Love Your Liver With Alpha Lipoic Acid 10-16-08

by: James J. Gormley

Even though the liver is not pretty, it is an extremely important organ that has a month-long health observance in October named after it by the American Liver Foundation (www.liverfoundation.org), called Liver Awareness Month. Reasons to appreciate our liver abound since this organ does all of the following, and more: saves up energy; makes bile to help break down food; keeps pollution from hurting us; stops cuts from bleeding too long; kills germs; gets rid of toxic chemicals; and helps build muscle. According to the foundation, liver disease affects one in 10 Americans, or about 30 million people -- including children.

Liver disease begins with inflammation. If left untreated, especially over time, inflamed liver tissue begins to scar or become fibrous, a condition known as fibrosis. If fibrosis is not treated or healed, irreversible damage can occur, called cirrhosis; this can lead to liver cancer. If the liver loses most or all of its function, a life-threatening condition called liver failure can result. To complicate matters further, there is also hepatitis C, a disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus, or HCV. Although it is fortunate that 15 to 40 percent of people who contract HCV are able to successfully fight off the virus within the first six months, sadly most of the patients who are not able to beat the virus wind up developing a long-term, chronic hepatitis C infection. Over 4 million Americans have been infected with hepatitis C and the virus is responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths annually. This is one of the most common reasons for liver transplants.

Alpha Lipoic Acid
One nutrient that has been the focus of related research and which shows the greatest promise for liver health has curiously not yet attained the level of popularity enjoyed by milk thistle; it is: alpha lipoic acid. Alpha lipoic acid (or ALA) was discovered by University of Illinois enzymologist Irwin Gunsalus in 1948 and described and characterized by University of Texas biochemist Lester J. Reed in March 1951.It is a natural substance that, according to ALA pioneer Burt Berkson, M.D., in the December 2007 edition of the Townsend Letter, is the "rate-limiting factor for the production of energy from carbohydrates." In other words, without alpha lipoic acid we could not obtain energy from the food we eat and we could not stay alive. The first large-scale human clinical studies using alpha lipoic acid in the U.S. were carried out in the 1970s by Berkson, Frederick C. Bartter, M.D., and other scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The researchers gave the nutrient to 79 people with severe liver damage; 75 of those, according to Berkson, recovered full liver function.

More recently, in 1999 Berkson published three case reports using a triple-antioxidant supplement regimen in patients with liver disease, including chronic hepatitis C infection. After several months of treatment with a combination of alpha lipoic acid, selenium and silymarin, all three patients recovered most or all of their liver function, avoided liver transplantation and went on to live healthy, productive lives free of the symptoms of liver disease. From 2006 to 2008, studies in humans and animals have shown that alpha lipoic acid can provide important improvements in the following: recovery following liver surgery; protection from chemotherapy side effects and chemical poisoning; liver regeneration; and protection against liver and kidney damage from acetaminophen-containing drugs (e.g., Tylenol, Anacin-3 and Percocet). Since acetaminophen poisoning sends over 56,000 people to emergency rooms each year in the U.S., these study results are all the more impressive.

Additionally, alpha lipoic acid also helps in the areas of nerve health (e.g., diabetic neuropathy), metabolic health (e.g., insulin resistance and weight control) and brain health. In an industrialized world heavily burdened by pollution and toxic chemicals, alpha lipoic acid has emerged, and rightly so, as a nutritional ray of hope for many.

Comment:

Lipoic Acid is the only antioxidant that is fat- and water-soluble. This property has made it a perfect electron transporter for both oxidized ascorbic acid (water-soluble) and vitamin E (fat-soluble); it is easily absorbed and transported across cell membranes. Whereas many antioxidants only provide protection outside of cells, ALA is broken down inside cells to dihydrolipoic acid - an even more potent antioxidant. It also regenerates other antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E and glutathione.

Alpha-lipoic acid is an antioxidant that is manufactured in the human body. Antioxidants are substances that work by attacking "free radicals," waste products created when the body turns food into energy. There are also many sources of free radicals in the environment such as ultraviolet rays, radiation, and toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and pesticides. Free radicals cause harmful chemical reactions that can damage cells in the body, making it harder for the body to fight off infections. As a result a person becomes more susceptible to long term diseases such as diabetes and liver damage.

Alpha-lipoic acid works together with other antioxidants such as vitamins C and E; thus should be taken together. It is important for growth, helps to prevent cell damage, and helps the body rid itself of harmful substances.

Diabetes

Several studies suggest that treatment with ALA may help reduce pain, burning, itching, tingling, and numbness in people who have nerve damage (called peripheral neuropathy) caused by diabetes. Alpha-lipoic acid has been used for years for this purpose in Europe. Other studies have shown that alpha-lipoic acid speeds the removal of glucose (sugar) from the blood of people with diabetes and that this antioxidant may prevent kidney damage associated with diabetes in animals.

Lipoic acid, like insulin, reduces glycation, enhancing the movement of blood sugar into our cells. It promotes greater energy production by muscles and reduces the amount of glucose stored as fat.

In addition to being a powerful antioxidant, lipoic acid has an important role in controlling blood sugar. Through both of these mechanisms, it may help prevent the negative effects of having an even slightly elevated blood sugar causing some of the serious side-effects of diabetes (nerve damage, pain, blindness, heart disease and accelerated aging). It may even help repair some of the nerve damage that may have occurred by encouraging new nerve growth.

It is medically approved in Germany for treating adult-onset type II diabetes and its complications. Ironically, the research that demonstrated its increased blood sugar utilization was done in the United States. Lipoic acid is not a controlling factor in such instances, but research shows that a high intake (300 to 600mg per day) tends to normalize blood sugar levels in diabetics. It may also be beneficial to mix it with vanadium, chromium picolinate, fennel, cinnamon, and Gymnema Sylvestre.

Liver Disease

Alpha-lipoic acid may prove useful in the treatment of chronic hepatitis because it relieves stress on the liver and helps rid the body of toxins. There have been several case reports of use of alpha-lipoic acid in combination with silymarin (milk thistle) and selenium (a substance with liver-protecting and antioxidant properties) to help treat hepatitis C (a serious type of hepatitis contracted from blood and bodily fluids that does not have an adequate cure or treatment).

It has also been used in conjunction with silymarin to treat Amanita poisoning. Amanita is a highly poisonous mushroom that causes liver damage.

Brain Function and Stroke

Because alpha-lipoic acid can pass easily into the brain, it has protective effects on brain and nerve tissue and shows promise as a treatment for stroke and other brain disorders involving free radical damage. Animals treated with alpha-lipoic acid, for example, suffered less brain damage and had a four times greater survival rate after a stroke than the animals who did not receive this supplement. While animal studies are encouraging, more research is needed to understand whether this benefit applies to people as well.

Other

Additional conditions for which alpha-lipoic acid may prove useful include heart failure, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cataracts, and glaucoma. More research is underway in these areas.

Dietary Sources

Good food sources of alpha-lipoic acid include spinach, potato, beets, carrots, yams, kohlrabi, broccoli, beef, yeast (particularly Brewer's yeast), and certain organ meats (such as the kidney and heart).

Chelation:

Alpha Lipoic Acid has been used to chelated mercury and may be beneficial in Autism, MS, after amalgam filling removal, vaccinations, or other exposure to heavy metals.

Search Liver:

Search Alpha Lipoic Acid:

Search Diabetes: