r-ALA

Is r-ALA deserved of all the hype. I have only seen evaluation from those who may potentially have commercial gain from the product. As I understand it, r-ALA will not increase plasma insulin levels unlike the racemic mix. I also note that many are espousing the virtues of super high doses such as 3 grams/day. Hmmmmmm?

You asked me on the drug side about r-ALA.
To be honest with you, I am not familiar
with “r-ALA”. How is that different from
regular alpha lipoic acid? I do think that
3gm of alpha lipoic acid is excessive though.

R-ALA is simply one of the enantiomers of it. The other being S-ALA. Much of the ALA on the market is a racemic mixture of the two. Ironically, much of the research showing positive glucose disposal effects used R-ALA.
As far as 3 grams being excessive, I disagree. Try it, and then see if you say it doenst make a difference. When I moved into the 3-4 gram range (of the racemic mixture – its cheaper) the pumps were just crazy…and I was on low, low carbs. Even at doses of 1500 mg I didnt “feel” anything. However, beware of the foul smelling urine.

400mg of regular ALA just before my workout makes me feel like I’m going to burst into flames (this is in combination with a workout and a high GI/II shake, of course - but I don’t feel the same without the ALA). I’ve been looking to r-ALA as well, but based on my personal experience it’s hard to imagine it working any better than plain ALA.

Yeah Free Ex. I thought that you may have come across it during your investigation into insulin sensitivity, (which was very informative BTW). As stated, it is basically ALA with the synthetic isomer removed. The s isomer is supposedly responsible for an increase in plasma insulin levels, and somehow impedes the action of the r isomer. I wanted to see if this had translated into improved body comp. in the real world.

Have you guys used ALA or rALA from research-chemicals? It is REALLY cheap, but they say you have to “promise” not to consume it. I hope that promise has nothing to do with poor purity of the stuff they are selling

GR, so what do they want you to do with it?