Good info on ALA.

[Steve]

COPIED AND PASTED


Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA)
By: Derek Charlebois



Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) has been getting a lot of attention lately. Making more and more people try it. From what I read and what other people have told me, ALA sounds like a great supplement. So I decided to look into it for myself. It is important to research for yourself before jumping onto the latest trend. This allows you to fully, or at least try, to understand what you are taking. With that said, let's look in ALA. Other Names of ALA:

Lipoic acid

Thioctic acid

1,2-dithiolane-3-pentanoic acid

1,2-dithiolane-3-valeric acid

6,8-thioctic acid

The History of ALA:

ALA was isolated in 1950 by Dr. Lester Reed of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas. From 1950 until the late 1980's, ALA was only looked at for its effect on glucose. But in the late 1980's, researchers discovered its powerful antioxidant properties. ALA as a Antioxidant ALA is also known as "The Universal Antioxidant". It is known as this, because it is both water and fat soluble and can pass the brain blood barrier. This means it can be used throughout the body: muscles, fat, organs, brain. It also works on the inside and outside of cells, allowing it to destroy free radicals before the get into cells and once they are already in. Antioxidants Antioxidants are molecules that neutralize free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are missing an electron. This gives them a strong electro-negativity or want to fill their electron shell. To complete their shell and become positive, free radicals will take an electron from another molecule or give an electron to another molecule. The molecule that gained or loss an electron is now a free radical. This is called oxidation. The new free radical now looks to make itself positive. It finds another molecule and completes oxidation. This sets off a chain reaction which can harm many molecules. Antioxidants stop this chain reaction from taking place. Some antioxidants give the free radicals an electron. Others destroy the free radical. Free radicals can cause a variety of negative effects, so it is important to get rid of them. Not only is ALA a powerful antioxidant itself, but can also enhance the effectiveness of other antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, glutathoine, and coenzyme Q10. Antioxidants are either in reduced or oxidized form. An antioxidant is in its reduced form when it has an extra electron to give. Once an antioxidant has come into contact with a free radical, they return to their oxidized form. ALA gives up its extra electron to oxidized glutathoine or vitamin C, returning them to their reduced form where they can fight off free radicals. Vitamin C in turn can regenerate vitamin E to its reduced form. The process is known as the redox cycle. Adding ALA as a supplement greatly enhances your body's overall ability to fight off free radicals. That in itself makes it an excellent supplement!

Disease Fighting :

Aids

ALA how been shown to stop the HIV virus from replicating in test tubes. Testing is still be done to see how the supplement effects HIV positive patients. It is known though, that poeple who are HIV positive have a weaken immune system. ALA's powerful antioxidant properties make it a must for HIV patients. Studies show that Glutathoine levels were greatly increased in HIV patients who supplemented with ALA. Vision ALA has been shown to prevent cataracts in rats, improve visual functions of people with Glucoma, and prevent the eyes from degeneration. Nervous System Diseases ALA is a protector of the nervous system. It might also be involved in nerve regeneration. Because of this, studies are being done to see how ALA effects patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. ALA and the LIVER! Two "hopeless" patients lay in hospital beds. Both are diagnosed with incurable liver disease. One doctor thought to try a "new" product that had not really been tested. As a result, the patients made full recoveries. What was this magical drug? ALA!. ALA has been used to cure liver damage caused by poisonous mushrooms, alcohol, metal detoxification, and other poisonings. All this is possible because ALA can remove toxic minerals from the body.

Dietary Sources of ALA:

ALA is found in:

Red meats (The richest of all food sources in ALA)

Spinach (Popeye knew what he was doing)

Potatoes (Particularly the skin)

ALA for the Bodybuilder

What happens when you eat a normal meal:

1) Food is consumed.

2) This food is converted into glucose for energy.

3) Insulin is released by the pancreas to shuttle the glucose into muscle

and fat cells (assuming liver glycogen levels are full). Once the muscle

cells are full, all excess glucose is shuttled to fat cells.

