What is lipoic acid? It is a pale yellow powder with a bitter aftertaste that can easily be confused with hundreds of other chemicals. However, the unique qualities of an unusual combination of fatty acid and sulfur make you pay close attention to lipoic acid: it promotes weight loss, gives the body additional energy, protects the brain, and possibly is the key that it will open humanity's door to the land of eternal youth. . . Intrigued?
Lipoic acid is known to increase the effectiveness of exercise for weight loss at times. How else can it help the body?
Lipoic Acid: Cleanser or Special Forces?
Lipoic acid, also known as LA, is also thioctic acid, is also lipamide, is also vitamin N, which often appears under the name of a semi-vitamin or vitamin-like substance.
The fact that LA is synthesized by the human body has kept it from becoming a "complete" vitamin. It's also interesting that lipoic acid dissolves in fat and water, while its other colleagues in "vitamin activity" can pride themselves on having only a comfortable habitat.
Lipoic acid is the real Figaro: it's here, it's there. By following the enzymatic reactions in the mitochondria, it helps make the cells' energy-gathering process as efficient as possible.
Lipoic Acid Molecules - Miniature Recycling Plants. The substance "takes" the breakdown products of the amino acids and allows you to extract the absolute maximum of the substances our bodies need from them, then removes all the "waste rocks" from the body.
In recent years, doctors have come to seriously speak of lipoic acid as the future elixir of eternal youth, as it was this substance that during experiments proved its ability to prevent DNA damage, which is recognized as the true cause of cell aging and extinction. of vital functions.
Lipoic Acid and Weight Loss: Why It Works
Lipoic acid is able to "tame" the forces that make us gain weight and retain excess fat. Your activity in this capacity is multifaceted. Therefore, when losing weight, lipoic acid:
affects areas of the brain responsible for appetite, reducing hunger;
stimulates energy consumption;
increases insulin sensitivity;
qualitatively improves the absorption of glucose by cells, reducing its level in the blood;
reduces the liver's tendency to accumulate fat.
Practice shows that lipoic acid gives the best weight loss results in combination with dietary changes and physical activity. There is a logical explanation for this. With a "change in course" of diet, chemical changes occur in the body (most pronounced when following a protein, paleo, or ketone diet, which gives the quickest result and the most noticeable side effects), and with increased strength and cardio exercises, microtraumas occur in the muscles.
Because of this, the oxidative processes are intensified in the body, causing a "surge" in the formation of free radicals, damaged molecules.
Therefore, lipoic acid is able not only to neutralize them, but also to absorb them, and then to recover and launch the antioxidant battle again.
This is another unique quality of lipoic acid: it is the only "reusable" antioxidant.
In addition, vitamin N has a friendly disposition: lipoic acid is able to cooperate with other substances that fight against free radicals (vitamins C and E, in addition to glutathione) and even potentiate the action of its allies.
Is alpha lipoic acid the first?
For the first time, researchers were able to extract lipoic acid from meat liver cells in the 1950s. Therefore, alpha lipoic acid for weight loss began its "medical career" as a hepatoprotectant. However, scientists began to discover more and more new properties of an amazing substance and, in addition, they learned to synthesize it qualitatively under laboratory conditions.
Today chemists produce, for different purposes, two chemically "mirror-like" variants of lipoic acid - R ("right isomer") and S ("left isomer"). There are some differences in their molecular makeup, and the human body efficiently and almost completely assimilates only R-type lipoic acid.
The latest methods allow achieving greater drug purity and a high concentration of R-lipoic acid. It is clear that this substance has great potential for all the inherent properties of AL, in addition, it has been experimentally proven that it is the R-isomer that increases the sensitivity of cells to insulin. However, producing a pure R variant of the substance is quite expensive, which of course affects the cost of the product.
The most popular has become the more accessible alpha-lipoic acid, in which the "right isomer" and "left isomer" are in equal proportions.
Products containing natural lipoic acid
Offal: kidneys, heart, liver;
Vegetables: broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, peas, tomato;
Other sources: brewer's yeast, brown rice.
when your strength is not enough
Many living organisms (including humans) are capable of synthesizing a certain amount of lipoic acid on their own - this explains why a high concentration of this useful substance is found in Organs internal organs of animals.
Unfortunately, you don't have to rely entirely on food sources of AL: as American functional nutrition expert Dr. Jeffrey Webb explains, our enzymes are not able to "break" the bond between alpha lipoic acid and the amino acid lysine, in the company of which lipoic acid travels around the gastrointestinal tract in the form of food. Therefore, from an ALA rich dinner, we will only receive crumbs of the valuable substance.
The question arises: if people are able to produce only a modest amount of lipoic acid, and with food they can get even less, as we've lived so far, until doctors learn to synthesize it?
The answer is simple: those happy organisms that don't suffer from metabolic disturbances, aren't prone to obesity, and haven't accumulated a full load of free radicals are perfectly capable of surviving on the amount of free alpha lipoic acid that they are. But the deteriorating ecological situation and the rapid degradation of eating habits in the 21st century have brought shadow lipoic acid to the forefront.
If you need the help of a substance that is simultaneously an antioxidant, a water- and fat-soluble vitamin, a lipid metabolism stimulant, and, as a bonus, a protector against degenerative brain disease - discuss with your doctor the possibility of taking an alpha acid -additional lipoic as a food supplement.
Lipoic acid: how much to take
The standard recommendation your doctor can give you for alpha lipoic acid as a support and tonic is 25 to 50 mg per day. But it may vary depending on the purpose of using the vitamin-like substance and the health status of the "host".
Those who practice increased sports loads for weight loss may be prescribed to "eat" 100-200 mg of alpha lipoic acid, usually as part of complex preparations that also contain L-carnitine (levocarnitine). LA enhances the "fat burning" effect of this natural anabolic.
It should not be forgotten that such supplements are taken in strictly time-limited courses so as not to "accustom" the body to the constant ingestion of substances that stimulate the metabolism and not to cause a withdrawal syndrome fraught with the body's refusal to produce these substances. on its own.
As lipoic acid has the ability to maintain the action of insulin and even partially assume its functions in some processes and reactions, diabetics tend to receive higher doses, starting from 400 mg of LA per day.
Famed neuroscientist David Perlmutter, author of The Brain Nutrition Diet, considers 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid a must-have for anyone interested in preventing neurodegenerative diseases and wiping out the effects of years of rapid carbohydrate abuse.
In recent American experiments, alpha lipoic acid, taken at a dosage of 1, 800 mg per day for 20 weeks, helped to lose 9% of body weight without changing the diet in severely obese patients.
In case you decide to spend money on the more progressive and expensive R-isomer of lipoic acid, the dosage should be halved due to its high bioavailability.
It should be noted that, despite all the usefulness of lipoic acid, its overdose can cause indigestion and nausea, increased skin sensitivity and muscle pain, as well as a sharp decrease in blood sugar levels with all the "surprises" that accompany it, such as weakness, dizziness, and severe hunger.
So be sure to check with your doctor before going to the pharmacy to buy a huge can of lipoic acid to quickly lose weight: a specialist will help you determine the dose that is effective and safe for you, your thinness and your health.
During the entire period of ingestion of lipoic acid, alcohol is strictly contraindicated. For best absorption, the supplement should be drunk 60-30 minutes before meals or at least one hour after meals.
The noticeable and tangible results of taking the substance do not show up for more than eight weeks.