Lipoic acid supplements help some obese but otherwise healthy people
lose weight

Date:
August 12, 2020
Source:
Oregon State University
Summary:
A compound given as a dietary supplement to overweight but otherwise
healthy people in a clinical trial caused many of the patients to
slim down.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A compound given as a dietary supplement to overweight but otherwise
healthy people in a clinical trial caused many of the patients to slim
down, research by Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University showed.


==========================================================================
The research, published in the Journal of Nutrition, analyzed the effects
of 24 weeks of daily, 600-milligram doses of lipoic acid supplements on
31 people, with a similarly sized control group receiving a placebo.

"The data clearly showed a loss in body weight and body fat in people
taking lipoic acid supplements," said Balz Frei, director emeritus
of OSU's Linus Pauling Institute and one of the scientists on the
study. "Particularly in women and in the heaviest participants."
Produced by both plants and animals, lipoic acid sets up shop in cells' mitochondria, where it's normally attached to proteins involved in
energy and amino acid metabolism. A specialized, medium-chain fatty
acid, it's unique in having two sulfur atoms at one end of the chain,
allowing for the transfer of electrons from other sources.

The body generally produces enough lipoic acid to supply the enzymes
whose proper function requires it. When taken as a dietary supplement,
lipoic acid displays additional properties that might be unrelated to the function in the mitochondria. They include the stimulation of glucose metabolism, antioxidant defenses and anti-inflammatory responses --
making it a possible complementary treatment for people with diabetes,
heart disease and age-related cognitive decline.

"Scientists have been researching the potential health benefits of lipoic
acid supplements for decades, including how it might enhance healthy
aging and mitigate cardiovascular disease," said Alexander Michels,
another Linus Pauling Institute scientist involved with the study. "In
both rodent models and small- scale human clinical trials, researchers
at the LPI have demonstrated the beneficial effects of lipoic acid on
oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and circadian rhythm." The OSU/OHSU
project addressed two issues commonly ignored by previous human trials,
said Tory Hagen, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU
College of Science and the study's corresponding author.



========================================================================== "Many existing clinical studies using lipoic acid have focused
on volunteers with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, making
it difficult to determine if lipoic acid supplements simply act as a
disease treatment or have other beneficial health effects," said Hagen, principal investigator and Helen P.

Rumbel Professor for Healthy Aging Research at the institute. "Another
issue is the formulation of the supplement. Many previous studies
have used the S form of lipoic acid, which is a product of industrial
synthesis and not found in nature. We only used the R form of lipoic acid
-- the form found in the body naturally." Contrary to what was expected
by the researchers, decreased levels of triglycerides -- a type of fat,
or lipid, found in the blood -- were not seen in all the participants
taking lipoic acid.

"The effect of lipoic acid supplements on blood lipids was limited,"
said Gerd Bobe, another LPI scientist who collaborated on the
study. "But people who lost weight on lipoic acid also reduced their
blood triglyceride levels -- that effect was clear." Other effects of
the lipoic acid supplements were measurable as well.

"By the end of the study, some markers of inflammation declined,"
Hagen said.

"The findings also suggest that lipoic acid supplementation provides
a mild reduction in oxidative stress. It is not a perfect panacea,
but our results show that lipoic acid supplements can be beneficial." Identifying which patients will benefit the most from lipoic acid supplementation, and how much they need, is important for both clinical
and economic reasons, he added.

"Lipoic acid supplements are often quite expensive," he said. "So
understanding how we can maximize benefits with smaller amounts of the supplement is something we are interested in pursuing."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Oregon_State_University. Original
written by Steve Lundeberg. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Gerd Bobe, Alexander J Michels, Wei-Jian Zhang, Jonathan Q Purnell,
Clive
Woffendin, Cliff Pereira, Joseph A Vita, Nicholas O Thomas, Maret G
Traber, Balz Frei, Tory M Hagen. A Randomized Controlled Trial of
Long- Term (R)-a-Lipoic Acid Supplementation Promotes Weight Loss
in Overweight or Obese Adults without Altering Baseline Elevated
Plasma Triglyceride Concentrations. The Journal of Nutrition,
2020; DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxaa203 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812094902.htm

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