R-ALA vs. ALA revisited

[Skye]

Everyone knows that ALA is a chiral molecule. And that the R version is supposed to be far better. What is not always clear is whether the greater cost for the R-ALA is worth it. Lots of opinions and tons of studies on this old topic so I wanted to see what the general consensus was now and want your opinions was on my particular situation.

Being diabetic I take ALA regularly, recently I tried 300mg 4 times a day. Worked well but it has become a pain in the ass with my new schedule. So I was looking at trying 600mg twice a day. Then I thought about taking a look at R-ALA again. The price has come down and it is supposed to work better, anywhere from 2 to 12 times with a somewhat general consensus of about 3 times as effective as the ALA. So that comes to 200mg twice a day to maintain the same effectiveness as the ALA, supposedly.

Here are the price breaks; I can get ALA 600mg capsules for 22 cents a gram. That would be 66 cents in “R-ALA terms”. R-ALA 200mg capsules can be had for $1.44 a gram. That is 2.18 times as much as the ALA for the same effective dose.

As for the cost it really isn’t a big issue, I will spend money for a better product provided that there is a clear benefit to doing so. But on the other hand I am a cheap bastard by nature and hate to waste money regardless of circumstances. (I have driven across town to buy shallots just because I wasn’t going to pay the equivalence of 7 dollars a pound vs. 3 even for a half pound.)

So the question here is there a clear benefit to using R-ALA that justifies the cost?

 

[Rodja]

I know they are slightly different, but I have had great results with KR-ALA as opposed to just ALA. I tried ALA at 1200mg/day and did not see the results I got from 600mg of KR-ALA.

 

[jjohn]

Yeah, r-ala is supposed to be a lot more effective. I have tried ALA and really saw veins popping. I saw stick with what works. Glucophase did not do much for me, so I guess I would go for the least expensive first, and see...

 

[theshocker21]

Its worth it. Have you checked prices on R-ALA by Primaforce?

 

[Skye]

thanks for the replies, I think I am going to try the KR-ALA as I have a lot of pos responses.

 

[jmh80]

Skye - try the Na-R-ALA.
Custom has it.

I love it's solubility. That was my major beef with K-R-ALA.

I don't think ALA is "one for one" on a milligram basis with R-ALA.

 

[machinehead]

The S isomer of ALA actually cancels the benefits of the R isomer so you are much better of with R-ALA [or K-R-ALA or Na-R-ALA]. At least that's what Poliquin claims.

 

[Skye]

Thanks

 

[Robboe]

Seems like a done topic, but just fyi really, the S(-) enantiomer doesn't exist in nature. It is a byproduct of the chemical synthesis for the R(+) enantiomer, leading to racemic ALA (a 50:50 blend of each). A lot of the older research into r-ALA smply referred to the compound as "ALA" because at the time they were not aware of the synthetic byproduct.

Why the S(-) does seem to give stability to the R(+) in this state, there does appear to be some antagonising effects between the two, so the r-ALA route is best to go in my opinion, preferably bonded to a stabilising element (the sodium-RALA looks good but my only experience in this regard is with the potassium-RALA in glucophase xr).

 

[jmh80]

El Roberto,
Y'all gonna reformulate with Na-R-ALA???

 

[Robboe]

Dunno. I'm not entirely convinced it'd be worth it. Stellar results are had with KR-ALA.

The Na-RALA just seems like it yields more R-ALA but costs a little more (probably balancing out in the end). I'm not sold on it being anymore than that.