Influence of humic and fulvic acids on living organisms and prospects for their application

Abstract

An analysis of current and previous literature on the impact of humic and fulvic acids on organisms of different taxonomic levels (e.g. plants, animals, microorganisms) shows that these substances have an impact both at the molecular and structural level and at the organismal level. A great amount of work has been devoted to the study of the impact on plants and animals, with a much smaller number of studies on the effect of humic substances on human health. Humic and fulvic acids along with preparations based on them are widely used in crop production in order to increase plant resistance to adverse environmental factors, enhance crop yields, restore soil fertility, improve the nutritional value of products and their environmental friendliness. In livestock farming, the use of biologically active humic and fulvic preparations helps to accelerate animal growth, improve resistance to toxins in feed and stressful environmental conditions, reduce disease, and increase animal productivity. It is obvious that in the future, most of the work should be devoted to the study of the mechanisms of influence of humic and fulvic acids on human health as the most important section of human ecology. A significant confirmation of this conclusion can be the fact that among the inhabitants of Polissya (Volyn, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Rivne regions) there is the largest number of long-livers (over 100 years old), and it is known that the inhabitants of this region of Ukraine drink borehole and river water with a high concentration of humic substances. In addition, humic and fulvic acids exhibit pronounced antioxidant, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, fungicidal, antitoxic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antimutagenic and other types of biological activity, which makes them a unique synthesis for the creation of effective ecologically safe drugs with complex biological effects.