I was interested in the differences of Alpha Lipoic Acid and R-Lipoic Acid. Some say to one or the other but I want to know which has given the best results and helped the burning in feet/legs? Im also pre-diabetic( right on the edge) so which drug gave you the best results in helping to lower you blood sugar. Trying to take this all in and it can get a bit over whelming. Thanks

Mrs. D, has been a tremendous help in guiding the vitamins/supplements most needed for the possible regenerating damaged nerves due to Neuropathy. I have the terrible burnning in feet/legs as well. She has strongly recommended the Stabilized R-Lipoic Acid for neuropathy.

I am using Doctor's Best brand Stabalized R-Lipoic Acid from Iherb.com. I take one 100 mg's a day (empty stomach), along with Methylcobalamin B12 ,two 1mg's under the tonge (subliminal) (empty stomach), very important that it be the Methyl B12, and two Benfotiamine, which is a form of B1; but much different and used for people with neuropathy. I take 150mg's twice a day; but sometimes take a thrid. My enegry levels have increased, and the burning is still there; but lessened.

I believe there is a thread on Vitamin & Supplements. Unfortunately, I am not able to explain all the info on each one. I hope Mrs. D will add to this post. She is really as close to an expert as we might get here.

(Ger)

I've already given you the link to the thread that discusses this.

Many of us had NO IDEA until joano brought Dr. Blaylock's newsletter here, that the R-lipoic some of us were using was inferior to the newer form that is now available.

We all learned alot on that thread:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...light=blaylock

The bottom line is that the STABILIZED form is called NaRALA and is patented, and much better absorbed by the GI tract.
It is not expensive, and is easily purchased from Amazon where many of the supplements we tend to use here are now available at discounted prices-- with free shipping over $25.

Doctor's Best is the quality form I use, and now recommend.
I use several products now from Doctor's Best and find them affordable and very high quality, and labeled clearly so people can see what they are getting exactly.

iherb.com carries them too, but free shipping is usually over 45 or 60 dollars, so for smaller purchases you still pay shipping there.

R-lipoic acid is not a drug. It is a supplement. The regular R-lipoic like I WAS using was from Source Naturals, and it did NOT lower my blood sugars. When I switched to the Stablized form, that is when my A1C dropped quite a bit. This is why I recommend the Stabilized form now, which is still quite new BTW.

Taking supplements can be expensive business. I spend quite a bit of time finding the best quality and manufacturer for the most reasonable prices. You do not have to take my advice, and I do not have any
financial involvement with any of them that I use and recommend.

--Lipoic acid is a potent antioxidant and does have considerable blood sugar stabilizing properties--enough so that it has been used as a treatment for diabetics and diabetic neuropathy in Europe for many years, particularly in Germany, where a lot of the initial research on its effects was done. In Germany and most other places in Europe it is a prescribed, rather than over-the-counter, substance.

R-lipoic is a newer generation of lipoic acid. Without getting too chemistry technical, alpha lipoic is composed of both left and right "handed" isomers of the lipoic acid molecule (they are mirror images of each other), and it turns out that the human body, for a number of reasons having to deal with lipid metabolism, can only use the right-handed isomer. R-lipoic is only composed of the right handed isomer, meaning per unit of measure it is more effective and less of it can be taken than alpha lipoic. Most sources I've seen give an equivalence ratio on the order of 6:1 to 10:1; 100mg of alpha lipoic will have roughly the same activity as 600-1000mg of alpha lipoic.

And, as Mrs. D has pointed out, recently there's been an even newer generation of stabilized R-lipoic, which seems to be absorbed more completely than the first generation R-lipoic, so, again, less can be taken to get a particular effect (though I haven't seen any ratio concordances comparing the unstabilized to the stabilized yet).

Being able to take less is not only good from the standpoint of expense, but also from the standpoint of tolerance. I do know people that found taking alpha-lipoic in the therapeutic ranges (300mg up to 1800mg/day) frequently had issues with acidic stomach, as it is best to take lipoic apart from anything else for best utilization. Far fewer people seem to have this problem on the lower doses of R-lipoic.

Just one thing about Iherb. My last couple of orders were free shipping $20 or over and express shipping free for $40.00 and over. Of course, I took the free $20 or over shipping. I agree about the Doctor's Best Brand. I use them for all three of my vitamin/supplements. I also, have no financial involvement wiith the brands or purchasing of these items. I have used Vitacost as well in the past.

Thanks again for all the info you provide for those of us suffering with periphereal neuropathy.

(Ger)

Thanks to you both, sorry that i had posted this same question two times but I didn't see it after i posted so I asked again. That is the old brain having one of those moments. Ok I"m ordering these as the ones i'm taking i got locally at my drugstore and I know the druggist helped me , said he could order from any of the company brands for me but I know the price will be higher so I"m going on line , order and hope to see better results. Yahoooooooooo i'm excited. Thanks again