Carbohydrate-derived fulvic acid wellness drink: its tolerability, safety and effect on disease markers in pre-ART HIV-1 positive subjects

Value-Added Products From Soil, Brown Coal, and Composted City Solid Waste

This review article highlights alternative innovative uses of soil, brown coal, and composted solid city waste. The latter leads to environmental pollution, which can be addressed by using these materials to generate value-added products. Humic substances present there can be isolated in large amounts and used in diverse fields like sustainable agriculture, horticulture, biomedicine, and materials science. These have been shown to be non-toxic and safe for humans and serve as growth promotants for plants and to cure stomach ailments. The recent discovery of their antiviral/anti-HIV-AIDS activity is described here in some detail. The use of humic substances for making dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and for preparing a catalyst for reduction and for oxidation processes is also highlighted. Such innovative uses of humic substances can lead to environmental cleaning and positively impact climate change.

Exploration of fulvic acid as a functional excipient in line with the regulatory requirement

Fulvic acid, a humic substance often considered as a geopolymer, extracted from different natural resources like Shilajit, Peat, dissolved organic matters, etc. There are several reports of its pharmacological properties and its potential as pharmaceutical excipients. So, we have devised a project to strengthen its claim as a functional excipient. For the given project, lyophilized sample of a dietary supplement product (an aqueous solution of peat derived Fulvic acid) was used. The selected studies were typical for an excipient development like physicochemical properties, flow properties, compatibility with other excipient and stability studies, non-clinical safety studies (acute toxicity in mice whereas sub-acute toxicity in rats) and some functionality tests. We also suggest its ability to form co-crystal with natural phytochemicals. Our group has already reported its ability to enhance solubility and or bioavailability of different BCS class II drugs. Henceforth, we can propose that Fulvic acid appears a good candidate to be further explored as a functional excipient and should be evaluated as per the remaining recommendations of IPEC, USFDA, and USP.