Active Component:

Vanillic Acid; 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid

Calcium citrate

 

Form:
Ost-VA comes as an off-white powder to be added at 300mg to 500mg per serve of finished product. This performance ingredient is certified and guaranteed in purity using Fourier Transform (Infra-Red) Raman Spectroscopy. It imparts a woody, creamy vanilla taste.

 

Recommended Application:

• 300mg - 500mg per serve of finished product (do not exceed recommendations)

  • Endurance training or resistance training

  • Anabolic

 

Research Highlights:

• Anabolic in bone osteoblasts

• Inhibitory of osteoclast activity and protective of cartilage and connective tissue

• Reduces oxidative stress and antiinflammatory

• Protection against neurodegeneration

• Pain reduction

• Potentiates skeletal muscle metabolism and energy availability

 

Permissible Label and Advertising Claims Under FSANZ:

• Enhanced bone mineral density

• Reduces risk of osteoporosis

• Reduces risk of osteoporotic fracture

• Necessary for normal teeth and bone structure

• Necessary for normal nerve and muscle function

• Contributes to normal energy metabolism

 

Research Details:

Vanillic acid is a compound found in a variety of plants including ginseng as well as edible mushrooms, and elicits generally protective effects in many tissues from a variety of environmental stressors. Most notably, it is a potentiator of bone healing and protector of bone and cartilage strength and constitution (Xiao, Gao, Zhang, Wong, Dai, Yao, & Wong, 2014). This effect appears to be largely mediated via activation of the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1), a primary mediator of the anabolic, non-genomic effects of estrogens as distinct from the canonical hormonal estrogen receptors alpha and beta (Torre, 2017). This protective effect on bones has been demonstrated to inhibit progression of osteoporosis as well (Wang, Jiang, & Gou, 2017). Vanillic acid has also been demonstrated to protect chondrocytes and inhibit osteoarthritic signalling, leading to protection against joint space narrowing seen in arthritis (Ziadlou, Barbero, Martin, Wang, Qin, Alini, & Grad, 2020). This is largely linked to its antiinflammatory effects in cartilage, including Cyclooxygenase-2 and Interleukin-1 beta inhibition (Huang, Xi, Mao, Chu, Zhang, Ma, & You, 2019). This effect has even been studied in the periodontium, where it protects against inflammation and bone loss of the supporting structures of the teeth (Karatas, Yuce, Taskan, Gevrek, Yarkac, Keskin, & Toker, 2019).

 

Vanillic acid elicits many beneficial effects beyond those directly related to bone however. These include protection against neurodegeneration and protection of memory against oxidative damage (Singh, Kakalij, Kshirsagar, Kumar, Komakula, & Diwan, 2015), protection of prefrontal cortex against the symptoms of depression via activation of mTOR complex 1 (Chuang, Wei, Lin, Li, Chen, Tsai, & Huang, 2020), protection against insulin resistance and inflammation caused by high-fat diet (Chang, Wu, Chen, Kuo, Chien, Wang, & Shen, 2015), protection against diabetic oxidative stress and inflammation (Ji, Sun, Hu, Xu, Veeraraghavan, & Chi, 2020), increased adipose tissue AMPK activation and thermogenesis, decreased obesity-linked cancer (Park, Cho, Kang, Park, Lee, Jung, & Um, 2020), antihypertensive activity (Kumar, Prahalathan, & Raja, 2011), protection against benign prostatic hyperplasia (Jung, Park, Kim, Youn, Kang, Lim, & Um, 2017), painkilling/analgesic effects (de los Angeles Yrbas, Morucci, Alonso, & Gorzalczany, 2015; Calixto-Campos, Carvalho, Hohmann, Pinho-Ribeiro, Fattori, Manchope, & Verri Jr, 2015), and even serving as a more bioavailable prodrug to coenzyme Q10 (Doimo, Trevisson, Airik, Bergdoll, Santos-Ocaña, Hildebrandt, & Salviati, (2014).

