Is Ursolic acid legal in the United Kingdom?

No effect on lifespan at the dose tested in the mouse cohort where acarbose raised male median longevity by 16 to 17 percent. The entire human record is one eight-week trial in 16 men, which reported lower body fat percentage and no change in lean body mass.

Ursolic acid is a triterpenoid found in apple peel, rosemary and holy basil, and it is sold almost entirely on the strength of one line of mouse work from a single laboratory reporting that it induced muscle hypertrophy and reduced muscle atrophy. The Interventions Testing Program tested it in the cohort built around the acarbose dose-response study.

Mechanism: A pentacyclic triterpenoid. The muscle hypothesis rests on work reporting that it enhances skeletal muscle insulin and IGF-1 receptor signalling and reduces expression of the atrophy-associated ubiquitin ligases atrogin-1 and MuRF1, shifting the balance between protein synthesis and degradation.

Regulatory history: Sold as a dietary supplement. Not an approved drug and not approved to prevent or treat anything.

Licenses medicines for the UK market. A compound without a marketing authorisation is an unlicensed medicine, which can only lawfully be supplied for human use through a prescriber under the specials scheme, not sold as a research product.

The classification above is the The Longevity Archive reading of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency listings for Ursolic acid at the reviewed date, not a legal opinion. Rules change, and importing, prescribing and possessing a compound can each be treated differently. Check the regulator directly before acting on anything here.