Ellagic Acid

Overview

Ellagic acid is a plant polyphenol found in pomegranate and in related molecules called ellagitannins. Gut bacteria convert it into urolithins, and much of the human data is really about those urolithins or about pomegranate juice. The surprise is how little reaches the blood: in one 2006 study, plasma ellagic acid peaked at 0.06 µmol/L about an hour after pomegranate juice. Human trials of the isolated compound are few, and no supplement dose is established.

What is Ellagic Acid?

Quick facts

Key Takeaways

• Plasma ellagic acid peaked at 0.06 µmol/L about 1 hour after 180 mL of pomegranate juice concentrate in 18 healthy volunteers (Seeram et al. 2006).
• One 500 mg dose of isolated ellagic acid gave plasma levels similar to one 237 mL juice serving holding about 120 mg (Long et al. 2019).
• No intake is established for ellagic acid: NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements has no fact sheet on it, so there is no official dose or upper limit.
• Urolithin production varies by person, and a 2022 literature review describes metabotypes A, B and 0 (García-Villalba et al. 2022).
• In rats, ellagic acid raised warfarin's effect on clotting tests (Alnaqeeb et al. 2019). No human interaction study of isolated ellagic acid appeared in our search.
• Pomegranate juice almost completely inhibited human CYP3A in liver microsome tests at 5% (Hidaka et al. 2005), and a 2022 review lists pomegranate among CYP3A4 inhibitors that raise tacrolimus levels (Miedziaszczyk et al. 2022).
• Mt. Angel Vitamins sells no ellagic acid product. Our urolithin A capsule is a different compound.

Ellagic acid and ellagitannins

Ellagic acid is a dietary polyphenol, one of the plant compounds people get from food (García-Villalba et al. 2022). Plants often hold it inside ellagitannins, which belong to the hydrolyzable tannin group (Larrosa et al. 2010). Foods rich in ellagitannins are hydrolyzed into ellagic acid in the stomach and small intestine (Zhang et al. 2022). Hydrolyzed here means broken down by water.

Pomegranate is the food with the best numbers. Pomegranates are an excellent source of ellagic acid, ellagitannins, anthocyanins and other phytochemicals (Long et al. 2019). One 237 mL serving of the juice used in a 2019 crossover trial held about 120 mg of ellagic acid (Long et al. 2019). That is one juice in one study, not a standard for all pomegranate products.

Walnuts appear in one diet trial. Both Mediterranean arms of the DIRECT PLUS trial ate 28 g of walnuts a day, but the trial tested whole diets and cannot isolate walnut's effect (Zelicha et al. 2022). We did not verify berry content, so berries are not quantified here.

Most human work on this compound uses pomegranate juice or extracts. Those carry ellagitannins along with anthocyanins and other juice constituents. A result from a pomegranate trial is a result for pomegranate, not for isolated ellagic acid.

Urolithins, the gut-made metabolites

Gut bacteria turn ellagic acid into urolithins, and the reviews treat urolithins as the form that reaches the bloodstream. For the urolithin A side, the complete guide and the metabotypes article, which explains why pomegranates may not be enough, are the next reads. Zhang et al. (2022) describe them as converted into urolithins "with high bioavailability." Production is person-specific. García-Villalba et al. (2022) describe metabotypes A, B and 0, which differ in the urolithins a person makes. In a 2025 randomized trial of 16 people with inflammatory bowel disease in remission, type B was the most common metabotype (Minato et al. 2025).

Animals offer a contrast. In a 2011 survey, mammals produced urolithins from ellagitannin foods, while insects and birds that ate the same foods released ellagic acid and made none (González-Barrio et al. 2011). In circulating blood, urolithins circulate as glucuronide or sulphate conjugates at nanomolar levels (Larrosa et al. 2010).

Urolithin A specifically

Urolithin A is one urolithin, and it is the one with its own human trials. Its evidence lives on the urolithin A monograph, which is where most readers should go next.

A 2024 placebo-controlled crossover trial in 10 patients with reduced ejection fraction heart failure gave 500 mg twice daily for four weeks. It found no significant change in echocardiographic measures, and serum HDL cholesterol rose 6.46 mg/dL against placebo (Jamialahmadi et al. 2024). Ten patients cannot settle a question, but this is the human urolithin A data we verified for this page.

For brain health, García-Villalba et al. (2022) state that the cause-and-effect evidence for urolithin A is consistent in animal brain studies but has not been addressed in humans.

How it works

Cell studies give the clearest mechanistic picture. A 2010 review found ellagitannins at 10 to 100 µM produced anti-atherogenic, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects in vitro, while animal and human evidence for vascular effects was "much scarcer" (Larrosa et al. 2010).

