Alpha-Lipoic
Acid is a disulfide compound also known as thioctic acid.
Lipoic Acid is a powerful and versatile antioxidant that
helps protect the body against free radical damage and,
as a result, is a protector of many types of cells and tissues.
Lipoic Acid is a unique antioxidant in that it is both fat
and water soluble. Other well known antioxidants can only
function within their soluble media, such as vitamin E in
fatty membranes of cells and vitamin C in watery portions
of cells. Because of its dual solubility, lipoic acid can
function in both fatty and aqueous phases of the cell. This
is significant and makes lipoic acid a complete antioxidant
capable of defending against a wide variety of invading
free radicals.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid has both sulfur atoms and carboxyl groups
in its chemical structure, making it a very reactive compound.
Alpha-Lipoic acid is converted into the reduced form, dihydrolipoic
acid, inside of cells, and dihydrolipoic acid possesses
two sulfhydryl groups.
Alpha-Lipoic
Acid is found naturally in foods such as spinach, broccoli,
tomato, liver, heart and animal muscle tissue. Its bioavailability
from food may be limited, however, because it is bound to
a protein called "lipoyllysine". Preliminary research
suggests that the lipoic acid found in supplements may be
more biologically active that lipoic acid bound to this
protein in food.
It
is important to use a high quality lipoic acid to get the
desired effects. There is a lot of poor quality product
imported into the United States which may not be pure or
fully potent. Kirkman uses exclusively LIPOEC® brand
manufactured by The Schroeder Group in Germany. In a comparison
test of LIPOEC® against eight other manufacturers' lipoic
acids, the LIPOEC® product surpassed all others in purity
and exhibited a potency of 100%.
Each
capsule contains 25 mg. of Alpha-Lipoic Acid.
Other
ingredients: Plant cellulose and silicon dioxide.
Ingredients:
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