Anti-obesity--"Obesity shortens life expectancy and is a risk factor for hypertension and Type 2 diabetes. When added to the standard chow of 'animals]...'as 5% of total,] it reduced body weight and food intake. Alpha-lipoic acid also increased whole-body energy expenditure...Long term studies to determine whether these anti-obesity effects are maintained in animals are required before alpha-lipoic acid is considered for clinical trial in human obesity." Emphasis added.

From: Expert Opinion Investig. Drugs, vol. 13, 2004. By: Dr. D. Doggrell, School of Biomedical Sciences of Queensland, Australia.

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Aging--"The well-known OH+ free radical* scavenging properties of alpha-lipoic (ALA) cannot easily be utilized for biological experiments because the compound is practically insoluble in water. We elaborated a simple method of preparing its Na-salt 'sodium salt] (Na-ALA) which proved to be water soluble...

"'The results of our subsequent experiments] indicate that the geriatric topical 'skin] application of Na-ALA may have an established rationale 'against oxygen radical damage in aging.]

*Free radicals in the body can and do, destroy healthy tissue.

In: Archives of Gerontol. Geriatrics, vol. 29, 1999. By: Drs. Perricone, Nagy, Horvath, Uray, et. al., Dept. of Gerontology, Yale School of Med., New Haven, CT., U.S.A.

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Alzheimer's and Aging--"Free radical-mediated damage to 'nerve] membrane components has been implicated in the 'development] of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aging...Our previous studies reported higher oxidative stress markers 'evidence of free radical activity in animals exhibiting symptoms similar to Alzheimer's.]...Further, we have previously shown that injecting the 'animals] with alpha-lipoic acid (LA) reversed...the learning and memory impairments in the 'animals.]" Emphasis added.

In: Neurochem Int., Jan. 2005. By: Drs. Poon, Lynn, Banks, Butterfield, et. al., Dept. of Chemistry, U. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0055, U.S.A.

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Alpha-Lipoic against Hypertension (high blood pressure) and Diabetes--
"...since the development of hypertension could either be totally prevented or markedly 'reduced] by...treatment potent antioxidative therapies such as alpha lipoic acid or aspirin... Moreover, the development of insulin resistance, which is associated to the model of glucose 'sugar] induced hypertension, was also found to be prevented by chronic antioxidant therapies thus suggesting that oxidative stress 'which is caused by the action of oxygen radicals] plays an important role as well in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

"In conclusion...our studies suggest that the chronic treatment with appropriate antioxidative therapies 'including alpha lipoic or aspirin] could prevent the development of hypertension and diabetes as well as their complications in various experimental models of hypertension." Emphasis added.

In: Clin. Exp. Hypertens. vol. 20, 2004. By: Drs. Champain, Girouard, Laplante, et. al., Dept. of Physiology, Faculty of Med., U. of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

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Asthma--"Conclusion: These results 'stated earlier in the report,] suggest that oxidative stress plays an important role in asthmatic airway inflammation and that alpha-lipoic acid may be useful as 'additional] therapy for bronchial asthma."

In: Journal of Allergy & Clin. Immunol., vol. 114, 2004. By: Cho, Lee, Park & Moon, Div. of Allergy, U. Ursan College of Med., S. Korea. Only attenuated address given.

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Reducing Cell Death and Arteriosclerosis with Alpha Lipoic
"Atherosclerotic plaque contains apoptotic 'programmed cell death] endothelial 'cells lining blood vessels] implicated in 'the process of unwanted cell death.] Vitamin E and alpha-lipoic acid are a potent antioxidant combination with the potential to prevent 'endothelial cell death]...

"Cultured bovine endothelial cells incubated for 24 hours with vitamin E and/or alpha-lipoic acid showed the combination of the two antioxidants increased a 'gene that is anti-cell death, Bcl-2] to a greater extent than cells incubated...'without them.]

"In summary, vitamin E and alpha-lipoic acid increase the endothelial cell Bcl-2, which may provide increase protection against 'the death of these cells.]"

They also found that although exercise increases protection of the heart, it does not affect the improper cell death of endothelial cells.

In: Journal Mol. Cell Cardiology, March 2005; vol. 38, pgs. 445-451. By: Drs. Marsh, Laursen, Pat, Gobe, Coombes, School of Human Movement Studies, U. of Queensland, Q4072 Brisbane, Australia.