Amazing Alpha Lipoic Acid

The term “miracle drug” has been loosely applied to everything from aspirin and penicillin to statins and COX-2 inhibitors. But I want to tell you about a nutritional supplement that truly is miraculous: alpha lipoic acid (also called lipoic acid or ALA).

Lipoic acid is a potent antioxidant that, unlike most antioxidants, is both water- and fat-soluble, making it active in virtually every cell in the body. In addition to neutralizing harmful free radicals, lipoic acid regenerates and increases levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, and glutathione.

But that’s not all. Lipoic acid is also a mitochondrial powerhouse. It not only protects your energy-producing factories from free radical damage, it also helps “prep” the fuel burned in the mitochondria and increases the amount of energy generated. Furthermore, it has a unique ability to neutralize toxins, chelate heavy metals, and protect against DNA damage. These multiple actions make lipoic acid a valuable ally against diabetes, liver damage, cancer, and a host of other diseases—it even slows down aging.

Diabetics’ Best Friend

If I had to limit lipoic acid to just one use, it would be for the treatment of diabetes. This supplement not only improves insulin sensitivity and lowers blood sugar, it is also an excellent treatment for deterioration of the arteries, eyes, and especially the nerves that plague so many patients with diabetes.

Bill, a Health & Healing subscriber, had such severe diabetic neuropathy that he had constant pain and limited sensation in his limbs, his left leg dragged when he walked, and he was continually dropping things. He started taking lipoic acid after reading about it in this newsletter. Shortly thereafter, the pain subsided, his sensation improved, and his coordination returned.

Incredible as this may seem—especially for a condition that patients are told cannot be treated—it’s an everyday occurrence at the Whitaker Wellness Institute. Used intravenously or as an oral supplement, lipoic acid very effectively reduces pain, numbness, burning, and other unpleasant sensations of neuropathy.

A Lifesaver for Failing Livers

Lipoic acid also shines in the treatment of liver problems. This is most dramatically illustrated by the story of John and Eunice, who were admitted to the hospital in acute liver failure after inadvertently eating Amanita verna, the highly toxic “Destroying Angel” wild mushroom.

Lucky for them, their care was turned over to Burton Berkson, MD, PhD, a medical resident and one of the few doctors in the US at the time who was familiar with the use of lipoic acid for the treatment of liver failure. Although he had been told by the hospital’s chief doctor that nothing could be done for them and that John, who had eaten several mushrooms, would definitely die, Dr. Berkson tracked down some lipoic acid and treated John and Eunice with IV infusions. Within days, they left the hospital completely well. I interviewed them 20 years after this incident, and both were doing just fine.

By using this unconventional treatment, Dr. Berkson ruffled a few feathers. The chief doctor dismissed the role of lipoic acid stating, “They would have come around anyway.” He also refused to allow Dr. Berkson to administer lipoic acid to another couple with the same diagnosis soon thereafter. Dr. Berkson treated them anyway, and it saved their lives. For this good deed, he was rewarded with a furious admonition and labeled a troublemaker.

Rejuvenate Your Liver With Lipoic Acid

We need more troublemakers like Dr. Berkson. Today, he is an internationally recognized clinical expert in the use of lipoic acid, and has helped thousands of patients with liver problems such as hepatitis B and C, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. We use several of his protocols here at Whitaker Wellness, including “triple therapy,” a combination of lipoic acid, silymarin, and selenium that reliably lowers liver enzymes and viral loads and improves symptoms.

A few years ago, I told a teacher at my kids’ school who had hepatitis C and was not responding to conventional treatments about “triple therapy.” Within a couple of weeks of starting on it, he began to feel much better, and his blood workup showed marked improvements. His doctor’s response when he told him what he was doing? “That can’t be true.”

Cancer Fighter?

