Quinic Acid

Quinic Acid at a Glance

Quinic acid is a naturally occurring cyclitol — a polyhydroxylated cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (1,3,4,5-tetrahydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acid) that sits chemically between a sugar acid and an organic acid. Its defining role in nature is structural: it is the quinic-acid backbone that caffeic acid esterifies onto to form the chlorogenic (caffeoylquinic) acids, one of the most abundant polyphenol families in the human diet ^{1,2Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. Far more quinic acid circulates through food bound into those esters than as the free acid.

Free quinic acid occurs across the plant kingdom — richest in coffee, yerba maté and cinchona bark, and present as a notable free acid in kiwifruit, cranberry, apple and juniper distillation waste ^{2,13Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →Reference 13Vasilijević B et al. · 2018In vitroChemical characterization, antioxidant, genotoxic and in vitro cytotoxic activity assessment of Juniperus communis var. saxatilisView study →}. In the herbs here it turns up as an organic-acid constituent of juniper ^{13Reference 13Vasilijević B et al. · 2018In vitroChemical characterization, antioxidant, genotoxic and in vitro cytotoxic activity assessment of Juniperus communis var. saxatilisView study →}, a water-soluble active of cat’s claw extract ^{6Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}, and one of the small molecules in yerba maté ^{12Reference 12Rempe CS et al. · 2015Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusView study →}.

The honest posture is that quinic acid behaves largely as a prodrug. Ingested on its own it is poorly absorbed intact; gut microbes hydrolyse and ferment it into tryptophan, nicotinamide and a series of aromatic acids, and it is those metabolites — not the parent molecule — that most of its proposed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects are pinned to ^{4,5,9Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →}. Almost all of that evidence is preclinical.

Quinic Acid & the Chlorogenic Acids

The single most important fact about quinic acid is that it is half of a much more famous molecule. Chlorogenic acid — the dominant polyphenol of coffee and a major one of yerba maté — is not a distinct skeleton but an ester of caffeic acid with quinic acid (its formal name is 5-caffeoylquinic acid) ^{1,2Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. The broader caffeoylquinic-acid / chlorogenic-acid family consists of quinic acid acylated with one to four caffeic (or related cinnamic) acid units, and it makes up on the order of 10–16% of dried yerba-maté leaf ^{12Reference 12Rempe CS et al. · 2015Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusView study →}.

This has two consequences that run through the whole page. First, most dietary “quinic acid” is consumed bound, and is only liberated as the free acid when those esters are cleaved ^{1Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →}. Second, because so many of quinic acid’s reported activities were actually studied on the intact chlorogenic acids, it is easy to over-credit the fragment — a caveat worth repeating.

The Shikimate Pathway Connection

Quinic acid is a branch-point metabolite of the shikimate pathway, the plastid route plants and microbes use to build aromatic amino acids and, downstream, most phenolic secondary metabolites. Phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose-4-phosphate condense toward 3-dehydroquinic acid, which quinate dehydrogenase (QDH) reversibly reduces to quinic acid; QDH is structurally similar to, and evolved from, the shikimate-dehydrogenase enzyme of the main pathway ^{2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. Quinic acid therefore acts as a storage and buffer pool feeding the caffeoylquinic acids and, indirectly, the wider phenylpropanoid economy of the plant ^{2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}.

That same well-defined polyol stereochemistry made quinic acid industrially useful in a place few phytochemicals reach: the first practical synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) started from (−)-quinic acid. Gilead’s foundational 1997 route to the carbocyclic neuraminidase inhibitor GS-4104 described “the practical synthesis … starting from (−)-quinic acid,” using the molecule’s four chiral centres as a cheap chiral template ^{3Reference 3Kim CU et al. · 1997Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site: design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activityView study →}. Manufacturing later shifted to the closely related shikimic acid (fewer steps, higher yield), but quinic acid remains a documented, historically load-bearing starting material for one of the world’s major antiviral drugs ^{3Reference 3Kim CU et al. · 1997Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site: design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activityView study →}.

Gut Microbial Metabolism

This is the interpretive heart of quinic acid’s pharmacology and the reason it is best read as a microbiome-dependent prodrug. Because intact quinic acid (and the chlorogenic acids that carry it) is poorly absorbed in the small intestine, most of it reaches the colon, where the resident microbiota do the real chemistry ^{1,5Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}.

Two threads emerge. The first is an aromatic-acid degradation cascade: fermenting human faecal microbiota convert quinic acid along parallel oxidative and reductive routes — aromatising it to protocatechuic acid on one branch and dehydroxylating it to cyclohexanecarboxylic acid on the other — feeding the pool of phenolic and benzoic acids that are ultimately conjugated to hippuric acid and excreted in urine ^{5Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}. Dietary quinic acid from cranberries and prunes is a classic precursor of urinary hippurate for exactly this reason ^{4Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →}.

