Alpha Lipoic Acid (CT–434)
Lipoic Acid (Alpha-Lipoic Acid or lipoec acid)
Is a naturally occurring essential non-vitamin produced in the body. It is both water and fat soluble. Powerful and unique antioxidant, free radical destroyer. Vital for an efficient kreb cycle – the reactions that occur in the body to produce up to 95 percent of the energy required for optimal functioning and vitality. Aging reduces lipoic acid production by the body. Supplementation becomes necessary, since it is a vital protector of your health. It can replace other antioxidants, such as vitamin E and C, when they are in short supply. In addition, lipoic acid incresses the effectiveness of vitamins E and C.
Principal health benefits: Heavy metal detoxifier, such as mercury toxicity from dental amalgams. Excellent antioxidant. Europeans use it to treat diabetic complications and normalize blood sugar levels. It is particularly effective in preventing complications from diabetes, particularly insulin-resistant Type 2 diabetes. It helps prevent nervous system conditions such as nerve damage, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and blindness. Athletes indicate it prevents muscle soreness the morning after a vigorous workout. Lipoic acid has been used to cure liver disease due to eating the highly poisonous amanita mushroom; without treatment there is a 90 percent chance of death. Since it can pass through the blood-brain barrier, lipoic acid is a promising treatment for reversing the damage caused by a stroke. It may prevent or reverse open-angle glaucoma, diabetes, AIDS, liver diseases and heart disease.
Note: Lipoic acid was effectively used to treat children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union.
Dosage: Take one or two 50 mg. tablets a day, or as per your health care provider’s directions. It is used in many antioxidant formulas.
Caution: No toxicities are known
Dubbed the “universal antioxidant,” lipoic acid, which has only just begun to appear on the shelves of health food stores, is a vitamin-like substance that is naturally produced in the body. Dr. Lester Packer, a world-renowned scientist who heads the Membrane Bioenergetics Group at the University of California at Berkeley, is the world’s leading authority on lipoic acid and antioxidants. Dr. Packer discovered that unlike other antioxidants that have a specific job in the body, lipoic acid can serve as a “free agent” that can pinch-hit for the other antioxidants whey they are in short supply. In other words, if you are low in vitamins E or C, lipoic acid will temporarily take over their jobs.
In one fascinating study from Dr. Packer’s laboratory, three groups of 12 week old mice were given different diets. One group was given a normal diet; the second was given a vitamin E deficient diet, and the third was given a vitamin E deficient diet but supplemented with lipoic acid. The animals in the first group developed normally, but the animals in the second group (the vitamin E deficient group without lipoic acid) developed severe wasting syndrome and seemed to shrivel up. But the animals in the vitamin E deficient group that were given lipoic acid supplements developed normally and showed none of the signs of vitamin E deficiency. Clearly, lipoic acid spared them from the ravages of vitamin E deficiency.
Recently, body builders have discovered the power of lipoic acid. When you exercise, your body requires more oxygen to produce energy. The more oxygen you use, the more likely you are to produce free radicals, which can cause the sore, stiff feeling that often accompanies a rigorous workout. People who work out tell me that since they’ve been taking lipoic acid, they do not feel as sore and uncomfortable the day after.
There is even more exciting news from Dr. Packer’s lab. Recently, lipoic acid was able to completely reverse damage caused by stroke (the deprivation of blood to the brain) in animals. In human beings, stroke not only is a leading cause of death but can inflict severe brain damage, leaving its victims paralyzed. There is no known cure for stroke, but if lipoic acids works as well in humans as it does in animals, it could provide an effective treatment that may minimize damage.
Possible Benefits
Protects against free radical damage.
Can prevent serious complications from diabetes.
May enhance ability to work out.
Has potential as a treatment for stroke.