**********FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS $50.00 OR MORE! U.S.ONLY!*********
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Nervous System/Glandular System
Anti-Aging Nutrient
Coenzyme in Energy Production
Metabolic Antioxidant
Heavy Metal Chelator and Liver Protectant
Directs calories toward energy production and away from fat production
Supports normal range blood sugar and modulates the effects of sugar on the nervous system.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is often called the universal antioxidant. It is both fat- and water-soluble and can cross any membrane in the body, including the blood-brain barrier. Consequently, Alpha Lipoic Acid can protect the integrity of the cell membrane as well as offset cell stress.
Alpha Lipoic Acid also promotes mitochondrial activity to help keep your body and its tissues young.
It also enhances the efforts of other antioxidants, helps support the body?s natural removal of toxins, and offsets oxidative stress. In addition to its antioxidant properties, Alpha Lipoic Acid directs calories away from fat production and toward energy production, supports blood sugar levels already within the normal range and enhances the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Each capsule contains Acetyl-L-Carnitine 525 mg; Alpha Lipoic Acid 225 mg. Other ingredients include: Gelatin, Magnesium stearate, and stearic acid.
Take one (1) or more capsules daily as a dietary supplement.(Best taken with meals.)
Acetyl-L-Carnitine and Aging
Recent research coming out of the Linus Pauling Institute reveals some exciting information that gives you new tools to protect your brain and other tissues from aging and degenerative diseases. The amino acid derivative acetyl-L-carnitine, which provides both the fatty acid transport of L-carnitine and a portion of the acetylcholine neurotransmitter molecule, appears to help aging tissues in several ways.
Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) acts as a fatty acid carrier in the mitochondria, the subcellular “generators” that produce energy from fats. The fats must be transported across the mitochondrial membrane by L-carnitine or ALC where, with the help of coenzyme Q10, they are converted to energy.
In aging animals, mitochondrial function declines, and the level of L-carnitine in the mitochondria is half the level seen in young animals. The recent studies in rats show that ALC (especially when combined with the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid) can protect the brain from the oxidative damage related to aging, and can protect the mitochondrial membranes.
In practical terms, when older animals are supplemented with ALC and lipoic acid they are more physically active, have better short-term memory, and overall enhanced cognitive function. (They also have better liver function because of the same protection of the mitochondria, with increased mitochondrial metabolism and reduced oxidative damage.)
Studies over the past 10 years have shown that supplementing the diet with ALC is likely to help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although in numerous studies the results have not been completely consistent, most of the evidence points to at least short-term benefits from supplements of about 3000 mg daily. Anything that might help to reduce Alzheimer’s disease is worth trying if it is as non-toxic as ALC.
ALC and Alpha-Lipoic Acid
It appears that these nutrients also help the heart, especially when taken together. While ALC helps restore cardiac carnitine levels, and improves cardiac energy, the aging heart also becomes sensitive to oxidative stress. For protection from such stress, you need to combine the ALC with alpha-lipoic acid (LA). This is a sulfur-containing antioxidant that works in both the water- and fat soluble compartments of cells. The combination works better than either taken alone. In this way, you can reduce the effects of aging on the heart (the typical dose of alpha-lipoic acid ranges from 200 mg for general antioxidant benefits to 1000 mg per day for diabetic neuropathy.
It is apparent that the accelerated aging that results from lifestyle choices, stress, and oxidative exposures, can be slowed or even reversed. With this in mind, it is hard to understand why some gerontologists have recently come out with a dogmatic statement that “Anyone who claims that they can stop or reverse the aging process is lying to you–even if they are a doctor.” Apparently they are complaining about practicing doctors who take the research other scientists are doing and apply it for their patients’ benefit.
At a recent conference, a leading and well-respected antioxidant researcher from Massachusetts, Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, was talking to doctors who practice complementary/alternative medicine. He pointed out the gratification for researchers when their work is applied clinically, so that doctors like those in the audience were making reality out of the laboratory work, and adding practical value to it.
It is therefore somewhat of a surprise when other researchers make light of the practitioners, who necessarily have to make decisions about patient care with imperfect information.
You can also help yourself preserve brain and heart function with other health practices. Daily exercise, and a whole, natural foods diet, mostly vegetarian, with lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds (rich sources of essential fatty acids), fish, and small amounts of organic eggs, provide lots of intestinal-cleansing and cholesterol-lowering fiber, as well as a variety of antioxidant vitamins and flavonoids.
In addition to ALC and ALA, include coenzyme Q10—an antioxidant that is also essential for mitochondrial energy production, vitamins C and E and ginko, which have been shown to help preserve brain function and circulation, and mineral cofactors, such as zinc, selenium, magnesium, and B complex. You can slow and reverse some aging, even if “top” scientists cannot.
References:
Acetyl-L-Carnitine and Alpha-Lipoic Acid
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 2002 Feb 19;99(4):1870-5.
Hagen TM, et al., Mitochondrial decay in the aging rat heart: evidence for improvement...with acetyl-L-carnitine and/or lipoic acid. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2002 Apr;959:491-507.
Sano M, Double-blind parallel design pilot study of acetyl levocarnitine in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Neurol 1992 Nov;49(11):1137-41.
No authors listed. Acetyl-L-carnitine. Altern Med Rev 1999 Dec;4(6):438-41.
Thal LJ, et al., A 1-year multicenter placebo-controlled study of acetyl-L-carnitine in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 1996 Sep;47(3):705-11.
Pettegrew JW, Acetyl-L-carnitine physical-chemical, metabolic, and therapeutic properties...action in Alzheimer’s disease and geriatric depression. Mol Psychiatry 2000 Nov;5(6):616-32.
Pitchumoni SS, Doraiswamy PM, ...antioxidant therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease. J Am Geriatr Soc 1998 Dec;46(12):1566-72.
|
|
