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Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA)
A compound that works inside your mitochondria as a cofactor for several enzymes, and one where every claim put to EFSA was turned down, blood glucose and insulin sensitivity included. It sits in one formula, at 200 mg, on trial work rather than on a claim, and we do not attribute an effect to it.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
No authorised claim. EFSA turned down every one.
There is no health claim for alpha-lipoic acid on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. EFSA assessed the claims put forward for it, covering protection of lipids from oxidation, cholesterol, blood glucose, insulin sensitivity and the nervous system, and rejected all of them (EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1474 and 2011;9(6):2202). None of them made it into Regulation 432/2012.There is no health claim for alpha-lipoic acid on the EU register. EFSA assessed the ones put forward for it and rejected every one, so there is nothing for us to quote.
You will read that alpha-lipoic acid lowers blood sugar, improves insulin sensitivity or protects your nerves. Those are exactly the areas where EFSA said no. In Glucose & metabolism, the blood glucose claim comes from the chromium next to it, not from the alpha-lipoic acid, and no claim on that formula comes from it.
WHY R-ALA OR RACEMIC
No claim to protect. And a form still to be fixed.
No form of alpha-lipoic acid carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our regulatory file accepts either the natural R form, R-ALA, or the standard racemic form, and the formula has not fixed which of the two it uses yet. Either way it dissolves in water and tastes neutral.
The form our file names as the natural one. Our notes record it, stabilised, as better absorbed than the racemic form, but that note is not traced to a checked source yet, and absorption is not a claim either way.
The standard alpha-lipoic acid, and the other form our regulatory file accepts. Soluble in water and neutral in taste, like the R form.
Our form file marks alpha-lipoic acid as not stable in liquid, and every VION formula is served as one. We have not documented yet how that is handled, and we would rather write it down than leave it out.
Our figures on how it behaves in your body are thin. Our notes put absorption at 30 to 40%, with no checked source behind it, and give a half-life of about half an hour, so it leaves the blood quickly. How it is cleared, and which liver enzymes it affects, is not documented yet. None of this is a reason to choose one form, and we do not pretend it is.Our notes put absorption at 30 to 40%, with no checked source behind it, and a half-life of about half an hour. How it is cleared is not documented yet.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries alpha-lipoic acid.
It appears only in Glucose & metabolism, the ADAPT formula for when a blood test puts your glucose in the range our file calls prediabetes, next to chromium, cinnamon, vitamin B1 and magnesium. It is taken before breakfast, and our timing file asks for the alpha-lipoic acid on an empty stomach. The 200 mg it carries is a third of the 600 mg a day used in the trial on file, which our own file calls a preventive dose. The formula is still in development and has its own exclusions, listed on its page.
THE CEILING
A 200 mg reference. We sit right on it.
The upper reference in our file is 200 mg a day in a supplement, attributed to the German BfR. Our file records no EFSA upper limit, and there is no NRV. Glucose & metabolism carries exactly 200 mg, and it is the only formula with alpha-lipoic acid, so 200 mg is also your total from us. There is no room for a second source, and the engine has no rule written for alpha-lipoic acid yet: today, what keeps you at the reference is that only one formula carries it.The upper reference in our file is 200 mg a day, from the German BfR. The one formula that carries alpha-lipoic acid holds exactly 200 mg, so there is no room for a second source.
200 mg each morning, from one formula. That is exactly the upper reference in our file, and a third of the 600 mg a day given in the SYDNEY 2 trial, which studied people with diabetic polyneuropathy. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything.
Our file on alpha-lipoic acid is marked as minimal, with deeper research still pending. It records no contraindication, which means unchecked, not proven absent. How it is cleared and which liver enzymes it affects are not documented yet.
If you have diabetes and take insulin or glucose-lowering tablets, talk to a healthcare professional first: there is a risk of low blood sugar. If you take levothyroxine, it may interfere with how your body handles thyroid hormones, so your TSH should be monitored. Do not go over the recommended daily dose, keep it out of reach of young children, and do not use it in place of a varied, balanced diet. The formula that carries it is also ruled out if you have type 1 diabetes, if you are pregnant or if you have liver disease.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches. None yet for alpha-lipoic acid.
Alpha-lipoic acid is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have not documented any of them yet, out of the 443 pairs on file. That includes the four ingredients it shares Glucose & metabolism with.
No pair with alpha-lipoic acid is in our interaction table, so the engine has nothing to separate or halve for it. That is an empty row, not a clean result.
Chromium, cinnamon, vitamin B1 and magnesium are served with it in the same morning dose. None of those pairs has been checked yet either.
No drug interaction for alpha-lipoic acid is in our drug table. Its label warnings still name two: insulin or glucose-lowering tablets, for the risk of low blood sugar, and levothyroxine, where your TSH should be monitored. Ask a healthcare professional before starting if either applies to you.
None of alpha-lipoic acid's pairs, with other ingredients or with medication, is in our tables yet. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.None of alpha-lipoic acid's pairs is in our tables yet. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.