Seaberry ursolic acid improves daytime frequency and urgency of urination in healthy Japanese subjects: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial | Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer Open Menu Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Home Food Science Publisher Functional Food Center Current Archives About About the Journal Aims and Scope Contact Editing Services Editorial Team Express Peer Review Graphical Abstract Journal Insights Privacy Statement Submissions Announcements Search Search Register Login Home / Archives / Vol. 15 No. 6 (2025): June 2025 / Research Articles Seaberry ursolic acid improves daytime frequency and urgency of urination in healthy Japanese subjects: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial Authors Norihito Shimizu Ryoma Shimizu Masahiro Yagihashi Kazunori Goto Hiroshi Shimoda Marina Hirano Hiroyuki Shimizu Shizuo Yamada DOI: https://doi.org/10.31989/ffhd.v15i6.1631 Abstract Background and objective: The fruit of seaberry (Hippophae rhamnoides), which exerts anti-hypertensive, hypoglycemic, anti-obesity, and immunomodulatory effects, contains triterpenoids, namely ursolic acid. We previously reported that seaberry-derived ursolic acid suppressed urination frequency and anxiety related to urination in Japanese subjects; however, some subjects were patients with mild overactive bladder (OAB). Therefore, we conducted a clinical trial on the effects of ursolic acid supplementation on urination frequency and urination scores in healthy Japanese subjects.  Methods: Eighty out of 256 registered volunteers were enrolled in the present study. This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. All subjects were randomly allocated by the stratified block randomization method into the ursolic acid group (n=40) or placebo group (n=40). Tablets containing ursolic acid (0.2 mg/day) or placebo were administered for 8 weeks between January and March 2024. A voiding diary and the core lower urinary tract symptom score (CLSS) were the primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes were the OAB and King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ). A safety analysis measured blood, urine, and other body parameters.  Results: The per-protocol set comprised 35 subjects in the ursolic acid group and 32 in the placebo group. Daytime urination frequency significantly decreased after 3 weeks of ursolic acid supplementation, and a significant correlation between the number of daytime urinations and time was detected in the ursolic acid group. No significant differences were observed in other scores or parameters in the safety analysis. Conclusions: The intake of ursolic acid (0.2 mg/day) reduced daytime urination frequency and urgency. Therefore, seaberry ursolic acid can potentially manage urgent urination in healthy subjects. Novelty: This study presents the novel finding that a low-dose (0.2 mg/day) ursolic acid supplementation derived from seaberry significantly reduces daytime urination frequency after 3 weeks and the urgency of urination in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial conducted explicitly on healthy Japanese adults. Trial Registration: UMIN-CTR: UMIN000052848 Foundation: Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical Co., Ltd. Keywords: ursolic acid; seaberry; urination; overactive bladder; core lower urinary tract symptom score; King’s health questionnaire; bioactive compounds Downloads [Abstract] [Full Article] Published 2025-06-04 Issue Vol. 15 No. 6 (2025): June 2025 Section Research Articles License Copyright (c) 2025 Functional Foods in Health and Disease This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors may post and share their published work freely, provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged. By submitting to this journal, authors confirm that their manuscripts are original, not under consideration elsewhere, and that they hold the necessary rights to grant this license. The Functional Food Center encourages open scientific exchange and allows derivative and extended works, provided attribution to the original publication is maintained. About the Journal      Editing Services      Graphical Abstract      Journal Insights        Submissions        Editorial Team       Privacy Statement        Contact        Current        Archives   Open Journal Systems Hosting and Support by: OpenJournalSystems.com