Archive for July 7th, 2009

Can Alpha Lipoic Acid Regulate Blood Sugar?

We all know that regulating our blood sugar levels is key to maintaining a healthy weight, and also to maintaining a healthy heart and other healthy organs, but it is also key in losing weight because our blood sugar levels are a HUGE contributing factor to our appetites. If your blood sugar wildly fluctuates throughout the day, you will notice that your appetite seems almost totally out of control at times, which just means your body thinks it needs more fuel in the form of food, in order to keep normally functioning and also to keep the body alert and able to perform physical activities.

When your blood sugar plummets, you experience ravenous hunger, and the foods you eat and the combination you eat them in contributes greatly to whether your blood sugar stays at a stable level all day. For instance, I guarantee that if you eat a breakfast loaded with simple carbs and sugars, you will feel on the verge of passing out within a few hours, because the sugary breakfast caused a huge surge in blood sugar immediately that was not sustainable due to high sugar and low protein. What follows is a “crash” in the blood sugar levels that makes you feel lethargic, moody and unable to focus – oh, and very hungry!

So, to avoid these crashes, many people believe that taking the antioxidant supplement alpha lipoic acid with every meal helps their body to correctly regulate it’s blood sugar levels for hours after a meal. Many people even believe that it can virtually “cure” diabetes when it is taken properly and conistently. It is not totally clear why it might do this, but for some reason taking the supplement is thought to slow down the absorption of simple sugars and carbohydrates into the blood stream, creating more of a stability that lasts a lot longer than it would without the supplement of alpha lipoic acid.

Alhough alpha lipoic acid is primarily used and known as an antioxidant supplement, it has shown benefits to many people who are hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic by bringing their blood sugar into normal ranges, especially when consumed with each meal. It is thought to even help regulate blood sugar when a huge “no no” meal is consumed, like a large stack of pancakes drowned in maple syrup in the morning. For this reason, it’s really a form of natural appetite suppressant if you think about it, since blood sugar spikes and falls result in huge appetite gains.

One of it’s side effects in excess doses is actually known as being low blood sugar, but when taken properly, many people report that it helps greatly with the regulation of their blood sugar. Some have even taken readings after meals with and without the alpha lipoic acid and have consistently gotten better, more stable readings when they take their meals with the supplement, so it’s worth googling if you think you may have blood sugar issues.