I first became aware of the alpha lipoic regimen by Dr. Burt Berkson in the late 90's. Early on in his career, while an internist, he was given several patients who were expected to die from hepatitis C. His job was more or less to simply baby sit them in the ICU and watch them die.
But Dr. Berkson was a rebel at heart and he simply couldn't do that. Instead he called an associate at the National Institutes of Health and found out how he could treat them. He learned that alpha lipoic acid had some impressive experimental support. Remarkably, although these patients were expected to die within a few weeks, they all completely recovered!
However not all went well for Dr. Berkson. As he made his superiors look foolish, they simply could not tolerate that so rather than embrace his findings, they actively suppressed the results and made his life miserable for showing them up.
This was a pivotal moment in Dr. Berskson's career and caused him to make choices that eventually led to where he is at now. Since then, Dr. Berkson has lectured all over the world on this topic, and published a study on the use of antioxidants for the treatment of hepatitis C.
His first book, The Alpha-Lipoic Acid Breakthrough was published in 1998.
As many of you already know, I am not fond of recommending many supplements, but I do believe that antioxidants make sense for many of us.
Why You Need Antioxidants
Your entire body, including your DNA, is under endless, daily assault from a variety of sources, from poor diets to pollution. Think of your cells, including your brain cells, each getting hit by free-radicals thousands of times a day. This violent process is called "oxidation," which damages your cells.
Enter antioxidants. They include vitamins and other nutrients that target free radicals.
Food, particularly fruits and vegetables, is a powerful source of these valiant protectors, and your body produces some itself. Their role is to limit the damage to your cells, which can slow down disease and signs of aging.
In the case of alpha lipoic acid, your body does produce it in minute quantities, but most of it comes from your diet. Some of the best natural sources include grass-fed red meat and organ meats.
The Benefits of Alpha Lipoic Acid
Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) has many functions, but it's one of the most effective free radical scavengers, and the only one known to easily get into your brain.
It also has the ability to regenerate other antioxidants such as vitamins C, E, and glutathione. So, when your body has used up these antioxidants, if there's ALA around, it helps regenerate them.
You may not know this, but glutathione is another very important antioxidant. You can get it from supplements, but the only form that works effectively is the reduced form, which is difficult to absorb when taken orally. It is much more cost effective to supplement with precursors, or items like alpha lipoic acid that regenerates glutathione.
Alpha lipoic acid also recycles coenzyme Q10 and NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).
But, if that wasn't enough, this powerful antioxidant is also:
The benefits of ALA can appear near miraculous. For example, according to Dr. Berkson, Russia has successfully used ALA intravenously to reverse ischemia reperfusion injuries by injecting it right after a heart attack or a stroke.
And people with diabetes or metabolic syndrome tend to do much better when taking lipoic acid, as it enhances insulin sensitivity.
There's even been quite a bit of research showing it can restore T cell function. T cells are a type of white blood cells that are of key importance to your immune system, and are at the core of adaptive immunity, the system that tailors your body's immune response to specific pathogens.
What Health Conditions Can be Treated With Alpha Lipoic Acid?
Clinically, alpha lipoic acid seems to be a useful supplement in treating hepatitis C. It can also be used for painful nerve conditions in diabetes, and may help slow down the aging process itself through its reduction in free radicals.
Dr. Berkson uses ALA along with low dose naltrexone (LDN) for the reversal of a number of more serious health conditions such as:
Most of his patients normalize in about one month on this combination of ALA and LDN.
What is Low Dose Naltrexone?
Naltrexone (generic name) is a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist, conventionally used to treat drug and alcohol addiction -- normally at doses of 50mg to 300mg. As such, it's been an FDA approved drug for over two decades.
However, researchers have found that at very low dosages (3 to 4.5 mg), naltrexone has immunomodulating properties that may be able to successfully treat cancer malignancies and a wide range of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's, fibromyalgia, and Crohn's disease, just to name a few.
