Hi Dr. Pickart,

I saw that you recommended that we take the "regular" form of ALA in a previous thread
(https://healthyskin.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9940055903/m/5080024063/p/1)
but I wanted to make sure I understood correctly -- do you think it's best to take the most commonly available racemic ALA?

I was about to order some Na-RALA, because I've read some worrisome things about the effects of the S-enantiomer, and that unstabilized R-ALA will polymerize and not be absorbed...but of course, most of my info has come from the patent-holder of Na-RALA, so I'm not really sure what to believe.

Do you think that Na-RALA lives up to the hype, or should I go with the cheap and easily available R,S ALA? Thanks in advance for your advice!

The scientific studies were done on regular ALA.

Beyond that is almost pure hype. Superantioxidants can cause problems.

Stick to what our systems have used for 100s of millions of years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Skin Biology,

Thanks for your quick response, Dr. P!

I definitely share your philosophy about sticking to what our bodies naturally use...which is why I was concerned about the form of ALA, because only the R-enantiomer is synthesized in nature. According to this article (by the patent-holder of RLA salts), the existence of racemic ALA "is due solely to achiral manufacturing processes," and because the racemate is stable, whereas RLA is not.

OTOH, you make an excellent point that pretty much every study done on ALA has used the racemate...and there's definitely a net benefit. Although there's not not a smidgen of evidence that the S-enantiomer is harmful, there is some evidence that it interferes with RLA as a competitive inhibitor. That's why I was wondering if you preferred something like NaRALA over plain old (but tried-and-true) racemic ALA.

There's a pretty significant price difference, so after learning that you take regular ALA, I'm definitely leaning toward racemic ALA over NaRALA. Thanks for your advice.

I think Lester Packer and others used the older racemic form of ALA in their studies that found its positive and anti-aging actions. Look at the first paragraph of page 344 of the paper.

So, it may depend more on the cost. If you take more of the regular racemic ALA product or use the newer product and use less.

One should keep in mind that this is a blood levels study and not an anti-aging study