Roll Call

“Alpha-Lipoic Acid?”Here!ALA

Synthetic

Hasn’t appeared in a scanned product yet.

As a supplement

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Roll Call does not check drug interactions or assess personal safety.

Alpha-lipoic acid is a compound made naturally in small amounts by the body and found in foods like organ meats, spinach, and broccoli. It functions as a cofactor for certain energy-producing enzymes and has antioxidant properties.

Why it’s used

Taken by some to support nerve-related symptoms associated with diabetes and for general antioxidant support.

What the evidence is for

symptom relief in diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

What the evidence says

A 2024 Cochrane systematic review (3 RCTs, 816 participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, oral alpha-lipoic acid, treatment duration 6 to 48 months) found that ALA probably has little or no effect on neuropathy symptoms (Total Symptom Score) compared with placebo at six months, based on moderate-certainty evidence from the largest trial. It also found ALA may have little or no effect on neuropathy impairment (NIS-LL), with low-certainty evidence, and no studies reported on quality of life or diabetic neuropathy complications. The cited document does not support a clinical symptom-relief benefit; it reports a largely null clinical outcome in a well-conducted but high-attrition-risk body of trials.

Dose studied

600–1800 mg — oral doses studied in diabetic neuropathy trials.

Context

Trials in diabetic neuropathy have most often used oral doses in the range of about 600 to 1,800 mg per day for several weeks to months, with intravenous administration used in some of the original European trials.

Rumors

  1. Symptom relief in diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

    The source we cited doesn't answer this one.

    What was measured is not yet noted.