Hi all,
I've read here that WokVel boswellia serrata has greater bioavailability than the "usual" boswellia formulation. But I've not been able to find anything in the medical literature or on the WokVel website confirming this. If I could replace the canonical dose of 4200 mg H15 BS/day with a smaller number of WokVel pills (what's listed on the supplements spreadsheet as three 333 mg WokVel capsules/day), that would make my husband really happy. Anyone have any insight or citations to offer?
I did contact the WokVel company but they're oriented towards the business end, not end consumers, and my inquiry just resulted in an email asking about my business plans.
Verdure Sciences earned my trust by being the manufacturers of Longvida curcumin, which is one of the most well documented and high quality curcumin formulations, and Wokvel uses the same solid lipid particle technology as Longvida.
ReplyDeleteThere are also a number of clinical and preclinical studies of WokVel.
https://marketing.vs-corp.com/wokvel-science?hsCtaTracking=dfc31968-425b-42a9-a696-e3a17108bdfb%7C1babf467-1b36-4fe7-914e-766408fe23d4
... including a pharmacokinetic study which could probably be used to compare with other Boswellia formulations regarding bioavailability.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15070181
I will get back to you if I can find anything further.
I'm curious about this as well. My husband has been using WokVel 1 cap 3x daily for a couple months now. After a few weeks of that, he went on high dose prednisone (to treat colitis, a likely side effect of pembrolizumab). His cognition improved significantly while on the prednisone, and his MRI improved noticeably as well (he had shown significant progression on the two previous MRIs, which we had good reason to think was pseudo-progression).
ReplyDeleteAs we've been tapering off the prednisone, I've wondered about increasing the number of WokVel caps or adding a second version of Boswellia, to see if we can prevent the return of treatment-related cerebral edema. I know we'll eventually have problems if he has to use steroids repeatedly or long-term. But the aphasia and memory problems are pretty hard for him.
Another steroid-sparing therapy with clinical data for brain tumors are the angiotensin-II receptor blockers (-sartans), which are antihypertensive drugs. Telmisartan was included in the CUSP-ND proposal as being the sartan with the best central nervous system penetration.
Deletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22650322
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26754004
I've finally done my homework on this, looking at the 2004 WokVel pharmacokinetic paper Stephen referenced above and the H15 Kirste et al 2011 paper ("Boswellia serrata acts on cerebral edema in patients irradiated for brain tumors").
ReplyDeleteThe H15 (4200 mg/day) paper looks at KBA serum levels just to check that boswellia is indeed making its way into the bloodstream. They cite another paper that used rat brains to say that peak levels of KBA are shown to be at 1-2 hours after oral ingestion of a dose, with plateau levels of KBA 2 hours after that. Kirste et al validate this using one of their test subjects, and use this to indicate that they can essentially sample KBA serum levels at any time. Then they say that the average concentration of KBA was 64.9 ng/mL, with values ranging from 5.12 to 153.5 ng/mL. There seems to be quite a bit of variation between subjects.
On to the WokVel paper. They found peak levels of KBA at 4.5 hours after oral administration; their data doesn't really show a plateau though they say that after 30 hours you get to a steady state. At any rate, figuring that you'd be taking one capsule of WokVel every 8 hours, I calculated that the average KBA level during 7.5 hours (using their means from 0.5 hours to 8 hours) was 1.66 x 10^-3 umoles/mL.
How does this compare to the H15 64.9 ng/mL? If I'm doing my conversions right, then
ng/mL = ug/L
so
ug/L x (1 mole/molecular weight in grams) = umol/L = umol/mL x 10^-3
Annoyingly, google is showing me several different values for the molecular weight of KBA (aka 11-keto-beta-boswellic acid), ranging from 456 to 513 grams. It looks like the KBA serum level from H15 Boswellia works out to about .14 x 10^-3 umol/mL, or about 10 times the WokVel KBA serum level. That seems overwhelmingly too good to be true--in this case, we could clearly just go with the WokVel formulation and take 3 pills a day rather than 12 of H15. Hoping that someone else here can tell me where I've gone wrong, or confirm that the math is OK.
expressing concentrations in umoles per ml, as they did in the 2004 Wokvel study, is an unusual (and a bit convoluted) way of expressing a concentration, so I'll do a little conversion.
