Boswellic acid

Boswellic acids are a series of pentacyclic terpenoid molecules that are produced by plants in the genus Boswellia.

[1] While boswellic acids are a major component of the resin, the steam or hydro distilled frankincense essential oil does not contain any boswellic acid as these components are non-volatile and too large to come over in the steam distillation process (the essential oil is composed mainly of the much lighter monoterpene and sesquiterpene molecules with small amounts of diterpenoid components being the upper limit in terms of molecular weight).

Specifically the 3-acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid binds as an allosteric partial inhibitor, initiating a shift in regioselectivity of the catalyzed reaction.

[12] Boswellia extracts are sold in tablet, capsule and tincture form, but no dosage guidelines have been developed.

A meta-study of Indian Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) as a complementary therapy for arthritis found it had positive effect in all four trials reviewed.