Advanced Skin Care and Beauty Treatment Reviews - SkinGeek.com

Alpha Lipoic Acid - Is it MAINSTREAM YET?

Ever since the commercial beauty industry debut of Alpha Lipoic Acid in year 2000, “pimped” by the notorious Perricone (is he still notorious? am I outdated already? please nudge if yes, ping or comment below for my MSN or email) , I’ve been extremely fascinated with this antioxidant not just because of its “amphibious” qualities but also because it was the first time I had heard an antioxidant dramatically beating “Vitamin C” off its throne of beauty-care glory by offering what Vitamin C could never do on its own >> Potentially reverse or prevent glycation related signs of biological aging.

Alpha Lipoic Acid is both fat and water soluble, allowing it to work its magic in almost any condition, any environment. It was studied primarily because it cured symptoms of Vitamin C and Vitamin E deficiency, and may help prevent cancer.

I’m particularly drawn by the water-and-oil-soluble trait, because it really makes the cosmetic chemist smile by taking away the hassle and complexity resulting from the fundamental fat-soluble vs. water soluble (liquid-aqueous) dichotomy.

Alpha Lipoic Acid can prevent abnormal sugar-to-protein glycosation, one of the biggest biological mechanisms of aging.  Since this antioxidant and anti-inflammatory is endogenous and naturally present in the body, supplementing it is up to the individual.

In fact, Alpha Lipoic Acid and Lipoic Acids in general have the remarkable ability to recycle several other important antioxidants including vitamins C and E, glutathione and coenzyme Q10, as well as the ability to regenerate itself!  The presence of Alpha Lipoic Acid basically keeps your body’s natural anti-oxidant engine roaring.  Now that’s what I call a pure, clean, renewable energy catalyst!

The only report that argues against Alpha Lipoic Acid’s anti-glycation effects (saying Alpha Lipoic Acid doesn’t work on wrinkles or preventing wrinkles) was found in year 2000 by a cosmetic laboratory Ari Skin Care that at its time, spoke a lone voice and presented arguments against all then-popular antioxidants and their effects on wrinkles and the signs of skin aging.  Since the website is no longer found, I have pasted an old excerpt here from whatever I could scrape together all over the web’s cached content databases:

Alpha-lipoic acid (lipoate) has been reported to prevent the glycation and structural modification of the blood protein, albumin.

However, under similar conditions, alpha-lipoic acid inhibited albumin glycation, but failed to inhibit the glycation of low density lipoprotein (LDL).

Alpha-lipoic acid was found to protect albumin against glycation by hydrophobic binding near the glycation sites of albumin. The protective mechanism for inhibiting the glycation of albumin may be the result of steric hindrance, or blocking of the glycation site, rather than actually binding the glycation site itself. Therefore, alpha-lipoic acid does not protect all proteins against glycation, which is important in order to inhibit the formation of advanced glycosylation end-products (AGEs) and skin wrinkles. In addition, a search of the scientific literature failed to find a reference that indicated that lipoic acid inhibited the glycation of collagen.

When taking high doses of alpha lipoic acid over a long period of time, please increase intake of your biotin.  ALA depletes biotin for some reason and it’s always good to high dose on biotin anyway, as it’s good for your nails, skin, and hair as a very traditional form of beauty supplement.