USNIC ACID -

Has anybody used Usnic Acid before in fat loss? (species lipolyze) i just got a bottle today and read up on it being toxic and was wondering, in what amount would of it would it get HIGHLY toxic?

anybody get good results while on it?

anybody got sick?

I wouldn't take this. Usnic acid is a mitochondrial uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation. To basically sum up how it works in layman's terms.

When the body breaks down larger molecules (a fatty acid, carbohydrate, protein) most of the energy (ATP) it produces comes from the electrons. The electrons are eventually sent into the mitochondria, where they are shipped along the membrane (by the electron transport chain). This process establishes a proton gradient. Hydrogen ions in the mitochondria matrix (the very inner part) are pumped out into the inner mitochondrial membrane. (see picture)



Eventually, once transfered on the membrane, the hydrogen ions go back into the Matrix, but they do so through the ATP synthase channel. There, they produce ATP.



What does this all mean? Usnic acid "uncouples" this process. The back way to think of it is that it makes holes in the membrane, which causes the hydrogen ions to go back inside the Matrix before they go through the ATP synthase. As such, the energy is thrown off as heat (which increases metabolism, big time).

The body in turn must also break down substrates (preferably fat) a LOT more, to make up for lost ATP.


Now, finally getting to your question on toxicity.

I'm not sure the dose, but this describes how 2 people taking it had horrible reactions, one needed a liver transplant! It will be difficult to pinpoint the dose that causes damage, as in order to study that, you'd need to give people progressively higher doses and then analyze their liver, which will obviously never happen.



In truth, I'd avoid this, and just drink an extra cup of green tea and hit the treadmill an extra few minutes.

^^^ good info IS

fuck man, thats brilliant info. thanks a whole lot man.

I've taken Dave's Palumbo with the UA in it. Didn't like it at all, I was hot for the first day after that nothing.