 

Vanillic acid has also been demonstrated to be protective of liver tissue against multiple representative liver toxins, defending the liver against fibrosis and inflammatory markers such as cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, and interleukin (IL)-6 (Itoh, Isoda, Kondoh, Kawase, Watari, Kobayashi, & Yagi, 2010; Itoh, Isoda, Kondoh, Kawase, Kobayashi, Tamesada, & Yagi, 2009). Vanillic acid also exhibits nephroprotective effects, and has been demonstrated to inhibit chemotherapy-induced degradation of the kidney antioxidant system (Sindhu, Nishanthi, & Sharmila, 2015).

 

Vanillic acid is also a known potentiator of skeletal muscle metabolism and energy availability via upregulation of the GLUT4 glucose transporter in myotubules (Prabhakar, & Doble, 2011). Further, vanillic acid induces a brown-fat phenotype in adipose tissue, enhancing thermogenesis (Han, Guo, You, Yin, Liang, Ren, & Huang, 2018). This has the effect of conferring protection against obesity, and is mediated via AMPK activation (Jung, Park, Kim, Sim, Youn, Kang, & Ahn, 2018). This ties in with vanillic acid’s ability to reduce blood glucose and to enhance adipose tissue antioxidant capability (Vinothiya, & Ashokkumar, 2017), as well as increase the sensitivity of beta cells to blood glucose and thus enhance glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (Mahendra, Haware, & Kumar, 2019).

 

Vanillic acid has demonstrated some anti-tumor properties, including reduction of oxygen supply to colon cancer cells specifically (Gong, Zhou, & Yang, 2019). It also confers some protection to heart muscle against infarct-mediated cell damage (Prince, Dhanasekar, & Rajakumar, 2015). This even extends to protection of the heart against hypertension by lowering blood-pressure and increasing nitric oxide synthesis (Kumar, Prahalathan, & Raja, 2014; Prince, Dhanasekar, & Rajakumar, 2011; Kumar, Prahalathan, Saravanakumar, & Raja, 2014). There is also some protection against cardiotoxin-induced damage (Baniahmad, Safaeian, Vaseghi, Rabbani, & Mohammadi, 2020; Prince, Rajakumar, & Dhanasekar, 2011).

 

Vanillic acid is most active 1 to 2 hours following ingestion, and will be mostly cleared after 8 hours (Keane, Bell, Lodge, Constantinou, Jenkinson, Bass, & Howatson, 2016).

 

References:

de los Angeles Yrbas, M., Morucci, F., Alonso, R., & Gorzalczany, S. (2015). Pharmacological mechanism underlying the antinociceptive activity of vanillic acid. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 132, 88-95.

 

Baniahmad, B., Safaeian, L., Vaseghi, G., Rabbani, M., & Mohammadi, B. (2020). Cardioprotective effect of vanillic acid against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in rat. Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 15(1), 87.

 

Bodine, S. C., Stitt, T. N., Gonzalez, M., Kline, W. O., Stover, G. L., Bauerlein, R., & Yancopoulos, G. D. (2001). Akt/mTOR pathway is a crucial regulator of skeletal muscle hypertrophy and can prevent muscle atrophy in vivo. Nature cell biology, 3(11), 1014-1019.

 

Calixto-Campos, C., Carvalho, T. T., Hohmann, M. S., Pinho-Ribeiro, F. A., Fattori, V., Manchope, M. F., & Verri Jr, W. A. (2015). Vanillic acid inhibits inflammatory pain by inhibiting neutrophil recruitment, oxidative stress, cytokine production, and NFκB activation in mice. Journal of Natural Products, 78(8), 1799-1808.

 

Chang, W. C., Wu, J. S. B., Chen, C. W., Kuo, P. L., Chien, H. M., Wang, Y. T., & Shen, S. C. (2015). Protective effect of vanillic acid against hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia via alleviating hepatic insulin resistance and inflammation in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed rats. Nutrients, 7(12), 9946-9959.

