Phytic acid

Phytic acid also called inositol hexaphosphate or IP6, is a saturated cyclic organic acid in which one inositol molecule is esterified with 6 phosphorus molecules.

Inositol hexaphosphate is an acid found in many cereals, for example in maize, oats and wheat germ and especially in rice bran. Inositol hexaphosphate is also found in peanuts and soybeans (Silva EO et al. 2016). The substance serves as a preferred storage molecule for phosphoric acid (Alkarawi HH et al. 2014).

Inositol hexaphosphate has antioxidant properties and can deactivate free radicals (Goufo P et al. 2014). The substance contributes to the repair of DNA damage.

Both in vivo and in vitro results have shown a preventive and therapeutic anti-carcinogenic effect of inositol hexaphosphate (Fox CH et al. 2002).

The salts/esters of phytic acid are called phytates.