The second, more striking thread is nutritional: quinic acid appears to nutritionally support the microbial synthesis of tryptophan and nicotinamide in the gut, and the downstream tryptophan metabolites — indole-3-acetic acid and kynurenic acid — are what carry its anti-inflammatory signal, suppressing NF-κB-family signalling rather than the parent acid doing so directly ^{4,9Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →}. Studies consistently find that removing the microbiota abolishes the effect: antibiotic-treated mice lose quinic acid’s protection against colitis ^{11Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →}. The molecule’s activity, in other words, is substantially delegated to the bacteria that ferment it.

What It's Used For

Quinic acid’s research profile is real but almost entirely preclinical and microbiome-mediated. The load-bearing caveat is that the isolated molecule is rarely the active species — and where whole extracts (cat’s claw C-Med-100, chlorogenic-acid-rich coffee/maté) were tested, the effect cannot be assigned to quinic acid alone.

Evidence by IndicationStrength of support · Beta

Support is an experimental score — weighted by study type (human > animal > in vitro) and volume. A beta, not a validated metric. Every row here is preclinical and, for most, microbiome-mediated, so scores stay modest by design.

01Antioxidant / CytoprotectiveShaky32%In-vitro + C. elegans + rodent; Nrf2/SKN-1 activation ^{7,8Reference 7Liu L et al. · 2020AnimalNeuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in ratsView study →Reference 8Hossam El Din R · 2024Quinic acid protects against the development of Huntington’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans modelView study →}

02Neuroprotective / Anti-NeuroinflammatoryShaky30%Rodent HFD/LPS/AlCl3 models; MAO-B, MAPK, DR3/NF-κB ^{7,9,10Reference 7Liu L et al. · 2020AnimalNeuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in ratsView study →Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →Reference 10Park SY et al. · 2024AnimalQuinic acid alleviates behavior impairment by reducing neuroinflammation and MAPK activation in LPS-treated miceView study →}

03Gut / Anti-ColitisShaky28%Mouse DSS colitis + human faecal fermentation; MyD88/NF-κB, microbiota-dependent ^{11Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →}

04Immunomodulatory / DNA RepairShaky24%Mouse + in-vitro, as the C-Med-100 cat’s-claw extract active ^{6Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}

05AntimicrobialShaky16%In-silico ranking + in-vitro fraction against MRSA ^{12Reference 12Rempe CS et al. · 2015Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusView study →}

Mechanisms

The unifying read: quinic acid rarely hits these targets itself. It is fermented into metabolites — tryptophan-derived indoles, nicotinamide/NAD⁺ precursors, phenolic acids — and those do the signalling. The microbiome is the pharmacologically active partner.

Pharmacokinetics

Quinic acid is a small, highly polar polyol acid, and its pharmacokinetics are dominated by poor intact absorption and heavy microbial processing. As the backbone of the chlorogenic acids, most dietary quinic acid arrives bound: intact acyl-quinic acids are absorbed only slightly in the small intestine, and the bulk reaches the colon, where microbial esterases hydrolyse them to release free quinic acid and caffeic acid ^{1Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →}. The liberated quinic acid is then fermented along oxidative (→ protocatechuic acid) and reductive (→ cyclohexanecarboxylic acid) routes, feeding benzoic/phenolic acids that are conjugated in the liver to hippuric acid and excreted in urine — with large inter-individual variability driven by microbiota composition ^{1,5Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}. The practical upshot: plasma quinic acid is not the exposure that matters — its effects track colonic metabolites, which is exactly why the isolate’s in-vitro activities translate unpredictably and why germ-free/antibiotic conditions erase them ^{5,9,11Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →}.

Clinical Trials

There are no controlled human trials of isolated quinic acid. The nearest human-relevant evidence is indirect: trials of the C-Med-100 cat’s-claw extract (in which quinic acid is one active) and the large clinical literature on coffee/maté chlorogenic acids (which deliver quinic acid in bound form) — neither of which isolates the molecule ^{1,6Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}.

Last checked: July 2026.

Isolate vs. Plant Studies

The mechanistic and behavioural work is mostly the isolated molecule — the aluminium-dementia ^{7Reference 7Liu L et al. · 2020AnimalNeuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in ratsView study →}, LPS ^{10Reference 10Park SY et al. · 2024AnimalQuinic acid alleviates behavior impairment by reducing neuroinflammation and MAPK activation in LPS-treated miceView study →}, high-fat-diet ^{9Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →} and colitis ^{11Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →} studies all dosed quinic acid directly, and the C. elegans antioxidant work used the isolate ^{8Reference 8Hossam El Din R · 2024Quinic acid protects against the development of Huntington’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans modelView study →}. That is a genuine mechanistic base. But two things blunt it. First, the human-relevant evidence is whole-extract: quinic acid’s flagship immune activity is as a component of the C-Med-100 cat’s-claw extract ^{6Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}, and its largest real-world exposure is as the bound backbone of chlorogenic acids in coffee and maté ^{1,2Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. Second — and unusually — even the isolate studies are effectively whole-microbiome studies, because the molecule’s activity is delegated to gut bacteria and vanishes without them ^{9,11Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →}. So the correct framing is: decent isolate mechanism work + meaningful plant-extract clinical context, with a microbiome dependency that makes “isolated quinic acid” a partly notional category.