Now let's look at a meal taken with ALA:

1) Food is consumed.

2) This food is converted into glucose for energy.

3) Insulin is released by the pancreas to shuttle the glucose into muscle

and fat cells. Once the muscle cells are full, all excess glucose is

shuttled to fat cells.

*Now this is where ALA comes into play. In order for glucose to be carried into cells, it must be attached to insulin. ALA is shown to have an insulin mimicking effect. So then more glucose would be shuttled to fat cells because the muscle cells are full, right? Wrong! Studies show that ALA increases Glut-4 transporters on the outside of muscle cells. This means more glucose can be shuttled into muscle cells and away from fat cells. Studies show that the amount of glucose shuttled to your muscles can increase from 50-60%.This means if you ate 100 carbs and originally without ALA, 40 grams of glucose went to your muscles cells and the rest, 60 grams, went to fat cells. Now, by supplementing with ALA, you have the power to send 60 grams of glucose and only 40 to fat cells. That is a big difference! How can ALA do this you ask?

Insulin Effect:

ALA has an insulin like effect. It does not take the place of insulin, only mimics it. (To learn about insulin and its effects you can read my Insulin article). ALA has been shown to increase glucose uptake by mimicking insulin and shuttling it to Glut-4 receptors as mentioned above. Because ALA has increased the number of Glut-4 receptors on the outside of the muscle, more glucose can be absorbed.

Effects of Increased Glucose Uptake:

This increase of glucose does many positive things. These include:

1) increased pump

2) less fat accumulation

3) increases Amino Acid transport

4) increases creatine

5) Increased insulin sensitivity

Increased Pump:

The increased pump is due to the increase in glucose uptake. Not only does this feel great, but it also contributes to muscle growth. By increasing the muscle cells volume, but nutrients are able to be shuttled to the muscle. Hence increased muscle growth.

Less Fat Accumulation:

Again, due to the increase in glucose uptake by muscles cells, less glucose is stored as fat. ALA also lowers one's blood sugar levels, creating a more suitable atmosphere for fat burning.

Increased Amino Acid and Creatine Uptake:

This comes back to the increased pump. Because the muscle cells are in an enlarged state, more amino acids and creatine can reach them. Insulin increases amino acid and creatine uptake. Remember, ALA mimics insulin, which means it also increases amino acid and creatine uptake. There are a ton of creatine products on the market that are loaded with sugar. This is because sugar causes an insulin spike, which carries the creatine to muscle cells. The problem with this is an excess amount of sugar with cause you to gain fat. By supplementing with ALA you can carry more creatine to muscle cells without swallowing 75+ grams of sugar. I still recommend taking a simple sugary carb after your workout, but ALA can increase creatine uptake while you take a lower amount of sugar. This is very important for those who are cutting. They can get the same effects post workout without having to worry about storing excess carbs as fat. Increased Insulin Sensitivity This is great news for bodybuilders! When I go on a bulking cycle. I find that about after two months, my gains slow drastically. One way to combat this is to go on a brief cutting cycle to and your insulin sensitivity rebuild. Supplementing with ALA could allow you to add more mass as a result of your insulin sensitivity not reducing.

Results During Cutting vs. Bulking:

Results will differ depends on your diet. If you are bulking, you can expect to less fat and more muscle gain because of ALA nutrient partitioning effect. Results from cutting are increased fat loss and a muscle sparing effect. Because your muscles are storing more glucose, your muscles will not become as depleted as they usually do when cutting. This helps you look full and not flat.

