ALA: A Major Antioxidant for Enhanced Health

By: Dr. William Shaw

Discovery of ALA efficacy in the treatment of mushroom poisoning

Burt Berkson MD PHD, the founder of the Integrative Medical Center located in Las
Cruces, New Mexico, is a leading advocate of the use of lipoic acid for the treatment of many diseases and is the author of “The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough”. He introduces his book with an account of mushroom poisoning as a resident in a Midwest teaching hospital.

A man and his wife had gone picking mushrooms and ate some of their harvest.
They soon became violently ill with severe diarrhea and vomiting. The liver function
tests of the man 24 hours later were in the thousands while they should have been
less than 30. The supervising physician advised Berkson that the man was on
death’s doorstep and that little could be done. Because Berkson had a background
as a professor in mycology, the study of molds and fungi, he knew that liver toxicity
was the main cause of death from mushroom poisoning. He decided to try out
alpha lipoic acid (ALA) as an antidote for his liver toxicity. Within a week, the man
and his wife had left the hospital with normal liver function tests.

Was the hospital administration overjoyed at this wonderful response?

Far from it. When new patients with mushroom poisoning arrived, Dr. Berkson was
advised to wait until a slow bureaucratic determination of ALA suitability was made
by the pharmacy committee, allowing his new patients to die - or face a severe
reprimand. Dr. Berkson bucked the system and now has been using ALA for a
whole variety of illnesses including diabetes, liver disease, AIDS,
immunosuppression, psoriasis, eczema, skin cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, scleroderma, macular
degeneration, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

Hepatitis C and ALA

Berkson published work showing that a trio of supplements that included alpha
lipoic acid, silymarin, and selenium were able to clear hepatitis C for a fraction of
the cost of newly developed antiviral drugs that cost tens of thousands of dollars
but may not be approved by insurance companies or may not be given to prisoners
in jail because of their cost.

Biochemistry of ALA

Alpha Lipoic Acid is also called thioctic acid because it is an acid with 8 carbons
(octic) and 2 sulfur groups (thio). ALA is present in many foods in which it is bound
to lysine in proteins, but slightly more so in kidney, heart, liver, spinach, broccoli,
and yeast extract. Naturally occurring lipoic acid is always covalently bound and not
readily available from dietary sources. In addition, the amount of lipoic acid present
in dietary sources is low. For instance, the purification of lipoic acid to determine its
structure used an estimated 10 tons of liver residue, which yielded 30 mg of lipoic
acid.

ALA acts an enzyme cofactor for 5 different important enzymes including 2 in the
citric acid cycle producing energy, but it is also very important in the regeneration
of other antioxidants such as vitamin E (tocopherols) and C (ascorbic acid), glutathione, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH).

Sciatica pain and ALA

Sciatica, which is pain caused by inflammation of the sciatic nerve, is a problem
estimated to affect 40% of the population at some time in their life. The sciatic
nerve originates around the buttocks and extends to the knee but connects with
other nerves that continue down into the toes. There is a left and right sciatica
nerve and pain from both nerves is rare. The sciatic nerves originate from the lower
back region called the lumbar spine and from the final section of the spine called
the sacrum. Sciatica pain is often described as sharp, shooting, burning, electric, or
stabbing. Common causes of sciatica pain are degeneration of the discs between
the vertebrae due to injury, osteoarthritis, or aging. Smoking, obesity, and diabetes
all lead to greater susceptibility to sciatica pain. In a randomized, double-blind
study involving 64 patients (mean age: 61 years) with acute backache and moderate
sciatica, supplementation with 600 mg/d alpha-lipoic acid resulted in improving
symptoms of sciatica over a 60-day intervention period as well as a decreased need
for painkillers in 71% of the patients. In another study of 312 patients with sciatica
pain in clinics in Italy, a general improvement in both perceived pain and functional
disabilities was observed after a two-month follow-up.

Diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, and ALA

High blood sugar in either juvenile (type 1) or adult onset (type 2) diabetes damages
nerves and interferes with their ability to send signals, leading to diabetic
neuropathy. High blood sugar also weakens the walls of the small blood vessels
(capillaries) that supply the nerves with oxygen and nutrients. Diabetic neuropathy
is a serious diabetes complication that may affect as many as 50% of people with
diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy can include peripheral neuropathy that most often
affects feet and legs and arms and hands. Loss of feeling in the feet may lead to
ignoring small infections that could be so severe that amputation is needed. Other
symptoms might include numbness or tingling in the hand or fingers, difficulty
swallowing, or erection difficulty in men. In a study of 100 patients with either type
1 or type 2 diabetes, 99 of the patients had significant reduction of diabetic
neuropathy after 4 months of treatment with ALA.

ALA and liver disease

The liver is an extremely important organ found only in vertebrates that is a literal
biochemical factory. About 25% of arterial blood passes to the liver. The liver is the
largest solid organ in the body. It removes toxins from the body's blood supply,
maintains healthy blood sugar levels by converting glucose to a storage form called
glycogen that is released by adrenalin, regulates blood clotting, and performs
hundreds of other vital functions. It is located beneath the rib cage in the right
upper abdomen. The liver stores many vitamins including vitamin A (1–2 years'
supply), vitamin D (1–4 months' supply), vitamin B12 (3–5 years' supply) and other
vitamins and minerals. The liver is the major organ of detoxification of toxic
chemicals such as solvents, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, mycotoxins from molds
and mushrooms, as well as illegal drugs. The liver is also responsible for
gluconeogenesis, which is the synthesis of glucose from certain amino acids,
lactate, or glycerol from fat breakdown. Alcoholism is a major cause of liver disease.
There are a number of viruses, chemicals, and genetic diseases that impair the
function of the liver.

A review of the use of ALA in the treatment of liver disease by Bustamante and his
colleagues found the following benefits in different causes of liver disease
including:

• Alcohol-induced damage
• Mushroom poisoning
• Metal intoxication
• Carbon tetrachloride poisoning