I just came across a recent study on Alpha Lipoic Acid. It does some amazing things for insulin sensitivity but it we haven’t seen what it can do for lipids. Until now.
Very impressive. And again, it’s hypothesized that the method which ALA works so well on lipids comes down to its ability to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation (which I think really means it helps limit insulin which is the cause of that inflammation)
Good stuff
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21593803
[QUOTE]Plasma levels of free fatty acids (FFAs), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (T-Chol), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-Chol), small dense LDL-Chol (sd-LDL), oxidized LDL-Chol (ox-LDL-Chol), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-Chol) were all significantly decreased (P < 0.01). At the same time, both plasma oxidative products (malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-iso-prostaglandin) and inflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6)) were remarkably decreased (P < 0.01), while adiponectin was increased (P < 0.01).[/QUOTE]
Increased Adiponectin = Awesome.
Decreased LDL, triglycerides = More Awesome.
Best part is that this only took two weeks to manifest. Granted the subjects were receiving 600mg intravenously a day, but still, no reason to think we can’t do the same thing with our oral preparations.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Any guess as to how much one would have to take orally to achieve similar results?
Does anyone offer Liposomal ALA?
Good report. Thanks.
Jeff, I am not as adept at interpreting that type of information, but I can hazard a guess. There are many things that taken orally have little impact compared to a more direct route, due to first pass metabolism, intestinal absorption and destruction in gastric juices. Alpha Lipoic Acid should not pose a problem with any of these issues. I always recommend people taking and R-ALA product and I would say that 600mg orally would be enough to produce very similar results, although it may take a little longer to manifest. If anyone wants to guinea pig it and get bloodwork I would be more than happy to do what I can to help cover some of the cost, out of sheer curiosity.