Those concentrations do not match what circulates. In the 2006 study, plasma ellagic acid peaked at 0.06 µmol/L (Seeram et al. 2006). That figure is for ellagic acid, not ellagitannins, so the comparison is rough. The gap is still wide: the lowest cell-study concentration is more than 160 times the plasma peak.

The mechanism most often proposed for urolithin A is mitophagy, the removal of damaged mitochondria. It is proposed, not proven in people. García-Villalba et al. (2022) list urolithin A's anti-inflammatory, mitophagy, autophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis activities in vivo as a possible final driver of effects, and note that the forms reaching the brain are unknown. The mitochondrial health guide covers the wider context, and the urolithin A and mitophagy article is the research-level companion.

The gut step has three links: ellagitannins are hydrolyzed to ellagic acid, gut bacteria convert ellagic acid into urolithins, and the urolithins reach blood as conjugates (Zhang et al. 2022; Larrosa et al. 2010). Each link varies by person, which is why the same juice can yield different urolithin levels. The evidence grades below cover what human studies measured, mostly exposure and biomarkers rather than clinical outcomes.

Evidence at a glance

What the evidence doesn't support yet

Three claims go beyond the data.

The first is that ellagic acid supplements improve blood vessel, cholesterol or blood pressure outcomes in people. No human trial of isolated ellagic acid on those outcomes appeared in our search. The vascular case rests on cell and animal work, and the review that describes the cell effects calls the rest of the evidence much scarcer (Larrosa et al. 2010).

The second is that urolithin A supports brain function in people. García-Villalba et al. (2022) say the cause-and-effect evidence is consistent in animal brain studies but not addressed in humans, and most human brain-health data they review come from pomegranate juices and extracts.

The third is that urolithin A improves heart function measured by echocardiography. A 10-patient crossover found no significant change at 500 mg twice daily for four weeks (Jamialahmadi et al. 2024). The authors called for higher doses and longer trials. A trial this small cannot settle the question either way.

Clinical evidence

• Bioavailability and bioactivity of free ellagic acid compared to pomegranate juice — Healthy volunteers, randomized crossover, single dose (participant number not stated in the abstract): 500 mg isolated ellagic acid versus one 237 mL pomegranate juice serving (about 120 mg ellagic acid). Plasma ellagic acid did not differ between the two. Urinary dimethylellagic acid glucuronide, creatinine-normalized, was higher after juice. Limitation: single dose, biomarkers only, no clinical outcome.
• Evidence for a Modulatory Effect of a 12-Week Pomegranate Juice Intervention on the Transcriptional Response in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Reducing Fecal Calprotectin Levels: Findings From a Proof-of-Principle Study — 16 subjects with inflammatory bowel disease in clinical remission, randomized to pomegranate juice or placebo for 12 weeks. Pomegranate juice reduced fecal calprotectin and plasma endotoxin. Serum inflammatory markers and colonic mucosal cytokines did not change. Urolithin metabotypes were predominantly type B. Limitation: 16 participants, proof-of-principle design, juice dose not stated in the abstract.
• The effect of high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet on visceral adiposity: the DIRECT PLUS randomized controlled trial — 294 participants, 18 months, three diets: healthy guidelines, Mediterranean, green-Mediterranean. Both Mediterranean arms ate 28 g/day walnuts. Visceral fat fell 14.1% in the green-Mediterranean arm, 6.0% in the Mediterranean arm and 4.2% in the healthy-guidelines arm. Higher urinary urolithin A was associated with greater loss in multivariable models. Limitation: whole-diet design, walnut effect not isolated, association not causation.
• Evaluation of Urolithin A Efficacy in Heart Failure Patients with Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Randomized, Double-blind, Crossover, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial — 10 patients with reduced ejection fraction heart failure, double-blind crossover: urolithin A 500 mg twice daily or placebo, 4 weeks each with a 2-week washout. No significant change in echocardiographic measures. Serum HDL cholesterol rose 6.46 mg/dL versus placebo (p=0.026). Limitation: 10 participants, 4-week duration; the authors call for higher doses and longer trials.
• Pomegranate juice ellagitannin metabolites are present in human plasma and some persist in urine for up to 48 hours — 18 healthy volunteers, single 180 mL pomegranate juice concentrate dose, blood for 6 hours and 24-hour urine on days -1, 0 and +1. Ellagic acid detected in plasma of all subjects: maximum 0.06 µmol/L at 0.98 hours, half-life 0.71 hours. Dimethylellagic acid glucuronide in urine of 15 of 18 on day 0 only. Urolithin A glucuronide in urine of 11 on day 0 and 16 on day +1. Limitation: single dose, pharmacokinetic markers only, juice rather than isolated compound.
• Critical pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug-herb interactions in rats between warfarin and pomegranate peel or guava leaves extracts — Sprague-Dawley rats. Ellagic acid given with warfarin increased prothrombin time and INR beyond warfarin alone and increased warfarin concentration. Pomegranate peel extract had no significant pharmacokinetic effect on warfarin. In vitro, warfarin with ellagic acid reduced CYP2C8, 2C9 and 3A4 activity in rat hepatocytes. Limitation: rats, dose not stated in the abstract, no human data.
• Effect of pomegranate juice on the pharmacokinetics of nitrendipine in rabbits — Rabbits pretreated with pomegranate juice for one week: nitrendipine AUC 2.03-fold and peak concentration 2-fold higher than control. Simultaneous dosing showed no significant change. Authors conclude the juice inhibits intestinal, not hepatic, metabolism of nitrendipine and advise avoiding concomitant use. Limitation: rabbits, juice rather than isolated compound.
• Effects of pomegranate juice on human cytochrome p450 3A (CYP3A) and carbamazepine pharmacokinetics in rats — Human liver microsomes: pomegranate juice at 5% (v/v) caused almost complete inhibition of CYP3A-mediated carbamazepine 10,11-epoxidation. Rats: carbamazepine AUC about 1.5-fold higher after juice, with hepatic elimination unchanged, suggesting an intestinal rather than liver effect. Limitation: juice rather than isolated ellagic acid; in vitro plus rats.

