I'm about to re-order many of the supplements I take, and am wondernig if people know of

1. Especially good pricing on any of these

2. Any new recommendations on which formulation is best for absorption

Here goes:

acetyl L carnitine (I take 6/day, and am deficient on testing, so a good formulation and price are both important

alpha lipoic acid

5 HTP

SAMe

N acetyl carnitine

No-flush niacin (info on dosing would help)

CaMg

Thanks for any input.

--have you considered trying the R-lipoic isomer variant of Alpha Lipoic?

The theory for that is that only the R-isomer (which is a left-handed molecule, I believe) is active on the cellular level. Alpha Lipoic has both R and S isomers (left and right handed), meaning that taking it results in some waste. Supposedly, one can get by with 1/6 to 1/10 of the dosage of R-lipoic for the same effects.

I used to take 600mg/Alpha lipoic daily (two 300mg tablets, one morning, one evening); now I take one 100mg R-lipoic in the AM. I seem to be continuing along OK. (One way I monitor this is with my blood glucose levels, as lipoic has definite glucose modulating effects, at least as strong as those of chromium supplementation.)

And--taking the 100mg R-lipoic dose is not as acidic stomach wise, and winds up costing a bit less in the long run. (The best cost/least acidic combo I've had is from vitacost.com, when they run their specials, though the swansonvitamins.com brand has been pretty good, too.)

The cardiology department at Scripps Clinic recommends and prescribes pure, crystalline niacin. My understanding is that ONLY regular, "high flush" niacin causes the liver to produce less cholesterol. Furthermore, it is the flush that indicates that the niacin is working to lower blood cholesterol and LDL levels and raise HDL levels. There are myriad studies that support this.

Some thoughts on the type of B-3 taken for lipid control:

1) The flush is vasodilation similar to the effect of Viagra. A skin flush is an expected effect of vasodilation. The vasodialation promotes blood flow to areas that have deficient blood flow, including cardiac arteries. The increased blood flow to the extremities can be expected to help your vision, your complexion, and (ta-da) PN.

2) The itching is a histamine reaction. A chronic histamine release, as from allergies, is irritating and possibly harmful, but a brief histamine release promotes healing and detoxification.

3) Only nicotinic acid type niacin has been demonstrated to raise HDL, lower LDL, and lower serum cholesterol levels.

4) Sustained-release nicotinic acid niacin causes a high rate of liver damage at relatively low doses (3 gm/day) that are safe with pure crystalline nicotinic acid. This can be life threatening if a person's liver is already stressed from diabetes, drug use (including prescription medication), hepatitis, etc.

Here are two authoritative web articles on the subject: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/139/12/996.pdf
and
http://www.medicalconsumers.org/page...REDUCTION.html


Dosage depends on what your blood lipid profile is and what other drugs and supplements you are taking. I'm taking 2 gm/day but that is specifically based on my lipid profile and past history with niacin, diet changes, exercise, red-rice yeast supplementation, etc.

I take either http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=4344 or the type recommended by Scripps Clinic: http://www.nextrxotc.com/detail.aspx?ID=2653

Are there recent studies concluding that no-flush niacin is safe and effective? If so, please provide links, which I'll share with the Scripps cardiologists.

Attached is a copy of the Scripps niacin protocol. It works. I have little flushing now unless I miss a dose or two. Click on the picture to expand it. If it's still too small to read, send me a private message with your email address and I'll send a larger copy out to you.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I wondered about the FACC after Dr. Guinari's name. Here's a list of FACC acronyms:

Fairlawn Area Chamber of Commerce (Fairlawn, Ohio)
Feature Attribute Coding Catalog
Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography (Russia)
Fellow of the American College of Cardiology
Fischer Advanced Composite Components AG (Austria)
Florida Association of City Clerks, Inc.
Florida Association of Community Colleges
Florida Association of Community Corrections
Florida Association of Court Clerks & Comptroller
Ford Aerospace Communications Corporation
French-American Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Guinari probably hopes that we understand that she is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and not an agent of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography (Russia).

Scripps Clinics saves ink abbreviating rather than spelling it out.

I'm sure I missed something somewhere and you probably explained this before but are you taking both acetyl L carnitine and N acetyl carnitine? I ask because I thought these were the same compound or do the labels specify differently.

Gleentaj is right on about the lipoic acid, the R-isomer is considerably more active than the S. The R- and S- conventions come from the compounds' ability to rotate a plane of polarized light where R = rectus or rotation to the right (right handed) and S = sinister or rotation to the left (left handed). Always gives me pause to reflect since I am left handed but hopefully not sinister.

Alkymst

Glenntaj: Thanks for this info. The R vrsion means that many fewer pills to take. I like that.

David, I can't open any of your links. I've tried using both Mozilla and Explorer and I'm at a loss. But my computer(s) home and work, are both falling apart. They're not that old and both are doing weird things. Quirky.

Alkymst, I meant N-acetyl cysteine. I went back to theorignial post to change it, but I was locked out of editing because it's too many hours since the original post.

I seem to be having a bit of trouble typing. Maybe sticky keyboards, or maybe I'm clumsier than usual, but I'm past corrcting the errors.

Thanks all, putting in an order, and waiting on the niacin.

--on the "handedness" of lipoic acid molecules; I should have realized that the "R" would be right and the "S" would be sinister or left. Just a part of my cognition that winked out that moment. (I'd blame it on the gabapentin, but I've managed to cut that down to 1200mg/day, so it'd be a hollow excuse.)

ahhh, finally able to open the links on niacin. Thanks, David.

I forgot to include Costco as a source for Rugby brand niacin, USP 500 mg. pills. Price is very low. This is the one Dr. Guaneri recommends because it was the one used in many studies (previously under the Squibb name).