Alpha Lipoic Acid
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Alpha Lipoic Acid
by Clarityandfocus
Natural versus Synthetic - Sometimes 'Natural' is Better
Alpha lipoic acid is a coin with two sides. As an antioxidant, it inhibits
reactions promoted by oxygen or peroxides that destroy or corrupt cells. When
taken as a supplement, alpha lipoic acid (ALA) increases the production of
gluthathione which helps dissolve toxic substances in the liver by neutralizing
free radicals produced in our bodies and protecting cells. ALA’s natural form
can be found in tiny amounts in many protein rich foods, such as meats and
spinach. It is also produced in small amounts within the human body.
Manufacturers find it convenient and profitable to keep you uninformed of the
risks in taking synthesized forms of this important neutraceutical. The result
is your wasted money and compromised health. During attempts to produce the
natural form of ALA, 50% of the effort results in a form of ALA that is an
inferior yet symmetrical copy of the natural form. The symmetrical by product
not only is inferior in effect, but compromises the effects of the natural form
of ALA.
Your body is designed in such a way that it can usually make more efficient
use of the natural isomer of a molecule than it can with that molecule's
synthetic look-alike. Alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E) is a great example milligram
for milligram. The d- form of the molecule is much better utilized and retained
by the body than is the dl- mixture. Still, in the case of dl-alpha-tocopherol,
there's nothing particularly dangerous about having those extra, synthetic
isomers in your supplement, they're just weaker, less effective imitations of
the original.
Good Isomers, Bad Isomers
In other cases, however, putting the wrong isomer into your body can actually
harm you. An example that's becoming well known is trans-fatty acids. Most
health-conscious people know something about trans- fats, but few people
understand what they are or why they're dangerous. Found in large quantities in
most margarines, but also sprinkled throughout the processed food universe,
synthetic trans-fatty acids are really just unnatural isomers of natural
polyunsaturated fats. When you expose the natural "cis-" isomer of a
polyunsaturated fat to a great deal of heat and pressure (as is done in the
partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils), you can literally twist its structure,
rearranging the molecule's orientation in space. Thus the synthetic trans-
isomer is created. (4) Trans fatty acids are silent killers in the human body.
Many important molecules required for life exist in two forms. These two
forms are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, i.e.: they are related
like our left and right hands. Hence this property is called chirality, from the
Greek word for hand. The two forms are called enantiomers (from the Greek word
for opposite) or optical isomers, because they rotate plane-polarized light
either to the right or to the left.
Whether or not a molecule or crystal is chiral is determined by its symmetry.
A molecule is achiral (non-chiral) if and only if it has an axis of improper
rotation, that is, an n-fold rotation (rotation by 360°/n) followed by a
reflection in the plane perpendicular to this axis maps the molecule on to
itself. Thus a molecule is chiral if and only if it lacks such an axis. Because
chiral molecules lack this type of symmetry, they are called dissymmetric. They
are not necessarily asymmetric (i.e. without symmetry), because they can have
other types of symmetry. However, all amino acids (except glycine) and many
sugars are indeed asymmetric as well as dissymmetric. Nearly all biological
polymers must be homochiral (all its component monomers having the same
handedness). Another term used is "optically pure" or "100 % optically active"
to function. All amino acids in proteins are ‘left-handed’, while all sugars in
DNA, RNA and in the metabolic pathways are ‘right-handed’.
A 50/50 mixture of
left- and right-handed forms is called a racemate or racemic mixture. Racemic
polypeptides could not form the specific shapes required for enzymes because
they would have the side chains sticking out randomly. Also, a wrong-handed
amino acid disrupts the stabilizing helix in proteins. DNA could not be
stabilized in a helix if even a single wrong-handed monomer were present, so it
could not form long chains. This means it could not store much information, so
it could not support life.
Problems with Some Commercially Available ALA Supplements
Commercially produced "alpha lipoic acid" is no different. When producing ALA
in a laboratory, the S- form of ALA is a waste of money and time. Your body
spits it out like a fish does a hook and it comprises 50% of the mixture sold as
alpha lipoic acid on the market. In the past, the R+ version was only available
in small quantities for research by scientists. (1)
The S- form that is taking up 50% of your supplement is not just a weaker
version of the real thing, like the alpha-tocopherol dl- product. In fact, the
S- form of ALA is its negative counterpart.. When he reported his findings about
the opposing effects of the two forms of lipoic acid on the energy-producing
powers of mitochondrial particles, Dr. Guido Zimmer stated that the S- form of
ALA, which is present as about 50%, needs to be eliminated. (2)
The differences between the two forms of ALA can completely alter the effects
of the sugars in your body. When looking at the differences between the R+- and
S- forms of lipoic acid in terms of their effects on the body’s metabolism of
blood sugar, their protective antioxidant activities or effects on mitochondria
and the preliminary evidence of their effects on the aging process itself, Dr.
Zimmer and other lipoic acid researchers found that there are cases where the S-
is merely less effective than the R+ or just totally ineffective. As you dig
into the lipoic acid story, you’ll also see many cases in which the S- actually
counteracts the benefits of R+ alpha lipoic acid! (3) In laboratory animals, the
R+ entainomer caused a 34% increase in glucose uptake by skeletal muscle cells
in response to insulin while those fed the S- entainomer had no improvement in
blood glucose disposal. (9)
The Positive Effects of R+ ALA
As a weight training athlete, even if you are very insulin sensitive by
nature, R+ ALA will enable your skeletal muscle bellies to hold more nutrients
such as glycogen and amino acids.
To function properly, cells need a steady fuel supply. Blood sugar/muscle
glygogen is the primary fuel for most cells in the body. The body produces the
hormone insulin precisely in order to help get energy to the cells that need it
such as skeletal muscle. Insulin is like a "key" that turns on the glucose
transport "ignition" (insulin receptor) which is located on the surface of the
cell.
When the "key" (insulin) activates the "ignition" (the insulin receptor), it
turns on the engines of the "tanker trucks" (GLUcose Transporters, or GLUTs)
that do the work of hauling glucose (blood sugar) out of the bloodstream and
into cells. So to get bodily cells the energy they need, and to keep blood sugar
from building up to dangerously high levels, insulin must tell bodily cells
(skeletal muscle) to absorb blood sugar. In healthy individuals, the cells will
obey the signal and mobilize the GLUT transporters.
Next page |
Importance of insulin
sensitivity
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