Alpha Lipoic Acid - Doctors' Favorite Youth Pill

Scientists first discovered the importance of ALA in the 1950s,
and recognized it as an antioxidant in 1988. It has been the
subject of a tremendous amount of basic research around the
world, some being done at the University of California, Berkeley
by Dr. Lester Packer, a leading expert on antioxidants.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is being studied in animals and in humans as a preventive and/or treatment for many age-related diseases.

Alpha-Lipoic acid is different from other antioxidants in that it is not plentiful in foods, but it seems to have some very powerful effects in the body. ALA helps convert food into energy, a function that takes place in the mitochondria the body’s energy factory. The body seems to make enough ALA to keep the cells engines fueled and running fine but in the late 1980’s researchers discovered that when lots of extra ALA was present, as with supplementation, the compound takes on the role of an antioxidant.

One of the best-known proponents of ALA is Dr. Bruce Ames, professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has helped develop and studied an ALA supplement which has been patented by UC Berkeley. The supplement contains an additional promising compound, acetyl-L-carnitine, which is also involved in energy production in the mitochondria.

Alpha Lipoic Acid is considered a super-antioxidant because it has the power to regenerate other antioxidants, according to Tory Hagen, researcher at the Linus Pauling Institute in Corvallis, Oregon. Not only that, ALA is a universal antioxidant that can dissolve in either fat or water, making it available to virtually every tissue in the body, and thus helping to quench many different free radicals. ALA is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is why researchers are hopeful that it will be helpful for preventing diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

High levels of antioxidants help to slow the aging process and researchers are getting very excited about Alpha-lipoic acid, saying it could be the newest anti-aging pill. Slowing of the aging process and prevention of disease is the real role of antioxidants.

In one study from the University of California at Berkeley, aging rats had been given acetyl-L-carnitine to boost brain metabolism. The results from that study showed there was a marked increase in free radical activity as the mitochondria revved their engines so to speak. When alpha-lipoic acid was added in combination with the acetyl-L-carnitine the rats began to resemble young ones in just about every way they were measured. According to Bruce Ames, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley, “. . . brain function was better, immune systems improved, and they became more active.” Upon dissection, both the mitochondria and brain neurons in those rats showed less oxidative damage.

Dr. Sherry Rogers, M.D. refers to Alpha Lipoic Acid as the 'King of Antioxidants' for good reason. She also says every diabetic should be on this important antioxidant to combat the increased oxidative stress caused by high blood sugars, as well as reducing a buildup of lactic acid in the muscles and blood. ALA has been proven to be helpful in diabetic neuropathy, a painful, debilitating condition affecting the hands and feet of diabetics. German physicians began prescribing ALA for this condition in the 1960s. ALA supplementation can also support glucose uptake by the body’s cells.

When the body has high levels of both ALA and N-Acetyl Cysteine as well as vitamin C, it is able to make more glutathione, the body’s endogenous antioxidant.

Researchers say there are currently few human studies of Alpha-lipoic acid and because of that they are reluctant to say every one should be taking this supplement but when asked if they take it they all said yes.


Source: Alternative Medicine Magazine, May 2004