Dietary Supplement Alpha Lipoic Acid

Alpha lipoic acid is currently the only powerful endogenous antioxidant that is both fat-soluble and water-soluble. As a dietary supplement, it only has a clear auxiliary effect on people with abnormal glucose metabolism and high-intensity exercise. Daily supplementation of healthy people has no additional benefits. It does not have the effect of the "anti-aging miracle drug" or "universal antioxidant" spread on the Internet. Long-term use in large doses may lead to the risk of metabolic disorders.

The first time I came into contact with this thing was 3 years ago. I was helping my dad, who had just been diagnosed with prediabetes, find supplements for sugar control. I saw those little yellow pills at the nutritionist's workstation. His first words at that time were, "Don't eat them blindly. This stuff is not for healthy people."

Its most special feature is indeed its antioxidant properties. Unlike vitamin C, which can only stay in the body fluid environment, vitamin E can only act on fat and cell membranes. Alpha lipoic acid can be dissolved in both water and oil, and can penetrate into every corner of cells, including mitochondria and blood-brain barriers that are difficult to penetrate. Theoretically, its antioxidant coverage is wider than that of common supplements. This is the core reason why it was touted as a "universal antioxidant" in the early years.

At present, the only applicable scenario that has been extensively clinically verified is the auxiliary conditioning of people with abnormal glucose metabolism: people with prediabetes or diagnosed with diabetes can supplement 100-300mg per day as directed by their doctor, which can help improve insulin sensitivity, reduce postprandial blood sugar fluctuations, and relieve numbness and tingling in the hands and feet caused by diabetic peripheral neuropathy. My dad has been taking it for almost two years. Now, in addition to taking regular anti-diabetic drugs, he also takes 100 mg of R-type lipoic acid with meals every day. The numbness in his toes that he often suffered in winter has indeed been reduced a lot. However, it is only an auxiliary and cannot replace regular anti-diabetic drugs. If someone says that taking it can cure diabetes, just block it.

The most hyped thing on the Internet right now is its anti-aging and whitening effects. Interestingly, relevant research has indeed shown significant free radical scavenging effects at the cellular level, and it can also reactivate inactivated vitamins C and E, which is equivalent to "renewing" the body's antioxidant system. However, when it comes to human oral administration, most of the results are "no statistical difference" - to put it bluntly, it is useless. There is a skin care geek next to me who has been taking high-dose lipoic acid for half a year to lighten chloasma, and the spots are not reduced at all. On the contrary, due to its hypoglycemic effect, he occasionally suffers from hypoglycemia, which is not worth the loss. It is also popular in fitness circles to relieve delayed onset muscle soreness after training. This is supported by small sample clinical studies. I took 300mg after my leg training day, and the soreness the next day was indeed lighter. However, some muscle friends said that after taking it, it was the same as not taking it. Individual differences are very large, so there is no need to stock up specifically for this.

Speaking of which, I would like to mention a pitfall that many people don’t know: commercially available lipoic acid is divided into R-type and S-type. The R-type is naturally occurring and can be directly utilized by the human body. The absorption rate is about 1.5 times that of the synthetic mixed type. The cheap version that costs a few yuan and 100 pills is basically the fully synthetic S-type. Not only is it poorly absorbed, but many people will suffer from acid reflux and headaches if they take it on an empty stomach. I stepped into this trap once when I was greedy for cheap. I took one pill and my stomach burned all afternoon, so I threw it away. In addition, it is best for ordinary people not to take more than 600 mg of daily supplements. Women with hypoglycemia, pregnant women, and lactating women are not recommended to take it. Don’t listen to bloggers talking about “high-dose anti-aging”. Taking thousands of milligrams can easily cause problems.

I only have half a bottle of imported R-type lipoic acid left at home. I only take one pill occasionally when I finish training with heavy weights or stay up all night to catch up on projects. I don’t think about it at all. After all, our human body can synthesize lipoic acid itself. As long as we eat normally, there is a lot of it in foods such as red meat, spinach, and broccoli, so we will not be short of it at all. If you really need to supplement, ask your doctor or nutritionist for advice first. Don’t follow the trend and treat it as a magic medicine. It’s a trivial matter to waste money, but it’s the real loss to your body if you eat it badly.