 

Chou, T. H., Ding, H. Y., Hung, W. J., & Liang, C. H. (2010). Antioxidative characteristics and inhibition of α‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormone‐stimulated melanogenesis of vanillin and vanillic acid from Origanum vulgare. Experimental dermatology, 19(8), 742-750.

 

Chuang, H. W., Wei, I. H., Lin, F. Y., Li, C. T., Chen, K. T., Tsai, M. H., & Huang, C. C. (2020). Roles of Akt and ERK in mTOR-Dependent Antidepressant Effects of Vanillic Acid. ACS omega, 5(7), 3709-3716.

 

Doimo, M., Trevisson, E., Airik, R., Bergdoll, M., Santos-Ocaña, C., Hildebrandt, F., & Salviati, L. (2014). Effect of vanillic acid on COQ6 mutants identified in patients with coenzyme Q10 deficiency. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular Basis of Disease, 1842(1), 1-6.

 

Gong, J., Zhou, S., & Yang, S. (2019). Vanillic acid suppresses HIF-1α expression via inhibition of mTOR/p70S6K/4E-BP1 and Raf/MEK/ERK pathways in human colon cancer HCT116 cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(3), 465.

 

Han, X., Guo, J., You, Y., Yin, M., Liang, J., Ren, C., & Huang, W. (2018). Vanillic acid activates thermogenesis in brown and white adipose tissue. Food & function, 9(8), 4366-4375.

 

Huang, X., Xi, Y., Mao, Z., Chu, X., Zhang, R., Ma, X., & You, H. (2019). Vanillic acid attenuates cartilage degeneration by regulating the MAPK and PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathways. European journal of pharmacology, 859, 172481.

 

Itoh, A., Isoda, K., Kondoh, M., Kawase, M., Kobayashi, M., Tamesada, M., & Yagi, K. (2009). Hepatoprotective effect of syringic acid and vanillic acid on concanavalin a-induced liver injury. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 32(7), 1215-1219.

 

Itoh, A., Isoda, K., Kondoh, M., Kawase, M., Watari, A., Kobayashi, M., & Yagi, K. (2010). Hepatoprotective effect of syringic acid and vanillic acid on CCl4-induced liver injury. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 33(6), 983-987.

 

Ji, G., Sun, R., Hu, H., Xu, F., Yu, X., Veeraraghavan, V. P., & Chi, X. (2020). Vannilic acid ameliorates hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Journal of King Saud University-Science.

 

Jung, Y., Park, J., Kim, H. L., Sim, J. E., Youn, D. H., Kang, J., & Ahn, K. S. (2018). Vanillic acid attenuates obesity via activation of the AMPK pathway and thermogenic factors in vivo and in vitro. The FASEB Journal, 32(3), 1388-1402.

 

Jung, Y., Park, J., Kim, H. L., Youn, D. H., Kang, J., Lim, S., & Um, J. Y. (2017). Vanillic acid attenuates testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats and inhibits proliferation of prostatic epithelial cells. Oncotarget, 8(50), 87194.

 

Karatas, O., Yuce, H. B., Taskan, M. M., Gevrek, F., Yarkac, F. U., Keskin, A., & Toker, H. (2019). The effect of vanillic acid on ligature-induced periodontal disease in Wistar rats. Archives of oral biology, 103, 1-7.

 

Keane, K. M., Bell, P. G., Lodge, J. K., Constantinou, C. L., Jenkinson, S. E., Bass, R., & Howatson, G. (2016). Phytochemical uptake following human consumption of Montmorency tart cherry (L. Prunus cerasus) and influence of phenolic acids on vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro. European Journal of Nutrition, 55(4), 1695-1705.

 

Kumar, S., Prahalathan, P., & Raja, B. (2011). Antihypertensive and antioxidant potential of vanillic acid, a phenolic compound in L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats: a dose-dependence study. Redox Report, 16(5), 208-215.

 

Kumar, S., Prahalathan, P., & Raja, B. (2014). Vanillic acid: a potential inhibitor of cardiac and aortic wall remodeling in l-NAME induced hypertension through upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology, 38(2), 643-652.

