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5 Surprising Benefits Of Alpha Lipoic Acid

Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) is a healthy fat that divides opinion. While most agree it can benefit human health, some suggest that other, similar compounds offer better value for money. In reality, while some people will prefer the alternatives, those who find themselves in that latter group usually do so because they don’t fully understand ALA.

That is why we want to explain exactly what ALA is and does, as well as how it works, to ensure that you are fully informed when it comes to forming your own opinion and deciding whether or not to use ALA yourself.

Table of Contents

What Is Alpha Lipoic Acid & How Does It Work?

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a naturally occurring, healthy fat and one of the three types of omega-3s. While it produces very similar health benefits to the other two, it differs from them as it’s mainly found in plant-based sources like flax, while eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are mostly found in oily fish. This has led to it becoming extremely popular with vegans and vegetarians.

A powerful, water- and fat-soluble antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that benefits the whole body and can even cross the blood–brain barrier to provide cognitive benefits. The health benefits most often linked to alpha lipoic acid include improved energy metabolism, brain, skin, heart, nerve, and liver health, blood sugar levels, and weight management, and reduced inflammation levels.

Most studies suggest that daily doses between 300mg and 600mg of alpha lipoic acid can produce its benefits, without causing side effects, with 450mg to 550 mg being the optimal daily dose.

5 Surprising Benefits Of Alpha Lipoic Acid

Possesses Potent Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Alpha lipoic acid, like all omega-3s, is best known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It neutralizes free radicals and reduces oxidative stress and damage, which are the cellular triggers that cause chronic inflammation. It then regenerates other antioxidants, like vitamin C, vitamin E, and glutathione, to make these effects even more prominent.

Alpha lipoic acid also inhibits NF-κB, a key transcription factor in the pro-inflammatory pathway that switches on inflammatory genes. This lowers the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, preventing inflammation on a cellular level, while stimulating Nrf2, a master regulator of antioxidant and detoxification genes, increasing the body’s natural defenses against oxidative and inflammatory damage.

ALA even influences macrophages and T cells in the immune system, shifting them to an anti-inflammatory profile. This reduces tissue damage caused by chronic immune activation and protects the body against other conditions known to cause inflammation, like diabetes and high blood pressure (1).

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Improves Heart Health & Functions

Alpha lipoic acid reducing inflammation and oxidative stress and damage is especially beneficial for the heart and blood vessels, as they’re extremely vulnerable to this kind of damage. This protects the blood vessel walls and heart muscle cells from damage, plaque formation that leads to atherosclerosis (plaque buildup), and issues like heart disease, congenital heart failure, heart attacks, and heart ischemia-reperfusion injuries.

ALA also boosts the function of the endothelium, which is the lining of blood vessels, and improves nitric oxide (NO) production and availability. This improves vasodilation (blood vessel relaxation) and reduces vascular stiffness, leading to better circulation, blood flow, and blood pressure. These effects are aided by ALA’s ability to lower LDL cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood sugar levels, raise HDL cholesterol, and fight insulin resistance (2).

Supports The Brain

The brain is another organ that benefits from ALA reducing inflammation and oxidative stress and damage, as it’s particularly vulnerable to being damaged by them. This, combined with ALA reducing amyloid-beta build-up and protecting dopaminergic neurons, prevents damage to brain cells that contributes to aging, neurodegeneration, issues with memory and learning, and dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

ALA is also a cofactor in the mitochondrial enzymes that generate ATP, one of the body’s main energy sources. As neurons depend heavily on healthy mitochondria for energy, improving their health and functions enhances neuronal energy metabolism and reduces fatigue and cognitive decline.

As ALA boosts nitric oxide (NO) production, it greatly enhances cerebral blood flow. This also supports nerve conduction and reduces symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. This is particularly important in diabetics, as high blood sugar damages neurons and glial cells, so the improved NO levels, glucose uptake, and insulin sensitivity ALA promotes will keep them healthy and reduce this risk (3).

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Promotes Metabolic Health

The improved inflammation, oxidative stress and damage, and mitochondrial energy levels ALA produces are all beneficial to a person’s metabolic health. They aren’t the only ways ALA benefits it though.

ALA also directly lowers blood sugar levels by improving insulin sensitivity. It does this by activating AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) and boosting GLUT4 transporters, which both play vital roles in moving glucose into cells. This reduces insulin resistance, a core issue in metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, and helps the cells take up glucose more efficiently, lowering circulating blood sugar levels.

This, combined with its ability to regulate appetite and promote fat burning, also combats obesity, aids weight management, reduces LDL, and raises HDL cholesterol. This all protects against diabetes and metabolic syndrome and their symptoms, as well as conditions like high blood pressure, fatty liver, neuropathy, and cardiovascular disease (4).

Protects Many Vital Parts Of The Body

Alpha lipoic acid also protects many parts of the body from damage through various mechanisms. For example, its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties protect the liver from toxins, oxidative stress, and conditions like fatty liver disease and hepatitis (5). These same properties also protect the skin from UV and pollution damage, improving skin texture and reducing signs of aging (6).

Alpha lipoic acid even protects some parts of the body through multiple mechanisms. This includes the nervous system, which ALA keeps healthy and protects against conditions like diabetic neuropathy and issues like tingling, burning, and numbness in the extremities (7).