What is lipoic acid? It is a light yellow powder with a bitter taste that can be easily 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 extra energy, protects the brain, and possibly is the key that will unlock you. the door. for humanity to the land of eternal youth. . . Intrigued?
Lipoic acid is known to improve the effectiveness of exercise for weight loss at times. How else can you help the body?
Lipoic acid: cleanser or special forces?
Lipoic acid, also known as LA, is also thioctic acid, it is also lipamide, it 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 prevented it from becoming a "complete" vitamin. It is also interesting that lipoic acid dissolves in both fat and water, while its other colleagues in "vitamin activity" can boast a single comfortable habitat.
Lipoic acid is true Figaro: it is here, it is there. By accompanying the enzymatic reactions in the mitochondria, it helps the process of obtaining energy by the cells to be as efficient as possible.
Lipoic Acid Molecules: Miniature Recycling Plants. The substance "collects" the breakdown products of amino acids and allows you to extract from them the absolute maximum of the substances our body needs, and then removes all the "waste rock" from the body.
In recent years, doctors have started to seriously talk about lipoic acid as the future elixir of eternal youth, since it was this substance that during experiments demonstrated its ability to prevent DNA damage, which is recognized as the true cause of cellular aging and the 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. His activity in this capacity is multifaceted. So when losing weight, lipoic acid:
affects the areas of the brain responsible for appetite, reducing hunger;
stimulates energy consumption;
insulin sensitivity increases;
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 results in weight loss in combination with changes in diet and physical activity. There is a logical explanation for this. With a "change in the course" of the diet, chemical changes occur in the body (the most pronounced when following a protein, paleo or ketogenic diet, which give the fastest result and the most notable side effects), and with greater strength and cardiovascular exercises, microtraumas occur in the muscles.
Due to this, oxidative processes are intensified in the body, causing an "increase" in the formation of free radicals, damaged molecules.
So lipoic acid can not only neutralize them, but also absorb them, and then recover and jump back into the antioxidant battle.
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 enhance the action of its allies.
Is Alpha Lipoic Acid First?
For the first time, researchers were able to extract lipoic acid from beef liver cells in the 1950s. Therefore, alpha-lipoic acid to lose weight began its "medical career" as a hepatoprotector. However, scientists began to discover more and more new properties of an amazing substance, and furthermore, they learned to synthesize it quite 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 its molecular composition, and the human body efficiently and almost completely assimilates only the R-type of lipoic acid.
The latest methods allow to achieve a higher purity of the drug and a high concentration of R-lipoic acid. It is clear that this substance has great potential for all the properties inherent to LA; Furthermore, it has been experimentally shown that it is the R isomer that increases the sensitivity of cells to insulin. However, the production of 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 affordable alpha-lipoic acid, in which the "right isomer" and the "left isomer" are in equal proportions.
Products containing natural lipoic acid
Offal: kidneys, heart, liver;
Vegetables: broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, peas, tomatoes;
Other sources: brewer's yeast, brown rice.
When your strength is not enough
Many living organisms (including humans) can synthesize a certain amount of lipoic acid on their own; This explains the fact that a high concentration of this useful substance is found in the internal organs of animals.
Unfortunately, you don't have to rely entirely on LA food sources - as American functional nutrition specialist Dr. Jeffrey Webb explains, our enzymes cannot "break" the link between alpha lipoic acid and the amino acid lysine. in the company of which lipoic acid travels through the gastrointestinal tract in the form of food. Therefore, from a dinner rich in ALA, we will only receive crumbs of the valuable substance.
The question arises: if people are capable of producing only a modest amount of lipoic acid, and with food they can obtain even less, as we have lived until now, until doctors have learned to synthesize it?
The answer is simple: those happy organisms that do not suffer from metabolic disorders, are not prone to obesity and have not accumulated a full load of free radicals, are quite capable of coping with the amount of free alpha-lipoic acid that is. But the deterioration of the ecological situation and the rapid degradation of eating habits in the 21st century brought lipoic acid out of the shadows.
If you need the help of a substance that is both an antioxidant, a fat and water soluble vitamin, a stimulant of lipid metabolism and, as an added benefit, a protector against degenerative brain diseases, talk to your doctor about taking an additional alpha lipoic acid as a dietary supplement.
Lipoic acid: how much to take
The standard recommendation that your doctor can give you for alpha lipoic acid as a tonic and support is 25 to 50 mg per day. But it may vary depending on the purpose of the use of the vitamin-like substance and the health status of the "host".
Those who practice increasing their sports load to lose weight may be prescribed to "eat" 100-200 mg of alpha-lipoic acid, often 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 intake of substances that stimulate the metabolism and not to cause a withdrawal syndrome, fraught with rejection of the body. to produce these substances on its own.
Since lipoic acid has the ability to maintain the action of insulin and even partially assume its functions in some processes and reactions, diabetics are usually prescribed higher doses, from 400 mg of LA per day.
Famous neuroscientist David Perlmutter, author of The Brain Nutrition Diet, considers 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid to be a must for anyone interested in preventing neurodegenerative diseases and eliminating the effects of years of rapid carbohydrate abuse.
In recent US experiments, alpha-lipoic acid, taken at a dose 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 cut in half 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 come with it. accompany, as weakness, dizziness. and severe hunger.
So be sure to check with your doctor before rushing to the pharmacy for a huge can of lipoic acid for quick weight loss - a specialist will help you determine the dose that is effective and safe for you, your slimness, and your health. .
During the entire period of taking lipoic acid, alcohol is strictly contraindicated. For best absorption, the supplement should be drunk 60 to 30 minutes before a meal or at least one hour after a meal.
The visible and tangible results of taking the substance do not appear before eight weeks.