Its Role in Plants

Beyond feeding the chlorogenic acids, quinic acid functions as a metabolic reservoir in the shikimate/phenylpropanoid network — a readily interconverted pool (via quinate dehydrogenase) that buffers the flux between primary aromatic-amino-acid synthesis and the production of defensive phenolics ^{2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. Its accumulation in unripe fruit (green apple, kiwifruit) and in bark contributes to the sharp, acidic taste that deters herbivory, and it declines as fruit ripens and organic acids are consumed. These are plant-physiology roles and should not be read as human pharmacology.

Prevalence in Nature

Quinic acid is widespread across the plant kingdom, occurring both as the free acid and — far more abundantly — as the quinic-acid moiety of the caffeoylquinic / chlorogenic acids ^{1,2Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}. It is a signature acid of coffee (both free and, dominantly, bound; free quinic acid also rises during roasting as chlorogenic acids decompose) and of yerba maté, whose caffeoylquinic fraction reaches ~10–16% of dried leaf ^{12Reference 12Rempe CS et al. · 2015Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusView study →}. It takes its name from cinchona (“quina”) bark, historically its best-known source ^{2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}.

As a free acid, quinic acid is notably concentrated in kiwifruit, cranberry, green apple and prunes ^{4Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →}, and it is abundant in juniper post-distillation waste at ~11.1 mg/g ^{13Reference 13Vasilijević B et al. · 2018In vitroChemical characterization, antioxidant, genotoxic and in vitro cytotoxic activity assessment of Juniperus communis var. saxatilisView study →}. It is a water-soluble constituent of cat’s claw bark/root extract ^{6Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}. Precise free-acid concentrations across most foods are not well tabulated (they shift with ripeness, cultivar and processing), so the figures below are the firmly reported ones; the broader quantification gaps are tracked in this compound’s gaps file.

Major Natural Sources

Source	Form	Reported quinic acid
Coffee (Coffea spp.)	brew / bean	High, mostly bound as chlorogenic acids; free quinic acid rises on roasting 1,2Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →
Yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis)	dried leaf	Caffeoylquinic (bound) fraction ~10–16% of leaf 12Reference 12Rempe CS et al. · 2015Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusView study →
Juniper (Juniperus communis)	post-distillation waste	~11.1 mg/g (free acid) 13Reference 13Vasilijević B et al. · 2018In vitroChemical characterization, antioxidant, genotoxic and in vitro cytotoxic activity assessment of Juniperus communis var. saxatilisView study →
Cinchona bark	bark	Historical namesake source; free acid 2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →
Kiwifruit / cranberry / green apple	fruit	Notable free quinic acid (a major fruit organic acid) 4Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →

Discovery & Synthesis

Quinic acid was obtained from cinchona (“quina”) bark in the late 18th century — the origin of the name “quinic acid” — during the same era of cinchona chemistry that later yielded quinine; its full stereochemistry as the (−)-1,3,4,5-tetrahydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acid was pinned down much later. (The exact first-isolation attribution is not firmly documented here.) In nature it is made not by synthesis but biosynthetically, by reduction of 3-dehydroquinate via quinate dehydrogenase in the shikimate pathway ^{2Reference 2Alcázar Magaña A et al. · 2021Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivityView study →}.

Its most notable synthetic footprint is as a chiral starting material rather than a target: because its four defined stereocentres offer a cheap enantiopure template, (−)-quinic acid was the starting material for Gilead’s first practical synthesis of the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in 1997 ^{3Reference 3Kim CU et al. · 1997Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site: design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activityView study →}. Industrial oseltamivir manufacture later moved to shikimic acid for higher yield, but the quinic-acid route is a documented part of that drug’s history ^{3Reference 3Kim CU et al. · 1997Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site: design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activityView study →}. Bulk quinic acid itself is obtained by extraction from plant material (notably cinchona bark and chlorogenic-acid-rich residues) rather than by total synthesis.

Patents: not yet researched.

Toxicity & Safety

Quinic acid carries a low toxicity flag. It is a ubiquitous dietary organic acid — a major component of coffee, common fruits and vegetables — consumed by humans in gram quantities daily across the diet with no characteristic toxicity, and its principal metabolic fate is conversion to harmless, readily excreted hippuric acid ^{1,4,5Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}. Historically it was even explored therapeutically as an oral agent to raise urinary hippurate. There is no meaningful genotoxicity or organ-toxicity signal for the isolate at dietary or the studied rodent research doses ^{7Reference 7Liu L et al. · 2020AnimalNeuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in ratsView study →}.

