Tannic Acid: Empowering New Trends in Chemical Materials

Tannic acid contains a unique polyphenol hydroxyl structure, which helps slow down intestinal motility, prolonging the transit time of chyme in the gut and allowing for thorough absorption of water and nutrients. It also causes local tissue coagulation at ulcerated areas of the skin and mucous membranes, prompting constriction of small blood vessels and promoting blood clotting—thus achieving hemostatic effects. Additionally, tannic acid can alleviate intestinal inflammation, contributing to its anti-diarrheal action.

The polyphenol hydroxyl structure integrates with divalent cations that are crucial for bacterial outer membrane stability, disrupting the bacterial cell wall and cell membrane. Once inside bacterial cells, polyphenols can inhibit the synthesis of essential biomolecules such as proteins, DNA, and RNA, thereby interfering with the bacteria's genetic expression and leading to changes in cellular morphology. Additionally, polyphenols interact with surface and outer membrane proteins, suppressing the synthesis of both the bacterial cell wall and cell membrane. This action also blocks outer membrane porins, impeding the transport of hydrophilic small molecules like glucose, ultimately disrupting normal cellular growth and eventually triggering cell death.

Prevent the oxidative rancidity and spoilage of high-fat raw materials such as feed-grade fats, fish meal, and animal slaughter by-products like chicken meal, meat meal, and meat-and-bone meal. Also, protect compound vitamin feeds and vitamin-containing compound pre-mixes from oxidation, which could otherwise reduce their active potency.

To prevent carotenoids and pigments from being oxidized and degraded, enhancing both the effectiveness and utilization of feed ingredients rich in color-enhancing carotenoids.

Curcumin is a class of phenolic pigments extracted from the rhizomes of turmeric, effectively inhibiting the expression and reducing the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase, lipoxygenase, and cyclooxygenase-2 in the body, thereby helping to diminish inflammatory responses.

On July 1, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued Announcement No. 194, officially marking the phasing out of antibiotic growth promoters in animal feed. With the ban on antibiotics in feed, the industry has increasingly focused on identifying suitable alternatives to address the significant challenges facing animal gut health. Fast-forward to 2022: in June of this year, the European Union further prohibited the use of therapeutic doses of zinc oxide in livestock farming—specifically, for controlling diarrhea in weaned piglets. This move introduces yet another major challenge for weaned piglets in the post-antibiotic era.

Benzoic acid (BA), a monocarboxylic acid, possesses the biological functions typical of short-chain organic acids. In livestock and poultry farming, it helps improve the intestinal environment of animals, inhibits the proliferation of harmful bacteria, reduces the incidence of diarrhea, modulates the body's antioxidant functions, enhances the activity of digestive enzymes, and boosts feed utilization efficiency. Particularly after the ban on antibiotic growth promoters in animal feed, benzoic acid has gained unanimous recognition from the market.

The role of benzoic acid:
1. Benzoic acid molecules can more easily penetrate bacterial cell membranes in their molecular form, exhibiting excellent antibacterial activity. This helps reduce the diarrhea rate in weaned piglets and improves their growth performance.
2. Since benzoic acid is rapidly absorbed and metabolized in the early sections of the digestive tract, and its antibacterial efficacy diminishes under intestinal pH conditions because it struggles to remain in molecular form, a relatively high addition level is required.
3. Benzoic acid has a pKa value of 4.2, which is higher than that of most other organic acids. Additionally, the benzoic acid molecule features a "benzene ring," making it more lipophilic and thus better able to penetrate bacterial cell membranes in its molecular form, leading to enhanced antibacterial efficacy. Consequently, after weaning, benzoic acid is often used as a bacteriostatic acidifier to reduce diarrhea rates and improve growth performance in weaned piglets.
4. Benzoic acid exhibits acidic properties by lowering the pH of feed and gastrointestinal digestive fluids, actively modulating the gut microbiota, and enhancing nutrient utilization and intestinal health in pigs. Its antimicrobial effects make it an effective feed additive in swine production. Additionally, supplementing with benzoic acid can help reduce urinary pH and minimize ammonia emissions by promoting the production of hippuric acid.

Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is a naturally occurring amino acid derivative found in animal tissues, also known as guanacetate or N-methylglycine, among other names. Its molecular formula is C3H7N3O2. Under normal conditions, it appears as white flaky crystals or pale yellow powder, exhibiting excellent stability and lacking any distinctive odor, yet it readily dissolves in water. Widely present in animal cells, guanidinoacetic acid serves as the direct precursor for endogenous creatine synthesis. Exogenously supplied guanidinoacetic acid can influence the body's natural creatine metabolism, thereby stimulating the production of endogenous creatine.

The role of guanidinoacetic acid:
1. Affects sugar metabolism in animals: By influencing key enzymes involved in sugar metabolism and the respiratory chain, it promotes catabolism within the body and boosts ATP levels—ATP being the most direct source of energy for animals.
2. Influencing the body's antioxidant capacity: Guanidinoacetic acid can increase the levels of creatine and phosphocreatine. Creatine helps protect cells by directly scavenging intracellular reactive oxygen species, particularly carboxyl radicals and reactive nitrogen species. Additionally, supplementing with creatine enhances the activity of creatine kinase, facilitating the recycling of ADP while simultaneously reducing free radicals within the body, thereby exerting an antioxidant effect.
3. The Effect of Guanidinoacetic Acid on Protein Metabolism: In animals, guanidinoacetic acid is synthesized from arginine and glycine. Exogenous supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid can reduce the consumption of arginine and glycine, thereby promoting their more efficient incorporation into the body’s protein synthesis process.
4. Promoting Insulin Secretion: The polarity of guanidinoacetic acid molecules influences the depolarization of pancreatic beta-cell membranes, thereby enhancing insulin receptor activity on target cells via two protein kinases—protein kinase A and protein kinase C. This, in turn, modulates the insulin signaling pathway, making guanidinoacetic acid highly effective in stimulating insulin secretion. Exogenous supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid can lead to a reduction in blood glucose levels, subsequently triggering an increase in glucagon secretion.

N-Carbamylglutamate (Carglumic Acid), also known as N-carbamylglutamate or carboglutamic acid, is commonly referred to as NCG. NCG enhances the urea cycle in organisms, boosting the endogenous synthesis of arginine, thereby enriching the body's amino acid metabolic pool. It also stimulates the production of nitric oxide (NO) and polyamines, ultimately improving reproductive performance in mammals—resulting in increased litter size and higher birth weights—as well as promoting growth and development in young animals.

The role of NCG:
Adding NCG to animals can activate carbamoyl phosphate synthetase in vivo, enhancing the synthesis and metabolism of endogenous arginine within the animal body, thereby generating NO and polyamines. NO helps relax vascular smooth muscle, promotes capillary formation, improves microcirculation, boosts reproductive performance in multiparous animals, and supports growth and development in young animals. Meanwhile, polyamines stimulate protein synthesis and enhance feed efficiency.