What Are Boswellic Acids? Understanding Frankincense Beyond Its Aroma

One name, several compounds

When people discover frankincense research, “boswellic acids” often becomes the next phrase they encounter. It sounds like one ingredient, but it refers to a family of related compounds.

Analytical research has identified and measured several boswellic acids in Boswellia sacra and Boswellia serrata. Names include β-boswellic acid, KBA and AKBA. A paper reporting one of these compounds is not necessarily reporting the total amount of all boswellic acids. [1]

That distinction matters whenever a headline or ingredient description includes a percentage. A useful percentage needs to say what was measured and which material was tested.

Aroma is a different question

Frankincense contains volatile aromatic constituents as well as nonvolatile constituents. Boswellic acids belong to the nonvolatile portion; they are not what a person is measuring by smelling a resin. A clinical pharmacokinetic study of B. serrata explicitly distinguishes volatile terpenes from nonvolatile boswellic acids. Its oral-treatment findings should not be transferred to topical Hojari products. [2]

The educational point is about chemistry: fragrance strength cannot tell us a boswellic-acid concentration.

How do scientists measure them?

Researchers use analytical methods to distinguish and quantify compounds. A 2016 study used chromatography coupled with other identification methods to examine boswellic acids in B. sacra and B. serrata. [1]

This kind of work helps explain why a resin’s name alone cannot supply a reliable chemical percentage. The material must be sampled, prepared and measured with an appropriate method.

From a resin to a finished formula

A resin, an extract, an oil infusion and a finished balm are different materials. A result measured in one does not automatically describe the others.

For example, knowing how much resin went into an infusion does not tell us the final concentration of each compound in the filtered oil. Adding other ingredients creates a further formulation step. To state a finished balm’s boswellic-acid percentage, that finished material would need suitable testing.

This is a measurement principle, not a judgement about a formulation’s craftsmanship. A maker can accurately describe selecting resin, infusing it and filtering it without assigning an unmeasured potency figure.

A useful way to read a percentage

Before comparing two numbers, ask three questions: Which compounds? Which material? Which measurement method?

Those details turn an impressive-looking number into information a reader can actually interpret.

Continue exploring: Frankincense and Skin: What Does Human Research Show?; Frankincense: Resin vs. Essential Oil; the Royal Green Hojari pillar guide.

Royal Green Hojari Frankincense:
A Guide to the Resin, Its Heritage and the Research
Frankincense: Resin vs. Essential Oil — understanding different preparations.
What Is Royal Green Hojari Frankincense? — botanical identity, trade descriptions and grade.
Frankincense and Skin: What Does Human Research Show? — a closer look at a human study.

References

Mannino G, Occhipinti A, Maffei ME. Quantitative Determination of 3-O-Acetyl-11-Keto-βBoswellic Acid (AKBA) and Other Boswellic Acids in Boswellia sacra Flueck (syn. B. carteri Birdw) and Boswellia serrata Roxb. Molecules. 2016;21(10):1329. PubMed, PMID 27782055.
Pharmacokinetics of a Natural Self-emulsifying Reversible Hybrid-Hydrogel (N’SERH) Formulation of Full-Spectrum Boswellia serrata Oleo-Gum Resin Extract: Randomised Double-Blinded Placebo-Controlled Crossover Study. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 2024. PubMed, PMID 39343544. Cited for the distinction between volatile and nonvolatile constituents; this was an oral pharmacokinetic study.