said side effects and what is referred to as a healing crisis as your body detoxes.

Sources About Fulvic Acid Benefits