Marc Joseph Nutrition - Blog

At the recent “Diet and Optimum Health” conference sponsored by the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) at Oregon State University, scientists presented research discussing some of the underlying mechanisms behind lipoic acid’s many beneficial effects.

“The evidence suggests that lipoic acid is actually a low-level stressor that turns on the basic cellular defenses of the body, including some of those that naturally decline with age,” said Tory Hagen, an LPI researcher and associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at OSU. “In particular, it tends to restore levels of glutathione, a protective antioxidant and detoxification compound, to those of a young animal. It also acts as a strong anti-inflammatory agent, which is relevant to many degenerative diseases.” …

… “Our studies have shown that mice supplemented with lipoic acid have a cognitive ability, behavior, and genetic expression of almost 100 detoxification and antioxidant genes that are comparable to that of young animals,” Hagen said. “They aren’t just living longer, they are living better — and that’s the goal we’re after.”

Sound promising? Sure.

But there are a few things you should know about lipoic acid before running out and buying it. In fact, without a proper dosing protocol, some people may want to avoid supplementing with it entirely.

What is Lipoic Acid

Lipoic acid is a compound that contains two sulfur, or thiol, groups. The oxidized form is referred to as lipoic acid (LA), while the reduced form is called dihydrolipoic acid (DHPLA).

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In a recent study (free full text) published in the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers found that children exposed to tobacco smoke while their mothers were pregnant and who were born to mothers who had high blood lead levels, were 2.5 and 4.1 times, respectively, as likely to develop ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

If these factors are indeed causally linked to ADHD, they may account for as many as 270,000 (tobacco) and 290,000 (lead) excess cases of ADHD in U.S. children.

Tobacco exposure is straightforward to reduce — don’t smoke and avoid being exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke.

Tips for reducing lead exposure include:

• Drink filtered water.
• Have your home or apartment tested for lead if it was built prior to 1978 (the year lead paint was banned for consumer use).
• Avoid remodeling or renovation of a residence where lead paint may have been used during the period of time before, during, after pregnancy.
• Only have such renovations done professionally, with proper safety precautions and cleanup, and if you have an alternate place to stay while they are being done.
• Follow a healthy diet with adequate calcium and iron, which will help to reduce the absorption of lead.

Other suggestions for reducing lead exposure are here.

If you suspect that you may have been exposed to lead and are concerned about the effects it may have on a planned/current child or yourself, there are approaches that one can take to safely reduce the body burden.

And for those individuals affected by ADD/ADHD, there are also nutritional and other steps that can be taken to reduce symptoms.

It’s a true tragedy that better warnings and precautions weren’t provided by city and government agencies to the more than 40,000 police, firefighters, and other people who worked on cleaning up the debris at Ground Zero.

In fact, agencies assured people living and working in the surrounding area that there was nothing to worry about:

Literally before the dust had cleared, the administration of New York’s then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani assured a terrified city that the air was safe. On September 16, the city’s health department issued a public statement declaring that “the general public’s risk for any short or long term adverse health [effects is] extremely low.” The same day, EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman volunteered her own bill of clean health: “There’s no need for the general public to be concerned.”

Of course, we now know that wasn’t true. Even a federal judge has concluded Whitman’s statements were “deliberate,” “misleading,” and even “conscience shocking.”

Now the effects of those decisions are being felt:

Today, increasing numbers of emergency service workers are reporting breathing and digestive problems and rashes, and their incidence of cancer is higher than normal. At least one death, that of Detective James Zadroga in January, from heart and lung complications, has been linked by a medical examiner to work at Ground Zero; six other responders in their 30’s and 40’s have died from causes like heart failure and lung cancer…

…A study of more than 12,000 firemen and emergency medical workers at the site, recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that on average they had a reduction in lung function equivalent to what would be caused by 12 years of aging.

Fortunately, the health of some people is improving with the help of heavy metal detoxification:

Doctors and other health practitioners at the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center, in downtown New York…, have detected heavy-metal poisoning in many of the Ground Zero workers they have seen. They have given these workers detoxification treatments — including chelation for many patients. Chelation, a treatment often used on children exposed to lead paint, involves giving the patient a sulfur compound that draws heavy metals from the tissues.

These practitioners have found that after three to four months of detoxification therapy, the afflicted Ground Zero workers see most of their symptoms diminish or disappear.

You can learn more about heavy metal toxicity and treatment here.