This page shows what was measured, who it was measured in, and what that does not settle.
What Alpha-lipoic acid does in the body
Taken for nerve pain in diabetes, for blood sugar, and as a general antioxidant
Lipoic acid is a small sulphur-containing molecule that your mitochondria make and then permanently attach to a handful of enzymes, where it acts as a swinging arm passing chemical groups between reaction sites. Crucially, the lipoic acid in a capsule does not get attached to those enzymes — the attachment happens during enzyme assembly, from lipoic acid made inside the mitochondrion. What a supplement provides is free lipoic acid circulating in the body, which is a reactive sulphur compound that can be reduced and re-oxidised. That is a genuine chemistry, and it is not the chemistry the molecule is famous for.
What happened in people
Five weeks of oral alpha-lipoic acid reduced diabetic neuropathy Total Symptom Score by 48 to 52% against 32% on placebo
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The recorded finding that sits closest to something a person would notice. Written into the record, not signed off, and it carries no population or interval.
That supplemental lipoic acid supports the mitochondrial enzymes whose cofactor it is named for, which it does not join
Where it acts
Absorbed in the small intestine and distributed widely; endogenous lipoyl groups are covalently bound to mitochondrial dehydrogenase complexes, which supplemental lipoic acid does not join
Kind of result
Symptoms and quality of life
Supervision
Not usually supervised: sold as a supplement or food ingredient where recorded. That is a legal category, not a safety judgement.
What the registries record it as
The supplement label database classes it as non-nutrient/non-botanical, under the name Alpha Lipoic Acid.
5 registered substances share the start of this name, which is why a search for it can return more than one thing.
FDA substance registry · 73Y7P0K73Y · read 2026-08-29
Where each sentence above came from
No recorded sentence describes the change this makes in a way that stands on its own. The page opens with what it is taken for instead, and the recorded explanation follows below.
Shown as the opening line on this page.
A limit recorded against this substance. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The four opening statements run to 136 words.
Words this page uses
Four words worth knowing first
Chosen from what this page shows, with each one explained before the word it depends on.
Stand-in result
A stand-in result is a number measured because the real result takes too long.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like judging a journey by the speedometer rather than by arriving.
Where that stops being true. Speed does predict arrival. Many stand-in results do not predict the real one.
What people get wrong. A stand-in result is often reported as the result itself.
A surrogate endpoint substituted for a clinical endpoint, valid only where the substitution has been shown to hold.
Randomisation
Randomisation means chance decides who gets which treatment.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like a coin toss deciding the groups.
Where that stops being true. A coin toss is fair once. Fairness here comes from doing it for everyone.
What people get wrong. It is thought to make groups identical. It makes them similar on average, including on things nobody measured.
Allocation of participants to arms by a chance process, so that unmeasured factors are balanced in expectation.
Confidence interval
A confidence interval is the range the true answer is likely to sit in.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like a weather forecast giving a range rather than one number.
Where that stops being true. A forecast range covers tomorrow. This one covers what the study could resolve.
What people get wrong. The middle number is read as the answer. A range crossing zero means no change is still possible.
An interval estimate that would contain the true parameter in a stated proportion of repeated studies.
Pathway
A pathway is a chain of steps inside a cell, each one setting off the next.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A pathway is like a row of dominoes.
Where that stops being true. Dominoes fall one way. Pathways loop back and can switch themselves off.
What people get wrong. Changing one step is read as changing the outcome. Other steps often absorb it.
An ordered series of molecular interactions producing a defined cellular change.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What was measured, goal by goal
One row for each goal a registered study measured something for. One column for each kind of thing that could be measured.
Registered studies list 40 outcome measures that RNAWiki could read. A registered study says what someone planned to measure. It does not say what they found. 0 of the matched studies tested this substance, and 0 posted a result.
There is no single score. A strong test result and a weak life result are different facts.
Goals down the side, kinds of measurement across the top. Each cell says what kind of thing was registered, not what was found.
Goal
Life outcome
What a body can do
How a person feels
A test result
A step in the body
Harms
How long
Who was studied
Blood sugar
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
△Only a number moved2 registered test measure.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Body weight
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
△Only a number moved1 registered test measure.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Energy
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
…Waiting for a reviewer1 registered symptom measure.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a test result for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Healthy ageing
…Waiting for a reviewer1 registered study measure of this kind. No reviewed result yet.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a test result for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Fertility and sexual health
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a test result for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Which registered measures put each goal on this table
Blood sugar
insulin resistance; insulin sensitivity
Body weight
body weight
Energy
fatigue severity scale
Healthy ageing
mortality
Fertility and sexual health
good quality blastocyst per fertilized oocyte on day 5
Sorted by fixed word lists, version v1. A name the rules do not recognise stays unsorted rather than moving to the nearest column.