DeleteMaximum plasma concentration of KBA after the 333 mg dose was 2.72 x 10-3 umol/ml.
or 2.72 x 10-3 mmol/L = 0.00272 mmol/L = 2.72 umol/L (2.72 micromolar)
_____________
In the Kirste 2011 study, the maximum serum concentration of KBA detected in any of the samples was 153.49 ng/mL = micrograms/L.
The molecular weight of KBA is 470.7. 513 is the molecular weight of AKBA.
1 mole of KBA = 470.7 grams. 1 micromole of KBA = 470.7 micrograms
153.49 micrograms/L divided by 470.7 = 0.326 micromoles per liter = 0.326 micromolar
So the maximum plasma concentration after 333 Wokvel is about 8 times higher than maximum values in the Kirste 2011 study.
So I reached the same conclusion. One big caveat is that different analytical methods used in different studies means we're not necessarily comparing apples and apples. A single independent study comparing the different brands of Bowellia would much more reliable than trying to compare various studies using various methods and measuring at various time points.
DeleteThanks much Stephen for checking my work. I agree that a single independent study is much to be desired, because this was very much comparing apples and elephants (not even oranges).
ReplyDeleteBottom line is that I personally feel comfortable using three WokVel Boswellia capsules instead of 10-12 of the more typical formulation of Boswellia. I may bump up to four capsules a day with one right before bedtime so that the level of boswellia stays up overnight. The Kirste paper also quotes from another paper that adding fat to normal nutrition could significantly increase BS serum levels, so I'll be making sure that Bill's diet isn't lean.
The strength of each capsule - 333mg?
DeleteThank you.
In the case of curcumin, unformulated curcumin is better absorbed with fat in the diet, but Longvida curcumin (by Verdure Sciences, same company that makes Wokvel boswellia) is better taken on an empty stomach, as the lipid content of the Longvida formulation already provides superior absorption and bioavailability. The same could be true with WokVel versus regular boswellia powder. WokVel uses the same solid lipid particle technology as Longvida.
DeleteI found this product:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.iherb.com/pr/Thorne-Research-Boswellia-Phytosome-60-Capsules/70004
"Boswellia phytosome provides superior absorption compared to non-complexed boswellia. In fact, plasma levels of boswellic acids were 3-7 times higher for the phytosome preparation depending on which boswellic acid was analyzed. The phytosome preparation also produced tissue levels from 3-35 times higher."
Is there a UK or European source for Wokvel Boswellia?
ReplyDeleteOr a supplier elsewhere that will ship it to the UK? (pureformulas wouldn't).
The main antitumor effect of Boswellia is having 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid in its composition.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29970196
There is a product containing of 30% 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid:
https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Encapsulations-Boswellia-Hypoallergenic-Gastrointestinal/dp/B00CFBF2GE?th=1
US Patent 2004/0073060A1
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20040073060A1/en
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18667054
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20021046
It is not clear whether this product can be more effective than WokVel.
It is also not clear how much 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) contains Wokvel Boswellia? I am afraid that this may be a small percentage.
ReplyDeleteI found.
ReplyDeletehttp://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1078/0944-7113-00290
"Drug Wok Vel ™ containing 333 mg of Boswellia Serrata Extract was supplied by Pharmanza (India). Each capsules of Wok Vel ™ contained the BSE gum with a minimum of 65% organic acids or minimum 40% total Boswellic acids (BA). Main components of boswellic acid in BSE used were 11-keto-β BA (KBA) - 6.44%, 3-O-Acetyl-11-keto-β BA
(AKBA) - 2%, β-BA - 18.51%, 3-O-Acetyl-β BA8.58%, BA - 6.93% and 3-O-Acetyl-α BA -
1.853%."
Thus, in each WokVel capsule, only 2% of 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA).
Also, there is an interesting drug Aflapin, containing 20% AKBA, but more bioavailable than 5-Loxin (30% AKBA):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indianjpain.org/article.asp?issn=0970-5333;year=2018;volume=32;issue=1;spage=16;epage=23;aulast=Suva
By the way, Aflapin is sold under the name AprèsFlex. Aflapin® is the former trademark name for ApresFlex®.
Deletehttps://www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/item01639/5-LOX-Inhibitor-with-ApresFlex
http://www.plthealth.com/products/apresflex
Comparison of 5-loxin and Aflapin:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21479939