Alpha Lipoic Acid Will Help Against Weight Gain
Weight gain…two words that instill fear and dread in most people who hear them. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA)…three words that should instill hope and excitement; yet most people may never have heard them spoken. ALA is an antioxidant that helps control blood sugar and aids in weight loss and maintenance. Other benefits include protection against cardiovascular disease and lowering cholesterol levels. Along with a reduced calorie diet and moderate exercise, ALA has been shown to achieve greater weigh loss than with diet and exercise alone.
Alpha lipoic acid has many useful properties. It breaks down amino acid chains, activates enzymes important in energy production and is an extremely powerful antioxidant. It is this last property that makes it helpful for fat reduction, because it is the most effective antioxidant inside the mitochondria of muscle cells. What does that mean in English? The only place in your body where fat is burned is inside muscle cells, so getting sufficient ALA keeps your fat-burning engine running as efficiently as possible. Who doesn’t want to burn fat more efficiently while increasing energy levels?
Lab studies on mice show ALA’s weight-loss effect is not solely the result of reduced food intake. The ability to prevent weight gain lies in energy expenditure, and there too, ALA produced the desired result, namely, to increase it. Energy expenditure occurs primarily in muscles, where lipoic acid exerts beneficial metabolic potential by increasing glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation. Among two groups of mice, the group treated with ALA gained 40 percent less weight than the untreated mice. It promotes greater energy production by muscles and reduces the amount of glucose stored as fat.
Another unique property of ALA is its ability to increase glucose (sugar) storage in muscle tissue and not in adipose (fat) tissue. This can lead to greater performance, increased muscle activity and growth, greater support of lean body mass and a further reduction in the likelihood of fat storage. This not only benefits those looking to lose a few pounds and tone up, it can mean help with daily management of glucose levels for diabetics, reduction in cholesterol levels, and protection against cardiovascular disease. ALA should not be taken with Omega 6 as some reports have claimed it can cause hair loss.
Weight gain can be tackled when you include adjustments in diet, exercise and the utilization of the antioxidant nutrition in alpha lipoic acid. It not only aids in weight maintenance, it helps diabetics better manage their glucose levels, and it has been shown to lower cholesterol and boosts energy levels. Only a small number of side effects have been reported and include headache, tingling sensations, muscle cramps and rash; though they are rare.
Always read the instructions carefully before taking any supplements. A healthy diet is the best way of avoiding weight gain and you can find one that best suits your needs at the Top 10 Diets chart.