Have you ever wondered why certain foods like Brussels sprouts, broccoli and spinach are so healthy for you? Yes, they are packed with fiber, nutrients and the minerals your body needs, but they are exceptionally high in the antioxidant alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
Chances are you have heard a lot lately about antioxidants and their ability to fight disease through lowering inflammation, which is linked to cancer, heart disease, depression, cognitive decline, diabetes and just about every illness you can think of! I find in my profession that I’m fighting inflammation more than anything as symptomatic as obesity, heart disease, cancer or anything else. Just fight inflammation and you’ll take care of all its cronies while you’re at it. There’s also a really good chance that you have never heard of ALA and its incredible ability to promote natural healing in your body.
ALA is the antioxidant found in plant foods that your body uses to enhance aerobic metabolism: the process of generating energy from the foods you eat, specifically carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Knowing this, one can claim that ALA is the key nutrient you need to be able to generate energy, burn fat, fight illness and prevent aging. It’s a bold statement, but it’s true!
Mechanism Behind Alpha Lipoic Acid
Once in the human body, ALA supports at least 5 different enzymes, making it a co-factor (a substance whose presence is essential for normal enzyme function). The majority of these enzymes are in the citric acid cycle, which turns the foods you eat into glucose and then glucose into energy.
Alpha Lipoic Acids Role In Sugar-Related Diseases:
Because ALA is responsible for assisting the enzymes involved in Glucose to Energy conversion within your body, ALA deficiency can lead to a decrease in energy production and an increase in blood glucose concentration which makes it a key regulator in “sugar related diseases.”
Increased levels of blood glucose relate to more than just diabetes. We now know that elevated levels of blood glucose are directly involved in the production of the following disease processes:
- Metabolic Syndrome / Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Obesity (and its many related diseases)
- Tooth and Gum Disease
- Non-Alcholoic Fatty Liver Disease
What Does The Research Say About Alpha Lipoic Acid?
Both clinical and peer reviewed journals discuss the many benefits of ALA for your health. It’s surprising to me that with all this information freely available online, most people have never heard of ALA, yet alone its impact on every area of your health. It probably just doesn’t have the marketing dollars things like calcium (dairy industry) and fiber (the many grain-supported industries) have!
Nevertheless, ALA offers the following health benefits:
- Reduces oxidative stress in the body via powerful antioxidant activity
- Improves several components of the metabolic syndrome—a combination of risk factors that increases one’s risk for diabetes
- Reduces blood pressure
- Reduces insulin resistance
- Improve your lipid profile
- Reduces weight
- Increases insulin sensitivity
- Improves diabetic neuropathy
- Protects against cataract formation
- Improves visual function in glaucoma
- Helps prevent retinal cell death when combined with vitamin E in retinitis pigmentosa
- Neuroprotection: Reduces brain damage after a stroke
- Prevents bone loss, possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect
- Heavy Metal Chelation: Removes toxic metals from the body
- Reduces frequency and intensity of migraines
- Improves skin texture
The amount of ALA produced internally by your body decreases naturally with age, which could set the stage for the majority of “age related disease” due to a decrease in all the above functions. This is why supplementation and seeing naturally occurring outside sources of ALA is essential for healthy longevity. But here’s a list of foods that can help keep your ALA levels up–and most of them are pretty delicious as well!
- Flaxseeds and flaxseed oil
- Pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil
- Perilla seed oil
- Tofu
- Walnuts and walnut oil
- Broccoli
- Green beans
- Brussels Sprouts
- Spinach
The good news about all of these foods is that eating them also gets you all sorts of other essential micro-nutrients. Green food is generally the best food. Just include one of them in one of your meals everyday and you’ll find that getting your necessary share of ALA is a breeze. You’ll notice the difference in a matter of weeks.