Myrtle.
Myrtle leaf and berry supply ellagitannins, and the berry adds anthocyanins. The leaf oil is dominated by cineole, which is why it turns up in breathing and mouth products.
- Category
- Herb
What Myrtle is, and what it does.
- Does it work
- Suits people wanting a botanical for comfortable breathing or a polyphenol-rich berry. Check the Latin name first, because lemon myrtle is a different plant entirely.
- How much to take
- No dose figure is on record. Start with what a standardised leaf extract provides. Essential oil is used in drops, and the two are not interchangeable.
- Time to feel it
- Inhaled or swallowed cineole is noticeable within minutes. The polyphenol side works across weeks, through urolithins your gut bacteria make.
- The first dose
- With the oil, day one brings a cool, clearing sensation through the nose and throat. The berry and leaf polyphenols run on a slower clock.
- With regular use
- Weeks of berry or leaf extract keep feeding the gut bacteria that make urolithins, and how much you make depends on which bacteria you carry.
- How well tolerated
- Well tolerated as a food and tea. Concentrated cineole oil is not for young children. Tannins bind iron, so space it away from an iron serving.
- How it feels
- The oil feels cool and clearing in the airways. The berry preparation tastes tannic and slightly sweet, and works below the level of sensation.
- The overlooked benefit
- Whether you get urolithins out of the ellagitannins depends on your gut bacteria rather than the dose. Some people convert well and some barely convert at all.
The proof, claim by claim.
These words describe the research, not the molecule's worth. Research strength is how much work stands behind one claim, and it is never a product score.
- comfortable breathing and clear airwaysRandomised trial
- antioxidant activity of leaf and berry polyphenolsIn vitro study
- activity against oral and skin bacteriaIn vitro study
- healthy glucose metabolismAnimal study
- urolithin production from ellagitannins by gut bacteriaNarrative review
Why these belong in the same formula. Each row says what the basis is, from settled biochemistry through to a trial that measured the pair.
Two 2025 and 2026 trials paired lemon myrtle extract with low-load bodyweight or low-load resistance training in older adults and reported hypertrophy measures. Protein intake is the established limiting input for that same adaptation. Combining them addresses different parts of the training response, though no study has tested the pair directly.
Lemon myrtle extract has been examined alongside low-load resistance training in older adults, which is the population where HMB is most often used. The two are separate approaches to the same target and have not been compared or combined in any trial. Read this as a plausible formulation pairing rather than an evidenced one.
Low vitamin D status is associated with reduced muscle strength and function in older adults, and correcting a deficiency is a standard part of any muscle-focused programme in that group. Any botanical aimed at training adaptation in older adults sits on top of that baseline. This is context rather than a direct interaction with the plant.
Myrtle leaf and berry material is rich in ellagitannins, flavonols and anthocyanins, and ascorbate regenerates polyphenol radicals back toward their parent form in vitro. This extends chemical activity within a mixture. Whether it changes anything after absorption has not been shown for this plant.
Myrtle is high in tannins, and tannins form insoluble complexes with non-heme iron that lower absorption from the same meal. This is a general property of tannin-rich botanicals and teas. Separating an iron supplement from a tannin-heavy preparation by a couple of hours avoids it.
Myrtle carries ellagitannins, which humans do not absorb intact. Gut bacteria hydrolyse them to ellagic acid and then to urolithins, and only part of the population carries the bacteria that produce urolithin A efficiently. That is why supplemental urolithin A exists as a way around a conversion step that many people do not perform well.
Urolithin production from ellagitannins is carried out by specific gut bacteria, and people fall into distinct metabotypes according to what they produce. That makes the response to any ellagitannin source partly a function of the microbiome rather than of the dose. Whether a given probiotic product shifts someone's metabotype has not been established.
Myrtle leaf essential oil, dominated by 1,8-cineole and myrtenyl acetate, is used in the same respiratory and topical contexts as peppermint and eucalyptus oils. Combining them is standard practice in aromatic blends. There is no comparative work on the combination.
Nothing specific on file for Myrtle. Match the label to the daily amount above, and tell your doctor what you take.
Not medical advice. Show the label to your pharmacist.What Myrtle actually does.
Myrtle leaf and berry contain ellagitannins, flavonols, and in the berries, anthocyanins. The ellagitannins aren't absorbed as-is, gut bacteria break them down in stages, and how much of the end product someone makes depends on which bacteria they happen to carry.
