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ALPHA-LIPOIC ACID

 

by James Roberts, MD, FACC

 

Rejuvetate Life combines Vitamin C with Alpha-Lipoic Acid (often referred to as ALA, Lipoic Acid, or Thioctic Acid), providing you with a one – two antioxidant punch, and a lot more – here’s why:

 

Alpha-Lipoic Acid is as close as Mother Nature could come to an Ideal Antioxidant, so we decided to include it in our System. Unique among antioxidants, Alpha Lipoic Acid can dissolve in both fat and water, such that it can work anywhere in the body.  “If I had only one nutrient to take, it would have to be Lipoic Acid” (quote from Dr. Roberts).  Why?  Well we have four god reasons to give you:

 

            1st ALA is our most versatile antioxidant

2nd ALA readily regenerates other important antioxidants

3rd ALA assists in heavy metal detoxification

4th ALA is effective in Diabetes

 

 

ALA is the most versatile antioxidant that we are aware of.  Vitamin C is water soluble; thus it functions as an antioxidant in the blood, but not in the cell membrane, which is composed of fatty material such as Phosphatidylcholine.  Vitamin E is fat soluble, so it can protect the cell membrane from free radical attack, but it can’t function in the blood.  Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is both fat and water soluble.  ALA can function as a protective antioxidant in the blood, in the cell membrane, and in the cell.  ALA can protect against free radical oxidative damage anywhere in the body.

 

ALA readily regenerates other important antioxidants, such as Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Glutathione, and Co-Enzyme Q10.  In the presence of ALA, the deficiency of another antioxidant becomes less of an issue (ALA prevents scurvy in experimental Vitamin C deficiency).  We want you to follow a balanced diet and nutritional program, but just in case you can’t, or can’t every day, it’s nice to have ALA on board to regenerate these critical molecules.

 

ALA assists in heavy metal detoxification.  ALA can bind to and then remove from your system Arsenic, Cadmium, and Mercury.  Alpha Lipoic Acid adds to the toxic metal removing power of the EDTA and DMSA components of your Rejuvetate Life system.   

 

ALA is effective in Diabetes.  25 million Americans suffer from Diabetes, or its metabolic forerunner, insulin insensitivity.  It is the job of insulin, a protein hormone made in the pancreas, to transport diet derived glucose (the sugar in blood sugar), amino acids (the building blocks of protein), and triglycerides (the smallest components of fat) out of the circulation and into the cells, where these nutrients can be properly processed.  In juvenile onset or type I diabetes, lack of insulin is the problem.  The pancreas fails to manufacture insulin and insulin injections are necessary to maintain blood sugar control.  In the more common, adult onset or type 2 diabetes, insulin insensitivity is the culprit.  There is plenty of insulin floating around, but the cell membrane is no longer responding to the insulin signal.  Glucose and triglycerides cannot enter the cell and build up in the circulation.  Causes or contributing factors to adult onset diabetes include overweight status, insufficient exercise, a diet rich in simple carbohydrates, free radical stress, insufficient cell membrane Phosphatidylcholine, and toxic metal overload..

 

Type two diabetics may experience inappropriate hunger, as the cells of the body are not getting the nutrients they need.  As the sugar level in the blood builds up, blood viscosity rises and blood flow to the muscles decreases, leading to fatigue.  The kidneys attempt to retain the sugar from the blood they filter, but eventually the kidneys’ best effort fails, and the blood sugar spills out into the urine, carrying with it fluids and electrolytes; dizziness and dehydration soon follow.  All of these early symptoms of adult onset diabetes will resolve if normal blood sugar control can be returned.

 

Of greater concern are the long term consequences of insulin insensitivity, essentially the cell toxic effects of this persistent elevation of blood sugar and fat levels.  Here we are talking about cardiovascular disease (coronary blockage, stroke, and gangrene), blindness, and disease of the kidneys and peripheral nerves.  This damage is not due to the high sugar level, but rather to its metabolic sequelae, enhanced free radical stress and abnormal protein glycation (abnormal binding of glucose to intracellular proteins, irreversibly inactivating then – just like heavy metals irreversibly inactivate intracellular enzymes). 

 

Alpha-Lipoic Acid enhances insulin sensitivity, blocks free radical oxidation, and prevents abnormal protein glycation.  ALA should lower the blood sugar value in a diabetic, while at the same time protect against the long term consequence of this disorder.  Will it?  Let’s look at some animal and human studies of ALA in diabetes:

 

Enhancing insulin action – In animals with insulin insensitivity (experimental adult onset diabetes) Lipoic Acid restored cell membrane sensitivity to insulin (Phosphatidylcholine also has this effect).  The insulin was now able to do its job, and blood sugar fell.  Lipoic acid was also shown to have a direct insulin-like effect, itself transporting glucose into the cell.  In heart cells of diabetic rats, ALA normalized sugar uptake, and went on to normalize oxygen uptake and energy generation. Humans receiving high-dose intravenous ALA demonstrate a 50% improvement in cellular glucose uptake.  The point here is that ALA helps to restore insulin function and itself has an insulin-like effect.

 

ALA’s antioxidant capacity was covered above.  This potent free radical neutralizing effect of ALA was strong enough to prevent diabetes in 70% of animals exposed to a free radical stressor regimen known to induce the diabetic state.

 

Peripheral neuropathy in diabetics is aggravated by abnormal protein glycation.  ALA resolves neuropathy in animals with experimental diabetes.  Intravenous ALA at 600 mg/day was shown to have a beneficial effect on diabetic neuropathy in humans.  ALA is a standard treatment for diabetes and diabetic neuropathy in Europe, but not here in the US, where we physicians are more interested in drug approaches.  In humans with diabetes, protein wastage by the kidney fell by 50% following three weeks of high-dose oral ALA; this reflects not just the sugar lowering effect of ALA, but its profound anti-oxidant and anti-protein glycation effects.  Alpha-Lipoic Acid is certainly a winner for diabetics, and in those of us who are not interested in becoming diabetic.