Best Stabilized R-Lipoic Acid

R-Lipoic Acid is chemically considered to be a weak acid. A principle of pharmacology is that salts of weak acids have a much higher solubility in water than the weak acid alone.1 By taking the potassium salt of RLA, it's solubility is increased and it has an improved dissolution in the body. This is the principle upon which K-RALA was founded.

Pure RLA is a very unstable molecule that has a tendency to polymerize with exposure to heat, light and moisture. RLA is also hygroscopic, or water-seeking. This presents problems for those wishing to supplement with RLA. Any of these conditions can lead to deactivation of the beneficial activity. K-RALA R-Lipoic acid is known to be more stable, more soluble and less likely to polymerize than pure RLA.

Effects of Lipoic Acid
Lipoic acid (LA) is a sulfur-containing fatty acid that performs vitamin-like roles in the body. Also known as "thioctic acid," LA functions, in a similar way to B complex vitamins, as a co-enzyme in the metabolism of carbohydrates that produces energy inside cells for the body's metabolic needs. LA is required for synthesis of "acetyl CoA," a key metabolite in the cellular process that turns glucose (blood sugar) into energy. Because the body produces LA on its own, it is not classified as a true vitamin. As with other so-called "non-essential" nutrients, however, internal LA production may not always be optimal. Lipoic acid functions as both a water-soluble and fat-soluble antioxidant. LA's ability to act upon free radicals in both a watery and fatty environment makes it a highly versatile antioxidant. In the body, alpha-lipoic acid can be converted (reduced) to DHLA, or dihydrolipoic acid. Together, these two forms of LA make up a "redox couple," which means that each form can chemically change into the other and back again. DHLA also functions as an antioxidant.

Lipoic Acid is often referred to as the "universal antioxidant" for a number of reasons. This substance has a broad range of antioxidant activity that makes it ideally suited as a potent free radical scavenger. An ideal antioxidant would have the ability to quench a wide variety of free radicals, to support the functioning of other antioxidants, to function in watery and fatty environments, and to be present in tissues, cells and extracellular spaces. Lipoic Acid exceeds these criteria and can thus be considered one of the most potent antioxidants available.