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Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 3457 Location: Mid-Michigan
Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject:
Velly intelesting! Thanks Brock!
This from Wikipedia about Lipoic Acid because I was trying to determine if it was something natural in the human or exactly what it was...
Quote:
On account of its disulfide group, lipoic acid can be used to chelate mercury from those suffering from mercury intoxications. It is particularly suited to this purpose as it can penetrate both the blood-brain barrier and the cell membrane. However, lipoic acid is not commonly used as a first-line treatment for acute heavy-metal intoxication due the the greater clinical effectiveness of the chelating agents Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and Dimercapto-propane sulfonate (DMPS). Lipoic acid has not received approval from the Food and Drug Administration as a chelating agent and questions remain about the possibility that lipoic acid may re-mobilize mercury from peripheral tissue into the central nervous system during administration.
Following other links I get the impression that body builders have been taking it, although at this point I have no idea to what effect.
Bob _________________ Wife diagnosed with RRMS in Feb. 2006.
I think in the original link you provided the researchers injected it into the bloodstream.
It always has to be considered that drastically different results/no results can sometimes/most times be found between injecting or ingesting something.
Then again it also has to be considered a separate issue that injecting directly into the bloodstream is the method of choice for researchers because that method makes measurements so much more accurate, even in situations when ingesting would provide results.
I guess that's a blonde way of saying that I have no idea if the positive results in that study might be found by ingesting Lipoic Acid as a supplement.
The good thing is that it seems hard to take enough of it to cause a problem.
Bob _________________ Wife diagnosed with RRMS in Feb. 2006.
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:49 am Post subject: Re: Lipoic Acid
viper498 wrote:
I was taking (alpha lipoic acid) but ran out a while back and just haven't gotten anymore. I'm not sure if it is the same or not? Any idea?
Alpha lipoic acid is a synthetic mix of two possible chiral isomers, also known as enantiomers. Essentially, these are the R and S forms which are mirror images of each other and differ in atom connectivity at one carbon. As such they are analogous to left and right handed forms of the molecule much in the same way that your hands are non-superimposible mirror images of each other. The R form in the natural form which is found in mitochondria. However, the S form is a synthetic isomer. Unless the two forms are distinguished as such, alpha lipoic acid is a 50/50 mixture of the two isomers. The Linus Pauling Institute refers to "racemic LA", this is the same thing as a 50/50 mixture of the R and S forms. The R form has been reported to be about 6-12 times more biologically effective as an antioxidant than the S form. For a more detailed explanation of lipoic acid please see one of my earlier posts in this thread in the Natural Approach forum.
In addition to the info in that post, I should note that you will find lipoic acid discussed in the science literature as either alpha lipoic acid or dihydrolipoic acid. In this type of comparison, the term alpha lipoic acid is often used to refer to the oxidized form (where the two sulfer atoms are bonded to each other via a disulfide bond) and the term dihydrolipoic acid is used to refer to the reduced form (where the two sulfer atoms exist as separate sulfhydryl groups, i.e., -SH). Another note, sometimes you will run into a form called potassium lipoate. Lipoic acid has a carboxyllic acid group in it and this is the potassium salt of the acid. There are a couple of supplement manufacturers, e.g., http://www.hu-max.com/, that claim that this form has increased bioavailability and stability.
Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 3457 Location: Mid-Michigan
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:28 am Post subject:
NHE,
Thanks for the link NHE. I see we're a little behind the times since that thread was from 2004 Oh well, it's all new to me!
You seem very well versed on the subject....have you ever read that there might be advantage to injecting lipoic acid as opposed to consuming it? Not that injecting it is anything anyone could or should do.
Bob _________________ Wife diagnosed with RRMS in Feb. 2006.
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Oh well, it's all new to me!