As I mentioned earlier, lipoic acid counteracts toxins and free radicals that damage DNA, which is considered to be the first step in the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. It also modifies gene expression and appears to put the brakes on cells that are genetically programmed to become cancerous. In addition, it promotes apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in some cancerous cells. This makes lipoic acid an excellent supplement for anyone looking to sidestep cancer.

But treating cancer? As I was doing research for this article, I came across a case history published in Integrative Cancer Therapies. It was about a patient with metastatic pancreatic cancer, a routinely fatal disease with an average survival time of three to six months after diagnosis. According to the journal article, “The patient was told by a reputable university oncology center in October 2002 that there was little hope for his survival. Today, January 2006, however, he is back at work, free from symptoms, and without appreciable progression of his malignancy.” His treatment included IV lipoic acid and low-dose naltrexone, a drug used in much larger doses to help with heroin withdrawal.

Intrigued, I wanted to talk to the author of this paper, and it turned out to be my old friend, Dr. Berkson. He told me this protocol helps many, although not all, cancer patients, and it is also extremely effective for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other autoimmune disorders. This is a fascinating therapy that I am currently investigating and will write more about in a future issue.

Want to Retard Aging? Take Lipoic Acid

There’s one more thing you need to know about lipoic acid: Because of its multiple roles in the mitochondria, it is one of the most promising anti-aging therapies yet discovered. Bruce Ames, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of America’s most highly honored scientists, believes that mitochondrial dysfunction is a primary cause of aging and age-related diseases. When your energy factories cease to function at their peak, your lights begin to dim and eventually go out.

When Dr. Ames and his research team gave older rats lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine (another amino acid derivative with multiple benefits) for several weeks, it turned the lights back on. Old, lethargic animals had more pep and energy, they looked younger, and they performed better on memory tests. The conclusion was that lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine “tuned up” the mitochondria, and this had profound anti-aging effects. Human studies on this combo are currently underway, and the early results are very promising.

Many More Benefits

A short article can barely scratch the surface of this remarkable supplement. Lipoic acid is also an excellent preventive and adjunct therapy for cardiovascular disease, AIDS and immunosuppression, vision problems such as cataracts and glaucoma, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Other current areas of research include lipoic acid’s ability to increase energy, decrease appetite, and inhibit inflammation-related bone loss.

For all of these reasons and more, I recommend that everyone over age 45, no matter how healthy they are, include alpha lipoic acid in their daily supplement regimen.

Recommendations

• The suggested dose of lipoic acid for prevention and anti-aging purposes is 400 mg per day. For patients with diabetes or liver disease, 800-1,600 mg is recommended, taken in divided doses half an hour to an hour before eating for optimal absorption. Controlled-release lipoic acid has some advantages, especially for patients with diabetes, since it stays in the system much longer.
• “Triple therapy” for liver disease consists of 600 mg lipoic acid, 900 mg silymarin (from the herb milk thistle), and 400 mcg selenium (an antioxidant mineral), taken in divided doses twice a day.
• Dr. Ames’ anti-aging regimen includes 400 mg of lipoic acid and 1,000 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine. (Look for a combination product containing these dosages or purchase these supplements separately at your local health food store.)
• If you can’t find these supplements in a store near you, order by calling (800) 810-6655.

References

• Berkson BM, et al. The long-term survival of a patient with pancreatic cancer with metastases to the liver after treatment with the intravenous alpha-lipoic acid/low-dose naltrexone protocol. Integr Cancer Ther. 2006 Mar;5(1):83-9.
• Berkson BM. The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough. Prima Health, Rocklin, CA, 1998.
• Hagen TM, et al. Feeding acetyl-L-carnitine and lipoic acid to old rats significantly improves metabolic function while decreasing oxidative stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2002 Feb 19;99(4):1870-5.
• Panneerselvam KE, et al. L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid improves mitochondrial function during ageing process. Clin Nutr. 2006 May 9.

Modified from Health & Healing with permission from Healthy Directions, LLC. Copyright 2006. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher. To subscribe to Health & Healing, click here.