As explained on the informative website www.lowdosenaltrexone.org, when you take LDN at bedtime -- which blocks your opioid receptors for a few hours in the middle of the night -- it is believed to up-regulate vital elements of your immune system by increasing your body's production of metenkephalin and endorphins (your natural opioids), hence improving immune function.
Can Alpha Lipoic Acid Help Your Workout?
Alpha lipoic acid can be a potent aid when you exercise vigorously.
In my interview, Dr. Berkson gives an anecdotal story about a friend - an international weight lifting champion -- who regularly uses ALA prior to meets.
Unfortunately, there are no set guidelines on dosage and timing. It can be highly individual, and is something that requires a little bit of trial and error in order to get it just right.
But if you suffer from any of the conditions listed above or diabetes it would certainly seem like a useful supplement to consider.
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Did you mean to write that ALA 'PROTECTS' cells from reperfusion injury or REVERSE??
The free radical initiated oxidative damage to DNA and other cellular proteins is reversed by ALA? Please elaborate.
I'm highly allergic to Glucophage/Metformin, which is what is used to treat PCOS, so my only options are natural: adding chromium, zinc, multivitamins with B complexes, CoQ-10, chaste tree, etc . . .
The insulin resistance is the major issue with PCOS, and weight is almost impossible to control unless the insulin issue is under control.
Seriously, change your diet. Antioxidants are in the fresh fruit and veggie isle.
Put down the pizza and processed garbage. Then you may not need medical attention - as early, that is.
what is in that 5-hour energy drink? scary!
“a) Dr. Berkson's does not suggest that anyone use ALA without B-complex vitamins and without close monitoring by a knowledgeable doctor. And he does not think that a person should treat their liver disease by themselves. If someone is interested in ALA protocols, they should consider googling 'Berkson BM.' Or they may want to go to the National Library of Medicine website (PubMed) and type in 'Berkson BM.' Dr. Berkson uses the extensive scientific knowledge that he obtained from his Ph.D. education in addition to his MD training in his practice.
“b) Dr. Berkson readily admits that his use of Low Dose Naltrexone resulted from learning about it from a patient, who had been treated by Dr. Bernard Bihari. Dr. Bihari is considered the pioneer of using LDN to treat autoimmune diseases in humans. Dr. Ian S. Zagon did most of the theoretical work on LDN in the United States.”
In closing: I am writing a book about 4 inexpensive treatments the medical profession ignores, in favor of more toxic, expensive, pharmaceutical-company-based treatments. Two of the treatments in my book are Intravenous ALA and oral LDN.
Again, please read my interview with Dr. Berkson:
http://www.honestmedicine.com/2009/03/burt-berkson-md-phd-talks-with-honest-medicine-about-his-work-and-our-medical-system-the-interview-t.html
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.com/
Interestingly, and maybe expected after the above, the opiod agonist morphine has the opposite effect and reduces immune function.
http://eye-on-washington.blogpspot.com
1. Quit posting stuff like "However not all went well for Dr. Berkson. As he made his superiors look foolish, they simply could not tolerate that so rather than embrace his findings, they actively suppressed the results and made his life miserable for showing them up." That is BS. Maybe this kind of behavior took place in the early 1900s, but no more. It's far more likely that his findings were not reproducible or were unethically conducted.
2. Subject your data to a randomized, double blinded trial with enough patients to generate meaningful statistical power. No anecdotes, no small trials. The NIH or even a pharmaceutical company should be ready and willing to sponsor such a trial, if it is as promising as you claim. Publish the results in an actual medical journal like the New England Journal of Medicine.
If you do a Medline search on Dr. Berkson's publications, guess how many he has? Exactly one, entitled "A conservative triple antioxidant approach to the treatment of hepatitis C. Combination of alpha lipoic acid (thioctic acid), silymarin, and selenium: three case histories." THREE CASE HISTORIES? That's your miracle documentation? Please.
