Kirkman’s Alpha Lipoic Acid is a powerful and versatile antioxidant that helps protect the body against free radical damage and, as a result, is a protector of many types of cells and tissues.  It also helps increase glutathione production, which helps in detoxification processes in the body.

This product is Kirkman’s only flavored, non-hypoallergenic alpha lipoic acid product.  Its menthol flavor can help suppress the burning sensation that lipoic acid often elicits.

Alpha lipoic acid is a disulfide compound also known as thioctic acid.  Lipoic Acid is a unique antioxidant in that it is both fat- and water-soluble.  Other well-known antioxidants can only function within their soluble media, such as vitamin E in fatty membranes of cells and vitamin C in watery portions of cells.  Because of its dual solubility, lipoic acid can function in both fatty and aqueous phases of the cell.  This is significant and makes lipoic acid a complete antioxidant capable of defending against a wide variety of invading free radicals.

Alpha lipoic acid has both sulfur atoms and carboxyl groups in its chemical structure, making it a very reactive compound.  Alpha lipoic acid is converted into the reduced form, dihydrolipoic acid, inside of cells, and dihydrolipoic acid possesses two sulfhydryl groups.

Alpha lipoic acid is found naturally in foods such as spinach, broccoli, tomato, liver, heart and animal muscle tissue.  Its bioavailability from food may be limited, however, because it is bound to a protein called "lipoyllysine.”  Preliminary research suggests that the lipoic acid found in supplements may be more biologically active than lipoic acid bound to this protein in food.  Kirkman’s Alpha Lipoic Acid capsules can be swallowed or the contents of the capsules mixed in food or beverages.

It is important to use a high quality lipoic acid to get the desired effects.  There is a lot of poor quality product available in the United States, which may not be pure or fully potent, so it is important to trust your supplier of lipoic acid to deliver high product quality.  Kirkman® uses only the highest quality lipoic acid available.