During an examination of my blood with dry and dark field microscopy, it was discovered I had many pre-cancer cells forming around my liver. Although I had the “chronic fatigue” label for many, many years, this was quite startling. For the following 2 months I took large amounts of alpha lipoic acid, along with detoxification and a radical change in my diet. At this 2 month interval I had my blood looked at once again, and all the pre-cancer cells were gone. I had many other internal health challenges at this time – but it was quite impressive to me how I could have such vast improvement so quickly.

What are Free Radicals?

Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. They destroy molecules and tissue causing cells to die or function poorly – and are damaging to our DNA. This process is called oxidation.

Free radicals are strongly implicated as the cause of many degenerative disorders. Certain types are believed to play a significant role in disease processes such as hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), cancer, cataract formation and diabetes.

What are Anti-oxidants?

Antioxidants interact with free radicals and deactivate their effect on healthy cells. Good food sources of anti-oxidants include spinach, broccoli, beef, yeast (particularly Brewer's yeast), and certain organ meats (such as the kidney and heart) – but you would have to eat a fair amount of these foods daily to have enough antioxidants circulating in the body to adequately neutralize free radical activity and deactivate their effect on healthy cells.

Our bodies are designed with a natural ability to scavenge and neutralize free radicals before they attack the cells. However, our exposure to pollutants from air, food and water as well as other environmental factors and their accumulation in the body has generated an excessive production of free radical activity causing the acceleration of tissue damage. This is a major contributing factor in aging, cancer and degenerative disorders.

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Alpha Lipoic Acid also known as ALA, has been called the “universal” antioxidant because of its powerful ability to neutralize the effects of free radical activity in almost all tissues of the body – it works in the extra-cellular fluid and also within the cell.

Highlights of Alpha Lipoic Acid ~

**Potent antioxidant – deactivates the damaging effect of free radicals on
    healthy cells i.e. cancer, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis),
    cancer, cataract formation and diabetes.

**Scavenges for free radicals in both water and fat tissues

**Easily absorbed and Crosses the Blood Brain Barrier

**Boosts glutathione levels in cells – improving the bodies heavy metal
    chelating ability to rid itself of toxins

**Protects the brain from free radical damage

**Plays a critical role in energy production in the cells

**Maintenance of the DNA

When there are adequate levels of Alpha Lipoic Acid in the body it can be highly effective, and is most widely used to protect cells from oxidative damage.

Neurological disorders –
Many neurological disorders are characterized by abnormalities in glutathione metabolism and antioxidant defenses. ALA boosts the glutathione levels in cells improving the body’s heavy metal chelating ability

Blood Glucose –
In Europe ALA has been used for many years in diabetic treatment to speed the removal of glucose from the blood. Check with your doctor and watch your blood sugar level carefully in the event you and your doctor decide that a reduction in insulin is necessary.

Liver Disease –
There have been several case reports in the use of ALA in combination with milk thistle and selenium to help treat hepatitis C.

Brain Function and Stroke –
ALA crosses the blood brain barrier and appears to have protective effects on brain and nerve tissue.

Useful –
There is research underway to prove the possible usefulness of ALA for conditions of heart failure, HIV, Cataracts and glaucoma.

ALA was discovered in the 1950’s and became a crucial anti-oxidant in the 1980’s. It works in the mitochondria of the cell to produce energy. There are sometimes small amounts of ALA naturally circulating in the body, but usually not in adequate amounts to combat the effects free radical activity.

* Life Extension Foundation - One of the most unique and important qualities of alpha lipoic acid is its ability to quench free radicals in both aqueous and lipid environments. This means that the antioxidant activity of alpha lipoic acid is working in the extra-cellular fluid and also within the cell. It also has metal chelating ability, helping the body rid itself of accumulated ingested toxins.

Lester Packer, PhD scientist and professor at the Berkely Laboratory of the University of California, refers to alpha lipoic acid as the most powerful antioxidant ~

"Alpha Lipoic Acid claims anti-carcinogenic credits because it independently scavenges free radicals, including hydroxyl radical (a free radical involved in all stages of the cancer process and linked to an increase in the likelihood of cancer.)"

ALA is already used in Germany to treat a wide array of age related diseases to include heart disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, strokes, diabetes and insulin resistance.

By Karen Wright...

“….But free radicals are more like toxic waste. They leak from energy-making organelles called mitochondria; they spew from disease-fighting blood cells. Although cells have built-in mechanisms for cleaning up free radicals, the oxidants ultimately get the upper hand. In the mid-1950s, Denham Harman, a physician and chemist in the Donner Laboratory of medical physics at Berkeley, proposed that the cumulative damage wreaked by free radicals was largely responsible for the aging process. Today his free-radical theory is the most widely accepted model of aging….”