Ellagic acid supplements are now appearing everywhere, and most of them are pure nonsense. As for those products that truly contain pure ellagic acid, you don’t want them.

First of all, ellagic acid doesn’t work as well as the complete ellagitannin complex. Although ellagic acid alone has been shown to inhibit carcinogenesis both in vivo and in vitro, several studies have reported that the other phenolic compounds in the berries also contribute to the observed inhibitory effect. Those compounds are only present in a complete ellagitannin complex, not in a synthetic ellagic acid isolate. In other words, an ellagitannin complex works better than pure ellagic acid

Second, synthetic ellagic acid is too harsh for the human body to accept, and has some serious side effects – not the least of which is its tendency to raise blood pressure.

And third. Dr. Nixon’s studies are being done with the complete complex, not with isolated ellagic acid. If you want the same results, you need to use the same supplement.

And as for those companies selling some form of berry-based ellagitannin complex and either calling it ellagic acid or claiming that it contains ellagic acid…don’t be fooled. It isn’t ellagic acid, and it doesn’t contain any. The fact of the matter is that ellagic acid itself is not naturally present in plants. Instead, polymers of gallic acid and hexahydroxydipenoyl (HHDP) are linked to glucose centers to form the class of compounds known as ellagitannins. Ellagic acid is formed when the HHDP group is cleaved from the tannin molecule and spontaneously rearranges – as happens in the digestive tract.