Dosage & forms

• Pomegranate juice:
• Isolated ellagic acid capsule:
• Pomegranate peel extract (animal data only):

Safety & interactions

How much to take

The only ellagic acid doses with verified human numbers are 500 mg as a single isolated dose and one 237 mL juice serving holding about 120 mg, both from one 2019 crossover in healthy volunteers (Long et al. 2019). Neither study measured a health outcome, so neither tells you how much to take for any purpose.

Common product doses could not be compared with the research. This page did not survey the market, and the human studies verified here include no multi-week ellagic acid dose. If you compare labels, check the milligrams of ellagic acid per serving against the 500 mg studied dose. A weight for a "pomegranate extract" blend tells you little.

Timing: the human measurements cover hours after a single dose. Plasma ellagic acid peaked at about 0.98 hours and had a half-life of 0.71 hours (Seeram et al. 2006). A single dose says nothing about steady levels. Nothing in the sources reviewed supports taking it with fat, on an empty stomach, or split across the day.

Diminishing returns: no dose-response data for ellagic acid appeared in the sources reviewed. Urolithin A dosing is a separate question, covered in what the urolithin A human trials tested.

General safety profile

No human safety study of isolated ellagic acid over weeks or months appeared in our search. The isolated-dose study reported blood and urine measurements, and its abstract names no adverse events (Long et al. 2019). A 12-week randomized trial of pomegranate juice in 16 people with inflammatory bowel disease in remission reported biomarker results, and its abstract lists no side effects (Minato et al. 2025). We did not check full texts for side effects, so no side-effect frequencies are listed.

Side effects by frequency

We could not verify side-effect frequencies. The one serious event in the sources reviewed is a single case report. A 48-year-old man with possible underlying myopathy, taking rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, began drinking 200 mL of pomegranate juice twice a week. His creatine kinase reached 138,030 U/L against a normal ceiling of 200 (Sorokin et al. 2006). One case cannot show how common this is.

Drug interactions

Every row is animal, in vitro or case-report evidence. None is a controlled human interaction trial for isolated ellagic acid.

Who should ask first

People taking warfarin, tacrolimus, a statin, or another drug cleared by CYP3A4 should ask their clinician before adding ellagic acid or pomegranate juice. We found no pregnancy or nursing studies of ellagic acid in the sources reviewed, so pregnant and nursing readers should ask first.

Upper limits and signs of taking too much

No upper limit is established. NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements has no fact sheet on ellagic acid, pomegranate or urolithins (ODS fact sheet index, checked 2026-10-22). We found no human dose-toxicity study in the abstracts reviewed, so there is no verified overdose sign list to give you. If you notice muscle pain or unusual bleeding, contact your clinician.

If you take a drug on that list, ask before the first dose, because no human study verified here can tell you where your dose falls.

Buying guide

The dose that matches the research

The only human isolated-compound study used 500 mg as a single dose (Long et al. 2019). No multi-week ellagic acid dose has been verified. A label should state ellagic acid milligrams per serving. A "pomegranate extract" listed only by total weight, with no ellagic acid figure, cannot be checked against any study.

The form

Isolated ellagic acid and pomegranate juice gave similar plasma ellagic acid in the 2019 crossover, but urinary metabolites were higher after juice (Long et al. 2019). Juice carries other constituents, so a capsule and a juice are different exposures. Peel extracts appear only in rat work (Alnaqeeb et al. 2019).

Proof of testing

Ask for a certificate of analysis by lot that names the method used for ellagic acid and reports the result. Identity testing matters as much as potency, and a total extract weight is not a potency result.

