Forgive me if this has been discussed, but I'm now reading into ALA and it seems that it's a potent substance, it can even make you bald (it seems that if you take ALA or its derivatives you have to supplement biotin)

Now, there are so many derivatives that I'm a little confused.

The derivatives I've found so far:

- alpha lipoic acid (the synthesided form 50% r-ala and 50% s-ala)
- r-ala (the natural part of ALA)
- Na-r-ala (the more bioavalable version with a continuous release effect)
- K-r-ala (similar to Na-r-ala)

The ALA alone seems to be somehow ineffective and degrades easily
The r-ala alone has some effectivity but degrades easily
The Na-r-ala is very effective and is stable
The K-r-ala is also very effective and is stable

The bodybuilders, which are very knowledgeable on supplements, lots of infos there, are reporting hypos when taking ALA based supplements and doing some workouts. They are also discussing carb/ALA ratios :LOL: (other discuss insulin/carb ratios)

It is also reported that ALAs are some kind of additive boosters, for example, some claim that if you supplement GABA with ALAs, the effect will be increased (even helpin the GABA pass the "brain barrier"), the same is suggested for Vitamin C.

The dosages given are in the 0.5 - 1 gr per day for building up muscle. Now, my aim isn't to look like a bodybuilder but to lower my BG and keep it normal without much effort.

It seems that ALA-derivatives will best work when taken before exercising and that the chelated ones will be more and longer bioavailable than pure r-ala.

The ALA derivatives seem to be quite expensive, the lowest price I've seen for Na-r-ala is 95$ for 100gr (bulk powder), which would give you a dosage for 100 to 200 days.

Has anyone experience with Alpha Lipoic Acid derivatives? Where to buy them cheapest?

I took ALA for almost a year once, the extended release variety from GNC, and also an ALA formula by Jarrows.

The GNC had NO biotin, and I wound up with an horrific case of seborrheic dermatitis -- interestingly, it was not until mere weeks before my scalp was painfully ruinous that I felt any change of state mentally, from it.

And to this day, I have NO idea if the apparently positive change in mood was actually some strange rare symptom of severe biotin deficiency. At about the same time my fingernails started to get very soft & weak.

One thing to be very careful about is that if you start taking it and also start getting yeast infections, it is BECAUSE OF THE ALA -- I didn't find that out until much later, on some of the autism forums where moms discuss giving their kids supplements, and that candida can go wild from ALA supplementation.

So..... I not only spent exorbitant prices on the extended release Alpha Lipoic Acid, but with the GNC version having NO biotin, I had to end up months later spending a small fortune on for many months thereafter for bottles of biotin, OTC yeast treatments, and months worth of high priced dandruff shampoos.

Here's an interesting webpage about Alpha Lipoic Acid from Dr. Ray Sahelian.

http://www.raysahelian.com/alphalipoicacid.html

Thanks for the warning about ALA and candida! I have candida and seborrheic dermatitis; I certainly don't need to make them worse.

The reason I chose not to take ALA was because I read (I believe on the site lil' annie referenced above) that it can be a problem if taken with thyroid meds, which I take.

Annie, thanks for the extensive info!

Powerful stuff those ALAs! It looks like if you take them with biotin they will be beneficial. Just don't overdose...

I still have a couple different formulas of ALA which I never used up - but I am thinking of starting up again on it, as I am really curious to see if they'd have a different impact on my system if I'm relatively low carb.