Myrtle leaf essential oil is dominated by a handful of aromatic compounds, and their proportions shift a lot by plant variety and growing region, so two myrtle oils can behave quite differently from each other.
The tannins bind non-heme iron in the gut into insoluble complexes, which reduces how much you absorb from the same meal. It's a chemical interaction that happens before absorption, so spacing timing apart avoids it.
The anthocyanins in myrtle berry are sensitive to acidity and heat, so their color and content degrade during processing and storage. A syrup, a dried extract, and a fresh berry aren't equivalent on this front.
Where Myrtle comes from.
Two different plants get called myrtle, and each gives two different products depending on whether it was extracted or distilled. Check the Latin name and the extraction method before assuming anything transfers.
Made from a plant. What ends up in the capsule tracks the harvest, so batch testing and a stated marker matter more here than with a made molecule.
Leaf and berry of Myrtus communis around the Mediterranean, or leaf of Backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle) in Australia. Two different species share the common name.
Leaves are air or shade dried to preserve the volatile fraction. Berries are used fresh or processed promptly because anthocyanins degrade.
Ethanol and water pull the tannin, flavonol and anthocyanin fractions. Steam distillation yields the volatile oil and leaves the polyphenols behind.
Extract liquor is filtered and concentrated, then dried onto a carrier for powder formats.
Polyphenol extracts are assayed on total polyphenol or on a named marker. Lemon myrtle oil is assayed on citral content. Different species, different specification.
Sold as dried extract in capsules, as a berry syrup, as leaf for infusion, or as a distilled essential oil.
Getting Myrtle from food.
The whole-food sources on file. A supplement closes the gap, it does not replace dinner.
A gram-for-gram figure (how much of each you would eat to match a dose) will appear here once it is sourced and reviewed. This page will not print a number it cannot cite.
The forms it comes in.
The essence, in one line each.
- Lemon myrtle extract taken alongside low-load bodyweight resistance training was associated with greater muscle hypertrophy measures than training alone.Randomised trial. Sawada S et al., 2025 (The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging). PMID 41076797 ↗
- A low dose of lemon myrtle supplementation alongside low-load resistance training was associated with greater muscle hypertrophy measures.Randomised trial. Mitsuhashi R et al., 2026 (Journal of Aging Research). PMID 41635673 ↗
- Myrtle syrup was compared against placebo on a urinary protein measure in adults with high blood sugar.Randomised trial. Solgi MS et al., 2025 (Galen Medical Journal). PMID 42038823 ↗
- Myrtle extract delivered via drinking water was associated with changes in performance and blood biochemistry measures in the animals studied.Animal study. Özçınar Ü et al., 2026 (Frontiers in Veterinary Science). PMID 41822227 ↗
- Dietary essential oil supplementation altered meat quality and fatty acid composition measures. Myrtle appears among the oils discussed.Animal study. Kürekci C et al., 2021 (Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition). PMID 32969077 ↗
These are the studies our verdict leans on, chosen from the 5 we read for Myrtle. The full linked list is below.
The studies, linked.
1 source behind our Myrtle verdict: peer-reviewed studies and registered clinical trials. Every one links straight to PubMed, the journal, or ClinicalTrials.gov. Read them yourself.
- Clinical trialEfficacy Study of the Supplementation of a Food Supplement Consisting of the Combination of an Olive Extract (Olea Europea L., Fruit), and Myrtle Extract (Myrtus Communis L. Leaves) for the Improvement of Lipid Metabolism in Subjects Eith Slightly Altered Cholesterolemia Values: Single-center, Controlled, Randomized, Parallel-arm, Double-blind Clinical StudyClinicalTrials.gov ↗112 participants, Completed
Evidence surfaced via Semantic Scholar (Allen Institute for AI) and ClinicalTrials.gov. Ranked by study type and citation weight, not cherry-picked.
Problems people have reported.
Read this carefully. These are 29 voluntary, unverified reactions reported to the FDA (openFDA). The number mostly reflects how popular Myrtle is, not how risky it is. A report is not proof Myrtle caused anything. It is a signal of what to watch for, nothing more.
Source: openFDA adverse-event reports. Voluntary reporting, not an incidence rate.
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.