Our own proof stack, stated once: Mt. Angel Vitamins makes products in our own cGMP facility in Mt. Angel, Oregon. Every batch is tested in our in-house lab for identity, potency and purity, and certificates of analysis are published by lot. That applies to our urolithin A capsule, and it is the standard we would hold any brand to, including us.

Fillers and excipients

Fillers are not the main problem. A "proprietary blend" that hides the ellagic acid amount is. Treat a blend with no milligram figure for this compound as a missing number.

Price per day

Divide the price by the number of days the bottle covers at the studied dose. No ellagic acid product from us is priced on this page, so there is no worked example here.

Red flags

"Clinically proven" with no study named. A stated dose far above the single 500 mg dose studied, with no trial behind it. An ellagic acid label with no milligram figure.

No Mt. Angel Vitamins product meets this checklist for ellagic acid, so this page has no product card. The product record for our urolithin A 500 mg capsule lists urolithin A and no ellagic acid, so it is not presented here as an ellagic acid product. Its evidence is on the urolithin A monograph, and the urolithin A buying guide covers how to choose one.

Bottom line

Most people do not need an ellagic acid supplement, and none of the human studies verified here measured a health outcome with ellagic acid itself. If you want the exposure the trials used, pomegranate juice is the closest match, and it carries interaction risks for warfarin, tacrolimus and some statins, so ask a clinician first. Mt. Angel Vitamins sells no ellagic acid product; our urolithin A capsule is a different compound, covered on its own monograph.

Related reading

• How gut bacteria turn ellagic acid into urolithins

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ellagic acid?

Ellagic acid is a dietary polyphenol that plants often hold inside ellagitannins. Those larger molecules release ellagic acid when they are hydrolyzed, meaning broken down by water (Zhang et al. 2022). Gut bacteria then convert it into urolithins. In a 2006 study of 18 healthy volunteers, plasma ellagic acid peaked at 0.06 µmol/L about an hour after a juice dose (Seeram et al. 2006). The reviews focus on urolithins as the circulating metabolites (Larrosa et al. 2010).

Which foods contain ellagic acid?

Pomegranate is the food with the best numbers. One 237 mL serving of the juice used in a 2019 crossover trial held about 120 mg of ellagic acid (Long et al. 2019). Walnuts appear in a diet trial, but that design cannot isolate their effect (Zelicha et al. 2022). We did not verify berry content, so no berry figure is given. The 120 mg figure describes one juice, not every pomegranate product.

Does ellagic acid turn into urolithin A?

Gut bacteria convert ellagic acid into urolithins, and urolithin A is one of them (Zhang et al. 2022). The conversion depends on the person. García-Villalba et al. (2022) describe metabotypes A, B and 0, which differ in the urolithins a person makes. In a 2025 trial of 16 people with inflammatory bowel disease, type B was the most common metabotype (Minato et al. 2025).

Do you need an ellagic acid supplement?

Probably not. The human studies verified for this page measured blood and urine levels after a single dose, and none measured a health outcome with ellagic acid itself (Long et al. 2019; Seeram et al. 2006). Pomegranate juice is the closest match to the exposure human trials used, but it carries interaction risks for some drugs. If you take warfarin, tacrolimus or a statin, ask your clinician before adding either one.

How much ellagic acid is in pomegranate?

The one measured number is about 120 mg in a 237 mL serving of the juice used in a 2019 crossover trial (Long et al. 2019). That is one product in one study. We verified one measurement rather than a range, so this page does not quote a range. If a label lists pomegranate extract without an ellagic acid milligram figure, you cannot compare it with this number.

Is ellagic acid safe to take?

The data are thin, so safety is not established. No long-term human safety study of isolated ellagic acid appeared in our search. In rats, ellagic acid given with warfarin raised clotting-test values beyond warfarin alone (Alnaqeeb et al. 2019). One man taking a statin developed severe muscle breakdown while drinking pomegranate juice twice a week (Sorokin et al. 2006). Those are the reasons to ask a clinician before using either one.

Is urolithin A the same as ellagic acid?

No. Ellagic acid is the food-derived compound. Urolithin A is a metabolite that gut bacteria make from it (Zhang et al. 2022). Urolithin A has its own human trials, which are covered on the [urolithin A monograph](/ingredients/urolithin-a). Confusing the two is common, and it leads to overstated claims. Mt. Angel Vitamins sells a urolithin A capsule, and its product record lists no ellagic acid among its ingredients.

Is pomegranate juice the same as an ellagic acid capsule?

Not quite. In a 2019 crossover in healthy volunteers, one 500 mg isolated capsule and one 237 mL juice serving gave similar plasma ellagic acid, but urinary dimethylellagic acid glucuronide was higher after juice (Long et al. 2019). The authors suggest other juice constituents affect how ellagic acid is metabolized. Juice also inhibits CYP3A in lab tests (Hidaka et al. 2005), so the two are different exposures.