Category: Ingredients

lipoic acid
Lipoic acid is one of the most potent, versatile and longer-acting antioxidant vitamins known. Of all the major antioxidant vitamins only lipoic acid possesses the unique ability to work in both water-soluble and fat-soluble environments in the body. This ubiquitous property means that lipoic acid has access to all parts of our cells to neutralize damaging free radicals, which are implicated in many age-related diseases including heart disease and diabetes. Being able to navigate cellular membranes throughout the body also means that lipoic acid can also cross the blood-brain barrier to exert its protective effects against neurological and cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Bruce Ames, Ph.D., from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Ames and colleagues maintain that “oxidant by-products of normal metabolism cause extensive damage to DNA, protein, and lipid.” They argue that “this damage (the same as that produced by radiation) is a major contributor to aging and to degenerative diseases of aging such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune-system decline, brain dysfunction, and cataracts.”1
Ames BN, Shigenaga MK, Hagen TM. Oxidants, antioxidants, and the degenerative diseases of aging. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1993 Sep 1;90(17):7915-22

• Cumulative damage inflicted by free radical reactions in the body’s mitochondria can have numerous age-related effects by increasing oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage.
• Mitochondrial damage is a major contributor to aging and to degenerative diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, immune system decline, and brain dysfunction.
• One of the secrets to slowing down aging is to aggressively combat this oxidative damage with long-acting antioxidants.
• Lipoic acid is the most versatile and powerful antioxidant in the entire antioxidant defense network. Studies show that lipoic acid in combination with acetyl-L-carnitine can reverse mitochondrial decay and restore mitochondrial function to youthful levels.
• Some of the most impressive research on lipoic acid involves its role in fighting type 2 diabetes. Numerous studies have shown that lipoic acid improves glucose tolerance as well as the peripheral nerve complications associated with full-blown diabetes.
• Lipoic acid has a wide range of other health benefits, including preventing and treating atherosclerotic vascular diseases, helping to slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, and having possible anticancer effects.
• As the amount of lipoic acid produced by the body decreases with aging, supplementation may be necessary to maintain adequate levels.
• A dramatic new study has unveiled an advanced new formulation of lipoic acid called sodium-R-lipoic acid, which is more potent and stable than pure R-lipoic acid. Sodium-R-lipoic acid is the next-generation lipoic acid, which reaches higher plasma levels of lipoic acid sooner than pure R-lipoic acid.

Lipoic acid is considered to be a crucial anti-oxidant for a variety of mitochondrial reactions. Animal studies have shown that antioxidants such as lipoic acid can neutralize the excess production of free radicals within the mitochondria2-5 and reverse some of the mitochondrial decay caused by oxidative damage.3
Natl Acad Sci USA. 2002 Feb 19;99(4):2356-61.
Diabetes Care. 2003 May;26(5):1589-96
FASEB J. 1999 Feb;13(2):411-8
Lipoic acid has also been investigated as an anticancer therapy,35 because of its ability to preferentially induce apoptosis36 and inhibit cancer cell proliferation.37 In one amazing case study, the authors describe the long-term survival of a patient with pancreatic cancer without any toxic adverse effects
Neoplasma. 2008;55(2):81-6.
Apoptosis. 2007 Jan;12(1):113-23.
In addition to its disease-protective benefits, lipoic acid can also help fight the ‘cosmetic’ ravages of aging
alpha-lipoic acid related to photoaging of facial skin. Br J Dermatol. Oct 2003;149 (4):841-9.

Your heart is one of the hardest-working organs in your body; it literally never takes a rest. Beat after beat, hour after hour, day after day, for your entire life, your heart contracts and relaxes a little more than once per second, providing the blood flow that every other organ in your body relies on.

That much effort requires a steady supply of energy. And to perform at optimal function—literally without missing a beat—your heart needs to be able to derive that energy from its fuel (primarily fatty acids and glucose) efficiently and with little waste.4-6

Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2003 Fall;33(4):371-95.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009 Oct 27;54(18):1660-73.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jun;82(12):4240-4.

CoQ10 is essential for the heart to maintain sufficient energy management.1,8 But when CoQ10 levels decline, tissues burn fuel inefficiently, eventually producing oxidative damage and ultimately losing their function. When the heart muscle loses its fuel efficiency, heart failure may occur.4,9

European Journal of Heart Failure. 2013;15(S1):S20.
Mol Aspects Med. 1994;15 Suppl:s287-94.

There are many primary causes of heart failure.9,43 The most common include coronary artery disease and high blood pressure but can also include heart attacks, obesity, and diabetes, all of which place excessive demands on the heart muscle, making it work harder and harder just to produce enough blood flow to sustain life at rest. That extra demand for energy uses up CoQ10, resulting in a loss of fuel efficiency precisely when the heart needs every bit of energy it can generate.9

Int J Tissue React. 1990;12(3):155-62.
http://umm.edu/programs/heart/services/conditions/heart-failure/causes-and-risks. Accessed June 28, 2013.

Chronic oxidative stress is one of the main factors reducing the functioning of the endothelium, the thin layer of cells lining arteries that controls blood flow and pressure.21 Endothelial dysfunction is a major precursor to hypertension, coronary heart disease, and strokes. Since CoQ10 is a unique antioxidant, it makes sense that it would have beneficial effects on endothelial function.

Med Sci Monit. 2013;19:339-46.

Your brain receives the largest proportion of total blood flow from your heart; as a result, it has some of the most volatile fluctuations in bioenergetic demands.54 Because of this, CoQ10 is of tremendous importance in maintaining brain health and preventing neuronal damage.

CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2013 Apr 4.

CoQ10 is well known for its heart and vascular health benefits.2 By helping the cellular powerhouses known as mitochondria burn fuel more effectively, CoQ10 is able to protect not only the heart but every cell in your body.3

That’s why scientists are growing increasingly fascinated with the role of CoQ10 in tissues beyond the cardiovascular system.2 There is evidence for CoQ10’s protective effects in the brain and nervous system, in asthma and chronic lung disease, in diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, on ocular health, and even on the aging immune system.

Exp Gerontol. 2004 Feb;39(2):189-94.
Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2010 Apr;19(4):535-54.

Mitochondrial dysfunction from chronic oxidation and the resulting chronic inflammation are a root cause of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).6,14-18

J Bioenerg Biomembr. 2004 Aug;36(4):381-6.
Curr Med Chem. 2011;18(26):4053-64.

Eventually, brain cells overwhelmed by amyloid β-peptide lose their function and die, producing the loss of memory, cognition, and physical function we associate with the disease.

J Alzheimers Dis. 2008 Jun;14(2):225-34.

• Your mitochondria need to burn fuel cleanly and efficiently to assure their own integrity and your own longevity.
• CoQ10 is an essential coenzyme that, when added to the diet, acts as a fuel additive to optimize mitochondrial performance, extracting the most energy with the least damage.