LIPOIC ACID: Proven diabetic treatment

Lipoic acid, alpha-lipoic acid or thioctic acid – whatever you want to call it, the fact remains that until a few years ago no one ever heard of it. Today, however, progressive health advocates recognize it as a universal antioxidant and a major treatment for diabetic neuropathy. If it lives up to what the research suggests, lipoic acid will become one of our most precious nutrients for helping stave off many of the repercussions of high blood sugar and perhaps even the aging process itself.

The crux of lipoic acid’s power is its dual role in the body. Like the team member who can play both attack and defence, it can act as an antioxidant and as a protector of both water- soluble and fat-soluble antioxidants, including glutathione, vitamin C, vitamin E and coenzyme Q10. This is a feat no other nutrient can accomplish. Additionally, lipoic acid encourages the body to convert food into energy more efficiently, helps prevent what we eat from being deposited as fat, and participates in the cleanup of toxins and other by-products of fat metabolism.

The Diabetes DEFENCE

Few compounds are of greater value to someone with diabetes, whether they have Type I or Type II, two quite different disor-ders. Basing my opinion on work done in Europe, where i’ts been used for some thirty years, I’m convinced that lipoic acid is destined to become our single most effective therapy for diabetic neuropathy. Especially since no other therapeutic help exists, it’s an excellent example of a natural substance deservin but not receiving, the ranking of treatment of choice; in tfr case diabetes’ painful degeneration of nerves in the arms and legs.
In one study, a daily dosage of between 300 and 600 mg of lipoic acid decreased neuropathy pain within twelve weeks although actual nerve function did not improve. Long-lasting relief was brought about in another study with both oral and intravenous dosages of 600 mg.3 In yet another experiment, researchers calculated an 80 per cent improvement in symptoms after 320 people hospitalized for neuropathy took a three-week course of the nutrient.
Excess sugar in the bloodstream causes diabetic retinopathy’s nerve damage. The process, called ‘glycation’, is one of the major forms of cellular destruction that scientists associate with aging. Anything that keeps a tighter rein on glucose levels, then, could slow, if not quite reverse, some of the consequences of growing older.
Lipoic acid fights insulin resistance and markedly stimulates our cells’ uptake of glucose. For example, a 1,000 mg intravenous dose increased cellular glucose uptake by 50 per cent. The results of animal experiments demonstrate that lipoic acid also protects the pancreatic cells that manufacture insulin. The destruction of these cells leads to Type I diabetes and the consequent reliance on insulin injections. Theoretically lipoic acid should be useful as part of a treatment for the earliest stages of Type I, when not all insulin cells on the pancreas have been killed off. I’ve started to use it for that purpose, but I have not treated enough of these patients to report my conclusions.

MEETING UNIVERSAL NEEDS

Anyone who is overweight or follows a high-carbohydrate diet risks developing an insulin disorder; so lipoic acid is potentially useful to most of us. Other common health perils also increase the need. The nutrient slows all forms of free radical oxidation, whether in the arteries or in the eves. In the brain it may assist in curbing or preventing the cell damage of Alzheimer’s disease
Animal research already has demonstrated its ability to enhance memory and cognitive function.
Lipoic acid is also a powerful protector of the liver, where it fends off alcohol’s toxic effects, according to one study of wine drinkers. It’s also a vital component of any AIDS therapy because it inhibits HIV replication. It also might be useful as a chelating agent, especially to rid the body of excess copper.

SUPPLEMENT SUGGESTIONS

In the absence of any medical problems, a good daily lipoic acid dosage ranges from 100 to 300 mg. Take some vitamin B15 too, as a supporting nutrient. For conditions that require a full antioxidant response to overcome metabolic resistance to losing weight, I prescribe between 300 and 600 mg per day. As part of a programme to treat diabetes, cancer or AIDS, I use 600- 900 mg.

Except for rare skin reactions, lipoic acid has no adverse effects and no drug interactions. The only possible medicinal consequence would be the need for diabetics to reduce their dependence on insulin or other antidiabetic drug under the guidance of a doctor. But this, after all, should be one of your main objectives.