3. And please, if you want to be taken seriously as a man of science and not a huckster, no more f this crap: "The benefits of ALA can appear near miraculous."
Logic told me that if I had bacteria and could kill the bacteria then the pocket would reduce. My dentist said "I have never seen a 6 pocket go back to a 4". and I said to my dentist "you have never had me try before. please keep an open mind". To his credit, he did. I used tea tree oil and took co-enzyme Q10 supplements.
My next checkup was 3 months later, and the pocket was a 4. Instead of congratulating me and asking me how I was able to do this, so that maybe we could help other patients avoid gum surgery, he simply rolled his stool toward the door and went to his next patient, leaving me with the hygienist.
Do you get it? I made the dentist look foolish and therefore he could not embrace my findings!!
getridofwires, you are naive.
More importantly, why didn't you get a second opinion? If you think your doctor is full of it you should talk to another doctor.
Personally, I've been using this combination, along with several other promising life extension supplements, for many years. Who knows... maybe it's helping.
Quality is key, though, and for that one needs to have the whole diet thing, attitude, exercise, cleansing and relationships dialed in, as I often write about, such as in this post:
http://www.garmaonhealth.com/2009/10/my-approach-to-health/
Yep.
I came across information that stated it was a great mercury chelator, and that silver fillings are 50%mercury and that people that grind their teeth, like I used to, can get mercury poisoning from that. I had many, many symptoms of mercury poisoning .
That was the beginning of the end of fourteen years of chronic illness and pain. I went to the dentist, have all my amalgams (20) replaced with white fillings and started taking ALA 100mg twice a day and later on I found a 24-hour timed released ALA of 300mg, but as of today all I can stand if half a pill daily.
It hurt like hell at the beggining, but now I am almost symptom free. I am planning on going back to work in a couple of months, I am exercising daily. It could have qualified as a medical miracle if a Dr. would have come with that solution, but non of the four doctors and the dentist that I regularly saw, ever ever made a comment of fillings having mercury and mercury causing intoxication. The intoxication was pretty obvious, I had a rash that looked like I had eaten something foul.
ALA saved my life!
Scott D. Mendelson, M.D., Ph.D.
"In the case of alpha lipoic acid, your body does produce it in minute quantities, but most of it comes from your diet. Some of the best natural sources include grass-fed red meat and organ meats. "
What I'm getting at here, is that it's better to practice preventative medicine than reactive. People would find that keeping your immune system strong will lead you to better health in the long run. ALA is just the tip of the iceberg. Do your own research and find out more. That's the beauty of internet search engines.
I am so glad to see this posting about Dr. Burt Berkson. I feel fortunate to consider him my very good friend.
I just want to make two points, which I think are very important:
a) Dr. Berkson's success with ALA is primarily with INTRAVENOUS ALA. I would therefore warn people to NOT think that oral ALA will cure their liver disease. They should call Dr. Berkson's office, and consider going to him for treatment. (He is an amazing doctor.)
b) Dr. Berkson readily admits that his use of Low Dose Naltrexone resulted from learning about it from a patient, who had been treated by Dr. Bernard Bihari. Dr. Bihari is considered the pioneer of using LDN to treat autoimmune diseases.
I am writing a book about FOUR Lifesaving, Inexpensive treatments that the medical profession ignores, in favor of more toxic, more expensive, pharmaceutical-company-based treatments. Two of the treatments I am writing about are Intravenous ALA and oral LDN.
Dr. Berkson's wonderful interview in which he explains how he was introduced to LDN is here, on my site.
http://www.honestmedicine.com/2009/03/burt-berkson-md-phd-talks-with-honest-medicine-about-his-work-and-our-medical-system-the-interview-t.html
Dr. Berkson is a great man. So is Dr. Bihari.
Thanks.
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.com
Google the difference.
It leads one to wonder why the distinction is made in the article.
As W. Edwards Deming said, "In god we trust, all others will have to have data".