What each mark on this table means
∅ Nothing in the sources checked
No registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
△ Only a number moved
2 registered test measure.
— Not recorded
Harms were not a registered measure for this goal.
… Waiting for a reviewer
Who was studied is listed further down the page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What happened in people
Each card is one study: the exact question it asked, who was in it, and whether it showed what it set out to show.
Change from baseline in Total Symptom Score
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
SYDNEY 2 — oral alpha-lipoic acid in symptomatic diabetic polyneuropathy
TSS reduced 51% at 600 mg, 48% at 1,200 mg, 52% at 1,800 mg versus 32% on placebo, all P < 0.05; response rates 62%, 50%, 56% versus 26%
Repeated elsewhere
Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. Three doses across a threefold range produced essentially identical effects, which is not a dose-response. The Neuropathy Impairment Score, the objective measure, was only numerically reduced. Five weeks is short for a chronic progressive condition.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Composite of Neuropathy Impairment Score lower limbs plus seven neurophysiologic tests
✗ The study did not show it
Who was studied
NATHAN 1 — alpha-lipoic acid over four years in diabetic polyneuropathy
How many people
460
Study design
Multicentre randomised double-blind parallel-group, 4 years
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
No significant difference in the primary composite, P = 0.105; secondaries NIS P = 0.028, NIS-LL P = 0.05, NIS-LL muscular weakness P = 0.045
Repeated elsewhere
Failed to Replicate
What this does not prove. A study that did not show an effect does not show that no effect exists anywhere.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. Serious adverse events were higher on alpha-lipoic acid at 38.1% than on placebo at 28.0%. Nerve conduction and quantitative sensory tests did not significantly worsen on placebo, so the trial had little deterioration to slow.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Mean difference in body weight and BMI versus placebo
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Kucukgoncu 2017 meta-analysis of alpha-lipoic acid for weight loss
How many people
10
Study design
Meta-analysis of 10 randomised double-blind placebo-controlled studies
Compared against
A dummy treatment
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Weight -1.27 kg (95% CI 0.25 to 2.29); BMI -0.43 kg/m2 (95% CI -0.82 to -0.03)
Repeated elsewhere
Partially Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. Meta-regression found no effect of dose on either outcome. A weight effect without a dose-response is hard to attribute to the compound. Sample size counts studies, not participants.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
Interval reported. 95% CI 0
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Renal biopsy findings and proteinuria after lipoic acid supplementation
✗ The study did not show it
Who was studied
Spain 2021 — NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy after lipoic acid
How many people
5
Study design
Case series arising from a clinical trial treatment arm
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Four biopsy-proven and one suspected case of NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy; remission after discontinuation and supportive therapy
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. A study that did not show an effect does not show that no effect exists anywhere.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. High-grade proteinuria was an unexpected adverse event specific to the treatment arm of a multiple sclerosis trial. Five cases support no incidence estimate, and nobody had been monitoring urinary protein in lipoic acid users.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
RNAWiki holds 4 written-up human studies for this substance, each with the question it asked.
How we know it
Each card names the study, the number of people and what the study set out to measure.
What this does not prove
These summaries were written by a person and have not been signed off as reviewed claims.
Why it matters
A study that failed is as informative as one that worked, and both are here.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim exists, so no exact population, effect size or interval is published yet.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How close this is to real life
The top step is something a person would feel or care about. The bottom is a guess from software. Filled steps are where evidence exists for this substance.
■Living longer, or avoiding a major eventEvidence recorded. Death, a heart attack, a stroke, a hospital stay.1 registered measure of this kind. No reviewed result.
■What a body can do day to dayEvidence recorded. Walking, dressing, breathing, recovering.5 registered measures of this kind.
■Measured performanceEvidence recorded. How much was lifted, how far was run, how fast.5 registered measures of this kind.
■Symptoms and quality of lifeEvidence recorded. Pain, tiredness, mood, sleep, as the person rated it.2 registered measures of this kind.
■A number that stands in for healthEvidence recorded. Cholesterol, blood sugar, bone density. A stand-in, not the thing itself.8 registered measures of this kind.