 

Kumar, S., Prahalathan, P., Saravanakumar, M., & Raja, B. (2014). Vanillic acid prevents the deregulation of lipid metabolism, endothelin 1 and up regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in nitric oxide deficient hypertensive rats. European journal of pharmacology, 743, 117-125.

 

Lee, C. H., Inoki, K., & Guan, K. L. (2007). mTOR pathway as a target in tissue hypertrophy. Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 47, 443-467.

 

Mahendra, V. P., Haware, D. J., & Kumar, R. (2019). cAMP-PKA dependent ERK1/2 activation is necessary for vanillic acid potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells. Journal of functional foods, 56, 110-118.

 

Park, J., Cho, S. Y., Kang, J., Park, W. Y., Lee, S., Jung, Y., & Um, J. Y. (2020). Vanillic Acid Improves Comorbidity of Cancer and Obesity through STAT3 Regulation in High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obese and B16BL6 Melanoma-Injected Mice. Biomolecules, 10(8), 1098.

 

Prabhakar, P. K., & Doble, M. (2011). Interaction of phytochemicals with hypoglycemic drugs on glucose uptake in L6 myotubes. Phytomedicine, 18(4), 285-291.

 

Prince, P. S. M., Dhanasekar, K., & Rajakumar, S. (2011). Preventive effects of vanillic acid on lipids, bax, bcl-2 and myocardial infarct size on isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarcted rats: a biochemical and in vitro study. Cardiovascular toxicology, 11(1), 58-66.

 

Prince, P. S. M., Dhanasekar, K., & Rajakumar, S. (2015). Vanillic acid prevents altered ion pumps, ions, inhibits Fas-receptor and caspase mediated apoptosis-signaling pathway and cardiomyocyte death in myocardial infarcted rats. Chemico-biological interactions, 232, 68-76.

 

Prince, P. S. M., Rajakumar, S., & Dhanasekar, K. (2011). Protective effects of vanillic acid on electrocardiogram, lipid peroxidation, antioxidants, proinflammatory markers and histopathology in isoproterenol induced cardiotoxic rats. European journal of pharmacology, 668(1-2), 233-240.

 

Sindhu, G., Nishanthi, E., & Sharmila, R. (2015). Nephroprotective effect of vanillic acid against cisplatin induced nephrotoxicity in wistar rats: a biochemical and molecular study. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology, 39(1), 392-404.

 

Singh, J. C. H., Kakalij, R. M., Kshirsagar, R. P., Kumar, B. H., Komakula, S. S. B., & Diwan, P. V. (2015). Cognitive effects of vanillic acid against streptozotocin-induced neurodegeneration in mice. Pharmaceutical biology, 53(5), 630-636.

 

Torre, E. (2017). Molecular signaling mechanisms behind polyphenol-induced bone anabolism. Phytochemistry Reviews, 16(6), 1183-1226.

 

Vinothiya, K., & Ashokkumar, N. (2017). Modulatory effect of vanillic acid on antioxidant status in high fat diet-induced changes in diabetic hypertensive rats. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 87, 640-652.

Wang, Y. G., Jiang, L. B., & Gou, B. (2017). Protective effect of vanillic acid on ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis in rats. African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines, 14(4), 31-38.

 

Xiao, H. H., Gao, Q. G., Zhang, Y., Wong, K. C., Dai, Y., Yao, X. S., & Wong, M. S. (2014). Vanillic acid exerts oestrogen-like activities in osteoblast-like UMR 106 cells through MAP kinase (MEK/ERK)-mediated ER signaling pathway. The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology, 144, 382-391.

 

Ziadlou, R., Barbero, A., Martin, I., Wang, X., Qin, L., Alini, M., & Grad, S. (2020). Anti-Inflammatory and Chondroprotective Effects of Vanillic Acid and Epimedin C in Human Osteoarthritic Chondrocytes. Biomolecules, 10(6), 932.