The Fulvic Phenomenon

What are fulvic acids? Why are they so important to the health of every living thing on earth? All humic substances (soils, clays and shale) contain minute quantities of fulvic acids which are a particular type of humus acid. Fulvic acid molecules contain more oxygen than other humus acids. Fulvic acids are especially important because of their ability to interact with silica, chelate metal ions, and form reactions with various other organic or inorganic compounds. Fulvic acids can be found in clay, soils, humic shale, streams, oceans, and lakes. The greatest concentrations appear in rare fulvic shale deposits. These deposits are located near coastal areas with variations in chemical composition depending on location, climate, etc.

The yellow-brown color of liquefied humus in lakes, rivers, and coastal waters is almost entirely due to the presence of low-molecular weight, fulvic acid chelates. These consist of various particle sizes, so small they are difficult to measure accurately. Substantial amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc., are brought into solution by the action of fulvic acid on mica, clay, and other mineral-rich deposits.

Recent scientific research in biochemistry, botany and agriculture has changed our understanding of how soil chemistry works, and why fulvic acids are so important. For example, it was once thought that the chelation of metallic minerals into chelated minerals was accomplished entirely by the plant's interior biological processes. We know now that fulvic acids (which are strong chelators of metallic minerals) are partly responsible for micronizing metallic minerals prior to absorption by plants and micro-organisms.

Fulvic acids have a particularly strong affinity for reaction with iron. Soils rich in fulvic acids increase the absorption of iron by plants. Shale deposits containing high amounts of colloidal/ionic hydrophilic iron bound to fulvic acid, contain greater amounts of other trace minerals. These interactions help to increase soil concentrations of metal ions and silica to levels that are far greater than once theorized. Studies conducted with fulvic acids suggest that such interaction may play a role in the synthesis of new minerals by allowing the complexed, dissolved metals, and silica to form new combinations. That's exciting news!

Since fulvic acid is also an electrolyte, it increases the permeability of cell membranes, enhances RNA and DNA metabolism, reverses damage done by toxic substances, and prolongs the resident-time of nutrients within the medium. Fulvic acid makes trace elements biologically active for use by humans, animals, plants, and microbes. It also acts as a transporter molecule for vitamins, enzymes, and a host of other nutrients.

During the earth's prehistoric era, the topsoil was incredibly rich with humic and fulvic acids. This caused plants to take up high concentrations of minerals. Fulvic acids play a significant role in forming super rich fulvic shale deposits, with their abundance of minerals and trace elements. Without the action of fulvic acids creating biologically available elements from metallic substances, life as we know it would cease to exist. Fulvic shale deposits contain extraordinarily high concentrations of fulvic acid fractions in the colloidal/ionic form with every mineral and trace element having once passed through the root of a plant. The higher the mineral content, the higher the fulvic acid fractions and vise versa. The amount of naturally occurring fulvic acid contained in a mineral product is an excellent way to measure how "naturally plant derived" it is. In the near future most nutritional supplements will contain fulvic colloids to increase their absorption and effectiveness.

By leaching fulvic shale with low temperature water, it becomes possible to reactivate fulvic acid fractions and disperse the minerals in the resulting liquid. Fulvic acids are the main component in maintaining the negative electrical charge that's so vital to the health of living cells. Fulvic colloids lend themselves to numerous molecular and ionic reactions due to their crystalline structure. Hydrophilic fulvic colloidal/ionic minerals are chelated by nature. They have the ability to move directly into the cell membranes they contact prior to digestion. Most other mineral supplements are either ground-up rocks (limestone-calcium carbonate), or chelated in the laboratory (amino acid chelates, citrates, gluconates etc.). They have little or no impact on the cells they contact prior to digestion.

Fulvic acids are the only part of humus to be soluble in alkaline, acid and neutral environments. This is an important quality, since plants absorb nutrients in solution. Furthermore, their low molecular weight facilitates penetration into plants. One fulvic acid molecule can carry more than 60 minerals and trace elements into the cell. Some of these are single molecules (ions) others are groupings of molecules (colloids).

The use of fulvic acids in agriculture improves the structure of soil, retaining moisture, encouraging aeration of the root by providing the plant with nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur and micronutrients. Fulvic acids contribute to the conversion of minerals from insoluble to soluble form through the release of carbonic gas.

Likewise, fulvic acids have a positive effect on the growth and development of crops due to an increased extraction of macro- and micronutrients and, on a biochemical level, they increase permeability of cell membranes, thus increasing the effectiveness and uptake of nutrients.

It is apparent that humic substances consist of a heterogeneous mixture of compounds for which no single structural formula will suffice. Humic acids are thought to be complex aromatic macromolecules, containing amino acids, amino sugars, peptides, aliphatic compounds involved in linkages between the aromatic groups. The hypothetical structure for humic acid, shown in figure, contains free and bound phenolic OH groups, quinone structures, nitrogen and oxygen as bridge units and COOH groups variously placed on aromatic rings.