Safety at a Glance

✅ Low / no toxicity

• A ubiquitous, well-tolerated dietary acid. Consumed in gram amounts daily via coffee, fruit and vegetables; metabolised to harmless urinary hippuric acid ^{1,4,5Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 4Pero RW et al. · 2009Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acidView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}.
• Effects are microbiome-dependent and preclinical. Its bioactivity is delegated to gut bacteria and is unproven in humans — do not read the rodent neuro/anti-inflammatory data as an established benefit ^{9,11Reference 9Li S et al. · 2024Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolitesView study →Reference 11Li Y et al. · 2025Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathwayView study →}.
• No isolated-supplement safety dossier. There is no human dosing, interaction or long-term-safety data for quinic acid taken as an isolate rather than as a food constituent.
• Extract results don’t transfer. The immune data belong to the specific C-Med-100 cat’s-claw extract, not to whole-bark products or purified quinic acid ^{6Reference 6Åkesson C et al. · 2005Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100View study →}.

Pregnancy/lactation is a per-herb / per-supplement decision and is not adjudicated on this molecule page; no isolate-specific reproductive dataset exists for quinic acid, and no verdict is issued here.

Dosage

There is no established or recommended human dose for isolated quinic acid, and it is not used as a stand-alone supplement. The figures in the literature are preclinical research doses — for example 200–400 mg/kg in the rat aluminium-dementia study ^{7Reference 7Liu L et al. · 2020AnimalNeuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in ratsView study →} — and do not convert to human self-dosing. Ordinary human exposure is dietary and mostly indirect: quinic acid is delivered largely as the bound backbone of chlorogenic acids in coffee, yerba maté, fruit and vegetables, and is released and activated only after colonic microbial hydrolysis and fermentation ^{1,5Reference 1Clifford MN et al. · 2020Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humansView study →Reference 5Naranjo Pinta M et al. · 2018In vitroIn vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acidView study →}. These are doses studied in research and are not a personal recommendation.

References

1. Clifford MN, Kerimi A, Williamson G (2020). Bioavailability and metabolism of chlorogenic acids (acyl-quinic acids) in humans. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33337099/
2. Alcázar Magaña A, Kamimura N, Soumyanath A, Stevens JF, Maier CS (2021). Caffeoylquinic acids: chemistry, biosynthesis, occurrence, analytical challenges, and bioactivity. The Plant Journal. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34171156/
3. Kim CU, Lew W, Williams MA, et al. (1997). Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site: design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activity. Journal of the American Chemical Society. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16526129/
4. Pero RW, Lund H, Leanderson T (2009). Antioxidant metabolism induced by quinic acid. Increased urinary excretion of tryptophan and nicotinamide. Phytotherapy Research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18844285/
5. Naranjo Pinta M, Montoliu I, Aura AM, Seppänen-Laakso T, Barron D, Moco S (2018). In vitro gut metabolism of [U-13C]-quinic acid, the other hydrolysis product of chlorogenic acid. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30113130/
6. Åkesson C, Lindgren H, Pero RW, Leanderson T, Ivars F (2005). Quinic acid is a biologically active component of the Uncaria tomentosa extract C-Med 100. International Immunopharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15589483/
7. Liu L, Liu Y, Zhao J, Xing X, Zhang C, Meng H (2020). Neuroprotective effects of D-(−)-quinic acid on aluminum chloride-induced dementia in rats. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32454864/
8. Hossam El Din R, Thabit S (2024). Quinic acid protects against the development of Huntington’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans model. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39468600/
9. Li S, et al. (2024). Quinic acid alleviates high-fat diet-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting DR3/IKK/NF-κB signaling via gut microbial tryptophan metabolites. Gut Microbes. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38972055/
10. Park SY, et al. (2024). Quinic acid alleviates behavior impairment by reducing neuroinflammation and MAPK activation in LPS-treated mice. Biomolecules & Therapeutics (Seoul). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38589292/
11. Li Y, et al. (2025). Millet quinic acid relieves colitis by regulating gut microbiota and inhibiting MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Foods. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40647020/
12. Rempe CS, Burris KP, Woo HL, Goodrich B, Gosnell DK, Tschaplinski TJ, Stewart CN Jr (2015). Computational ranking of yerba mate small molecules based on their predicted contribution to antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS One. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25955847/
13. Vasilijević B, Knežević-Vukčević J, Mitić-Ćulafić D, et al. (2018). Chemical characterization, antioxidant, genotoxic and in vitro cytotoxic activity assessment of Juniperus communis var. saxatilis. Food and Chemical Toxicology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29287791/

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