Dosage (per day)

#1 200-600 mg will increase insulin sensitivity and lower blood glucose levels. Lower than 200 mg won't give you noticeable effects, except for ALA antioxidant properties. 600 mg-1200 mg will give you an increase in #1 1200-2000 will give you an increase in #1 and more noticeable fat loss 3000 mg is "said" (Not a fact, just what has worked best for ALA users) to be the ideal dose to assist in massive fat loss, increase in insulin sensitivity, and increasing glucose storing effiency. I got these doses from experienced ALA users and other information I've read. They are a general ranges. It is best to divide you dosages up throughout the day. For example, if you are taking 1000 mg a day. You could take:

300 mg with breakfast

200 mg with a carb meal

300 mg post workout

200 mg with last meal

[Steve]

CONT:


Buying ALA

When buying ALA, you have to be careful. ALA is very unstable and rapidly degrades when exposed to the outside atmosphere. Some people think that as long as it is not exposed to atmospheric conditions for extended periods of time, it will be fine. But even a brief period of time can cause massive degeneration of the product. That is why it is not wise to buy ALA in powder form. It is most likely useless. An especially big no-no is buying creatine products with ALA already in them. The only thing you are paying for is the creatine, because there isn't any ALA in those tubs. The solution, buy ALA in capsules! Most companies are very careful when capping their ALA. AST, for example, uses ALA that is vacuum packed in UV protected plastic. Therefore, I do not recommend buying ALA from no name companies. I'm not saying their ALA is not quality ALA, but it's your money and I know I'd rather play it safe.

My Experience With ALA:

I first starting using ALA about 6 weeks out from my contest. At that time, I had lost about ½ an inch off my biceps, due to a decrease in glycogen storage. So I began taking 1600-2000 mg a day. I was taking 400 mg at breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout, and before bed. For a while, I did not think it was doing anything. But two weeks later, I measured by biceps, and the had regained that ½ inch that I had lost. At first I could not figure out why. I had dropped my carb intake down lower and was doing more cardio. But then it hit me, the ALA's glucose transporting effect. By supplementing with ALA, I was drawing more glucose into my muscles and replenishing my depleted glycogen storage. I continued taking ALA throughout the rest of my contest preparation and continued to keep my size, while dropping fat. I feel ALA is worth the investment!

[Steve]

Be a `liver lover' with alpha-lipoic acid.
Author/s: Burt Berkson
Issue: July, 2000

Most famous because it is an antioxidant that is both fat- and water-soluble, alpha-lipoic acid, or ALA, is a vitamin-like nutrient that is able to inactivate free radical toxins in our muscles, internal organs, fatty tissues and brain. Besides being a superb antioxidant itself, ALA recycles worn-out vitamin C, vitamin E and glutathione, and makes them useful again.

In addition, ALA helps cells to convert food into energy by improving the breakdown of sugar. A 2-year old, climbing the walls after an evening meal, produces very large amounts of ALA in his liver, while a 60-year-old man after the same meal can be found asleep on the couch; he does not synthesize much ALA and must get it through supplementation.

My experience with alpha-lipoic acid

I first became familiar with the clinical use of alpha-lipoic acid when I was an internal medicine resident in 1977. Two "incurable" liver disease patients were assigned to my care and the senior doctors said they were hopeless. Because I was training to be a medical doctor, I was expected to follow the suggestions of the chiefs and just support the patients medically. However, because of my Ph.D. education (Doctor of Philosophy), I sought new ways to reverse their "hopeless" conditions.

I called upon Fred Barter, M.D., Chief of Endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health, to ask him if he knew of any new promising therapy for liver disease. Barter said that, in Prague, favorable results were obtained with thioctic acid (another name for AKA). He sent me a package of AkA that day, and I administered it to the liver patients. To my astonishment, they fully recovered within 2 weeks. I am still in touch with these patients and they do not have any residual liver damage, 23 years later. My supervisors were not impressed and told me that in one case in a million, there is a spontaneous remission, and this time there were two.

The next week, another couple with "terminal" liver disease was assigned to my service. They had been poisoned by the most toxic liver destruction agents, Amanita virosa or "Death Cap" mushroom. I was told that I could not use ALA since it had not been sufficiently studied in the U.S. This time, I arrived at the patient's room fully prepared to follow the orders of the senior doctors. But, when I saw how young the patients were, I ordered the ALA and administered it to them. They recovered quickly. Over the past 23 years, I have used ALA to treat liver disease including hepatitis C, diabetes mellitus complications and other serious disorders, with the same extraordinarily good results.

