Speaking of Women's Health
The Speaking of Women's Health Podcast is excited to bring you credible women's health information from host and Executive Director, Dr. Holly L. Thacker. Dr. Thacker will interview guest clinicians discussing relevant women's health topics and the latest news and tips.
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Speaking of Women's Health
ALA - The Antioxidant That Multitasks Hard
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Alpha-lipoic acid gets a lot of buzz, but what does it actually do for your body—and when is it worth taking?
Speaking of Women's Health Podcast Host Dr. Holly L. Thacker takes a clear approach to explain how this unique antioxidant supports energy production, helps your cells handle carbohydrates, and may assist with blood sugar control and nerve comfort in people managing type 2 diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. She talks through the science in plain language, then connects it to daily life so you can make informed choices that fit your health goals.
Dr. Thacker also zooms out to the bigger picture: how to pair ALA with methylated B vitamins for nerve health and why skin benefits show up when you combine antioxidants with vitamin C, vitamin A–rich foods, protein, and good routines.
From organ meats and beets to spinach, broccoli, potatoes, and brewer’s yeast, Dr. Thacker highlights practical ALA food sources while calling out the pitfalls of ultra-processed products loaded with additives.
Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Holly Thacker, and I am back in the Sunflower House to talk about an interesting topic. Alpha Lapoic Acid, right? You've been dying to hear about this. Well, it's really been gaining a lot of attention in both the wellness and the medical communities. ALA stands for alpha lipoic acid. So whether you've heard it in passing or maybe seen a bottle, a supplement of it, we're going to talk about the health benefits and break it down in a way that's easy for you to understand and relevant to your health journey. So what exactly is ALA? Alpha lipoic acid? Well, it is a naturally occurring compound, and your body can make it in small amounts. So since your body can make it, it's not a vitamin. It's also found in foods. And you can take it as a supplement, too. Sometimes I do recommend it in supplement form, and we'll talk about that as well. What's interesting and makes ALA special is that it's a very powerful antioxidant. So it helps protect your cells from damage. It also plays a key role in energy production, and we all need adequate energy. It does help your body break down carbohydrates and convert them into fuel. And we talked about the important role that chromium had in metabolism, boosting energy, and in maintaining appropriate blood sugar levels. So you can think of ALA alpha-lipoic acid as a multitasker, which a lot of women are multitaskers. It supports your metabolism, protects your cells, and it helps with a wide range of health concerns. So the benefits of alpha lipoic acid, uh, we've got research that suggests that ALA might reduce oxidative stress, which is linked to aging and chronic disease. And we have several podcasts focusing on anti-aging and dealing with chronic medical conditions. ALA supports blood sugar control, especially in those people with diabetes. And it may actually ease nerve pain in those with diabetic neuropathy. So if you have type 2 diabetes and your sugar has been up, especially if you've got any kind of peripheral neuropathy, you may want to talk to your physician or diabetologist or blood sugar team about whether you should be taking ALA and in what dose, as well as making sure you know your B12 level and that perhaps you're on methylated vitamins. In fact, there is a prescription vitamin Metanex that's specifically formulated for diabetic uh neuropathy, but it's primarily the methylated B vitamins and doesn't include alpha lipoic acid. So those are two supplements, ALA and methylated B complex vitamins, uh, that I'm take usually some time uh to talk to patients who have peripheral nerve damage. And we are going to actually have a podcast coming up all about peripheral neuropathy. Now, ALA may lower total cholesterol, and a lot of people are kind of obsessively focused on their cholesterol level, but really it's what your triglyceride level is, your ratios, how good your HDL is, uh, as well as taking into a range of account many, many things. So cholesterol is one of many components that factors in to cardiovascular risk. And certainly cholesterol is needed as a basic substrate for cell membranes and hormones. Now, ALA may improve skin texture and appearance. Okay, and we know we women care about this very much. Uh, some of the podcasts I've done with the skincare aestheticians, cosmetic dermatologists uh are extremely popular. So it's important to not uh overlook the basics, whether you're getting vitamin C in your diet, which helps collagen production, and we're going to talk about collagen and collagen supplements. That's a popular question that I get a lot. Whether you're eating vitamin A rich foods, and it's best to get vitamin A in your diet with orange and red fruits and vegetables because you can overdose on vitamin A, but vitamin A helps to give your skin a nice glow. And alpha loboic acid does help with your skin texture and appearance. And ALA may actually support weight loss efforts in people that have elevated body mass index with too much visceral fat. So the body mass index isn't everything. Some people with a lot of muscle and dense bones can have a higher BMI, just like some people can have a normal BMI and be skinny fat because they don't have very much muscle or good uh bone density and they have too much visceral fat. So it's really, again, a comprehensive approach that your team should look at. So these benefits all sound, of course, very promising, but it is important to remember that ALA is not a magic bullet. It's just a piece of the puzzle in a broad, comprehensive, holistic approach to your health. So now that you know about ALA and some of its potential benefits, you might ask, where do I find it? How do I ingest it? Well, you can get ALA from foods, though the amounts are relatively small. But some of the rich ALA foods include organ meat like liver. Oh, unfortunately, that's one of the few healthy foods I don't like. It was served to me as a child because it's so rich in iron. And so I've always envied those people who um have a taste for liver or pate, because it is so rich in nutrients, because it's from the animal's liver. But thankfully, there's other foods that have ALA, like carrots, which also have vitamin A, beets. In fact, red beets uh and red beet powder, which is in a lot of pre-workouts, actually boost nitric oxide, spinach, uh, and then broccoli. And broccoli has so many nutrients, it has DIM, which helps inhibit uh HPV. Uh, so that's kind of a superfood. Potatoes, also brewers yeast, which is very nutritional. So your mother was right, eat your veggies. So, in terms of supplements and usage, um, ALA is also available as a supplement. It's typically in a capsule form, sometimes actually in creams uh combined with other ingredients for skin health. Uh, and it can even be administered intravenously, but that's only under medical physician supervision. And um, as I mentioned, our bodies can produce ALA, so it's not something you absolutely have to ingest like a vitamin. But individuals with certain health conditions like type 2 diabetes tend to have lower levels, and so that is a group worth considering. Um, if you're a physician or a healthcare clinician, or if you, the patient yourself uh has diabetes. For the most part, ALA supplements are considered safe. However, anytime you put something in your mouth, there's a risk. And things that are not foods or drugs are not regulated, and that's why I always ask my patients to bring in their bottles so I can look at the expiration number, the lot number, which kind of implies a certain level of quality uh control, as well as looks at the dose as well as what else is in it, because um a lot of these supplements seem to be pushed a lot by social media influencers and online health gurus and people trying to sell you things. So I always tell my my my patients uh and my listeners, I'm not trying to sell you anything. This is a nonprofit. Um, I'm a salaried uh physician at the clinic, and so when I make health recommendations, um it's with an eye towards your health. It won't doesn't matter to my um income whether you're gonna take something or not, or buy a supplement or not, or start a medication or not. And that's not always the case uh in the health arena. And I think that our food supply um has not really been the healthiest. I know that there are some efforts to improve it and to take out some of the artificial colors and dyes and uh ingredients uh that are banned in other countries. Uh, and in the fall of 2024, I did a podcast on food freedom and what foods are banned in other countries because uh they're not so good um for your health, and and they are um many times available in our food supply here in the United States. And again, there's efforts to improve this, but a lot of processed foods, pre-packaged foods, foods that have really long shelf half-lifes, foods that are things that you buy that have like 220 ingredients that you can't even pronounce what they are, uh, that's a really pretty good tip-off. It's something you should be avoiding. So if you are going to take an ALA supplement for a specific reason, and you've talked to your healthcare team about it, it's generally considered safe, but there are some potential side effects. So some of the more common ones include nausea, headache, heartburn. If you didn't hear my podcast I did on heartburn, that's a good one to go back to listen to, headache, uh, and even rarely low blood sugar, and a rash with the topical creams. And because ALA can interact with certain medicines, it's always best to obviously bring in those supplements, check with your healthcare team before starting any new supplements. So that's kind of a quick but uh thorough look at ALA. It's a fascinating compound with a lot of potential, especially when used thoughtfully and under medical guidance, just like really any of your supplements. So thank you so much for joining us uh on today's discussion on ALA. Uh, please be sure to subscribe on Apple, iTunes, Podcasts, Spotify, tune in, wherever you listen, and it's free. You can share it uh with your to your friends and family, and it helps uh to keep bringing you smart, empowering content every week. Until next time, we'll see you in the Sunflower House. Remember, be strong, be healthy, and be in charge.
