Additionally, once in the body, one of ALA's constituents supports the reactivation of vitamin C and Vitamin E from their oxidized forms. In a sense, this process "recycles" C and E for our additional use and benefit. Alpha Lipoic Acid is one of the most important, yet least known nutrients in the antioxidant family.

One of the leading free radical researchers in the world is Lester Packer, M.D., Ph.D., who leads the Membrane Bioenergetics Group and Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Packer's review article entitled "Alpha-Lipoic Acid as a Biological Antioxidant" published in the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine presented a compelling case for the "universal" antioxidant properties of alpha lipoic acid.

Packer writes that, "Alpha lipoic acid is readily absorbed from the diet. It is rapidly converted to DHLA (dihydrolipoic acid) in many tissues, as recent advances in assay technique have made evident... Both DHLA and alpha lipoic acid have metal chelating activity. DHLA acts syngeristically with other antioxidants, including that it is capable of regenerating other antioxidants from their radical or inactive forms."

"It appears that alpha lipoic acid and DHLA act as antioxidants not only directly, through radical quenching and metal chelation, but indirectly as well, through recycling of other antioxidants and through the induction of increased intracellular levels of glutathione."

(Packer, L., Tritschler, HJ., Wessel, K. "Neuroprotection by the metabolic antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid." Free Radic Biol Med. 1997;22(1-2):359-78.)