Alpha lipoic acid is very effective. Researchers have reported that ALA can inhibit viral replication, prevent cataracts, increase the sensitivity of your cells to both glucose and insulin (reversing "syndrome X" and preventing diabetes) and protect your skin and internal organs from damaging radiation.

In 1980, Barter and I published two papers describing our success with ALA for severe liver disease using the NIH protocol and the research was widely accepted in Germany. Today, ALA is an important drug in Europe and is available as a nutritional supplement in the U.S. If you have a condition that you think might be effectively treated with ALA, find a health professional who understands the proper use of this supplement.

[Lee J B]

Thank you very much steve!!! Have you got any special tips/tricks or things to look for when buying in capsule form ? I am going to shoot for 3000mg a day, so how much is this going to cost me lol, you got any good sites that sell them rather erm... cheap. lol , otherwise I will go to the GNC, however I have never seen them in there, maybe because I wasnt looking for them but nontheless GNC does not seem like a place for such a product, looks like the net is my last choice

[Steve]

I think you should start with a lower dosage...say 200mg with meals. See how it works. You can always increase it if you need to later.

Steve

[Lee J B]

Ok well time doesn't stand still where I am concerned and within 30minutes I am back home with 60 capsules of ALA, now they look a lightish yellow-ish pale-ish colour if you get me lol, from what I can gather, each capsule has 100mg of ALA and then 100mg of some other crap? making it a 200mg capsule - hey I am quick, if I could post attachements, I would show you but everytime I try to post an attachment It always tells me it is too big even though it is nowhere near the limit -- MODS ? , So Steve, you advise 200mg a day ? so thats 2 capsules a day, and I have 60, so 30 days, do you think that is a long enough time period ?

[Steve]

You should experiment with it a bit...see what dosage works for you. I don't think you have to cycle it.

Regarding you pic size - get a program called ACDSee. It will help you with re-sizing your pics and also has numorous other fucntions. You can download it and get the crack for it from a hacker site. Mine is registered in my name..hahaha..I didn't pay a cent!!

Steve

[Lee J B]

lol yeah key gen's or serial generators ., gotta love them. i am a bit confused though , Steve, how am I going to 'know' if it works? I mean it doesn't cause any notcible effects does it?

[Steve]

www.google.com

type : "alpha lipoic acid"

click...click...click

Check it out, bro...

Steve

[Steve]

Considering all the other benefits, this is probably one of the most important ones :

Studies show that the amount of glucose shuttled to your muscles can increase from 50-60%.This means if you ate 100 carbs and originally without ALA, 40 grams of glucose went to your muscles cells and the rest, 60 grams, went to fat cells. Now, by supplementing with ALA, you have the power to send 60 grams of glucose and only 40 to fat cells. That is a big difference!

Steve

[galileo]

Next, let's discuss how Metformin is like ALA on crack-cocaine.

[Lee J B]

?

[galileo]

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...mic202756.html

[Steve]

Originally posted by Danugi
Next, let's discuss how Metformin is like ALA on crack-cocaine.

Dan, do you wanna elaborate on this?

Steve

[galileo]

Sure!

Metformin is the diabetes-prescribed drug better known in it's branded form as Glucophage.

Glucophage in essence, increases insulin sensitivity...but ONLY IN MUSCLE CELLS! In the medical industry some refer it to "oral insulin" because of the extreme effects on I.S. of the muscles. On a cutting diet it will help spare muscle to a great deal because many carbs will be carried into your muscles. The benefit during cutting can also be found in the fact that it totally eliminates appetite. You can eat the small meals you want to eat and not feel hungry.

With glucophage you could do them 2week bulk 2 week cut diet to perfection (if you have a little fat) and if you're fine with your current fat level you can do a straight bulk with practically no fat gain.

It's only available by perscription. If you ever notice people who have diabetes that start on glucophage lose a TON of weight...that's why.