Tier 2 — strong

Effects of Urolithin A supplementation on muscle health outcomes in humans from randomized controlled trials

Tam Dao, Thanh T. Nguyen, Karim Gariani, Hyun Jin Kim, Dongryeol Ryu
Frontiers in Nutrition 2026 13:1834344

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 42559151
PubMed Central
PMC13440176
DOI
10.3389/fnut.2026.1834344
Funding
Korean ARPA-H / KHIDI Ministry of Health & Welfare (RS-2024-00507256); Korean NRF/MSIT (RS-2021-NR060106).
Competing interests
Authors declared no commercial or financial competing interests; the commercial funding of included trials should be evaluated separately.

Study snapshot

DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis; search through 15 Dec 2025.
ModelHeterogeneous human populations receiving oral urolithin A vs placebo.
SampleFive randomized trials; 236 participants; two trials pooled for six-minute walk distance.
InterventionNot applicable to the review; it synthesized five randomized trials of urolithin A supplementation versus study-specific controls.
DurationNo original intervention or follow-up. Review search through 15 December 2025; individual trial durations varied.
Endpoints6-minute walk test; Strength; Endurance; Mitochondrial biomarkers

What the study showed, in plain terms

Five randomized controlled trials involving 236 participants were included. A two-trial meta-analysis of six-minute walk distance found a pooled mean difference of +17.03 m (95% CI -5.33 to 39.40; p=0.135), statistically inconclusive and graded low certainty. Other functional and biochemical outcomes were too heterogeneous to pool. This analysis concerns urolithin A, not fisetin, and does not establish benefits of stacking.

Key findings

Only the six-minute-walk endpoint could be quantitatively pooled (k=2): +17.03 m, 95% CI -5.33 to 39.40, p=0.135; low GRADE certainty.

Other muscle, endurance and mitochondrial signals were exploratory, with differences in populations and measurements.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Five small short-term randomized trials, heterogeneous populations, low-certainty pooled walking result.

Review search ended 15 Dec 2025 and excluded unpublished and non-English studies.

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Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology