Lipoic acid, or alpha lipoic acid, helps to turn glucose or sugar from the food you eat, into energy. Research suggests that lipoic acid may be helpful in a variety of conditions such as diabetes, liver disease, stroke, Huntington's disease and cancer. There are a variety of sources of lipoic acid including your own body.
Your Body
Healthy individuals make enough lipoic acid within their cells to perform basic functions without the addition of lipoic acid from dietary sources and/or supplements. However, when there are excess amounts of lipoic acid in the body, either from food or supplements, it can function as an antioxidant, which cleans up toxins in the body.
Meat
Dietary sources of lipoic acid include red meat and organ meats such as liver. However, according to the Linus Pauling Institute, studies show consumption of lipoic acid in food does not usually result in detectable increases in lipoic acid within the blood or cells.
Vegetables
A variety of common vegetables contain lipoic acid as well. These vegetables include carrots, broccoli, beets, yams and potatoes). Yeast, and particularly Brewer's yeast, also contains lipoic acid.
Supplements
You can take lipoic acid supplements in capsule form or via injection by a doctor. There is no recommended dietary intake by the FDA as healthy individuals generally produce enough lipoic acid within their bodies. However, the University of Maryland Medical Center recommends 20 to 50 mg per day to boost lipoic acid's general antioxidant abilities and 800 mg per day in divided doses to help those with diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.
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