■A step measured inside a personEvidence recorded. Something measured in human tissue or human cells.A human record sits on the stored organism ladder.
■AnimalsEvidence recorded. Mice, rats, dogs. Useful for ideas, not proof about people.Stored records in C. elegans (roundworm), Drosophila (fruit fly), Mouse, Rat. A result in animals says what to test next. It does not say what happens in people.
■Cells in a dishEvidence recorded. Cells or chemistry on a bench, far from a whole body.Stored mechanism abstracts describe steps measured in cells or tissue.
□A guess from softwareNo evidence recorded. Nobody measured it. RNAWiki never publishes one as a finding.RNAWiki stores no prediction for this record. Software can suggest a link. RNAWiki does not publish one as a finding.
Higher on these steps means closer to something a person would feel. It does not mean better done.
What it changes in the body◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
The path through the body
From what a person takes to what changes. A solid line is a step measured in people. A dashed line is a step nobody has measured that way.
Start
Alpha-lipoic acid
What a person takes: Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid.
The measurement behind this step
Sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA with no pre-market review, and licensed as a prescription medicine for symptomatic diabetic polyneuropathy in Germany and several other countries — the same molecule under two regulatory regimes. Nearly all trial material is racemic; the naturally occurring enantiomer is R-lipoic acid, and products sold as pure R-lipoic acid are not the material the trials used. Free lipoic acid polymerises on exposure to heat and light, so storage conditions affect what is actually in a capsule. Absorption is reduced by food and the plasma half-life is on the order of tens of minutes.
Getting in
Absorbed fast, cleared fast
Lipoic acid is taken up quickly from the gut and disappears from the blood within about an hour, which is why trials give it once or twice daily at large doses.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Oral bioavailability is modest and reduced by food, with a plasma half-life on the order of tens of minutes and rapid beta-oxidation to bisnorlipoate and tetranorlipoate. The very short exposure window is a genuine pharmacological constraint and is rarely mentioned alongside claims about sustained antioxidant protection.
Once inside cells, the ring in lipoic acid is opened to give two free sulphur groups. That reduced form is the chemically active species.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Lipoic acid is reduced to dihydrolipoic acid by lipoamide dehydrogenase, glutathione reductase and thioredoxin reductase. Dihydrolipoic acid is a strong reductant that can regenerate ascorbate and glutathione and chelate transition metals — the properties that support the antioxidant framing, and which apply to the free molecule rather than to the bound cofactor.
The famous role of lipoic acid is as a permanently attached arm on mitochondrial enzymes. That attachment happens inside the mitochondrion during assembly, using lipoic acid the cell makes itself.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Lipoyl synthase installs the sulphurs onto an octanoyl group already amide-linked to the E2 lysine, so the cofactor is made in place rather than captured from the pool. Mammalian cells do not efficiently ligate exogenous free lipoate onto pyruvate dehydrogenase or alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. The supplement and the cofactor share a name and a structure and not a job.
The measured clinical effect is on how neuropathy feels
Over five weeks, symptom scores for stabbing pain, burning, tingling and numbness fell by about half, against about a third on placebo.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
SYDNEY 2 recorded Total Symptom Score reductions of 51%, 48% and 52% at 600, 1,200 and 1,800 mg against 32% on placebo, with response rates of 62%, 50% and 56% against 26%. Three doses spanning a threefold range produced indistinguishable effects, which is not the profile of a dose-dependent pharmacological action.
Over four years, the objective composite did not move, and harms rose
The long trial measuring actual nerve function found no significant difference. Serious adverse events were more common on lipoic acid than on placebo.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
NATHAN 1 primary composite P = 0.105 over four years in 460 patients, with several impairment secondaries favouring treatment. Serious adverse events occurred in 38.1% on alpha-lipoic acid against 28.0% on placebo. Separately, five cases of NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy were traced to lipoic acid supplementation, with remission on discontinuation.
No suggested links are held for this record, so nothing is hidden from this path.
What we know
The record describes 5 steps from taking it to an effect in a person.
How we know it
Each step names the study behind it in the technical detail beside it.
What this does not prove
A change inside the body is a reason to look. It is not a result in a person.
Why it matters
A reader can see exactly where the chain stops being measured in people.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim binds any of these steps to a named population.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Felt, measured, or meaningful
Three different things that get called the same word. Registered studies measured all three, and mixing them is how a blood test becomes a health claim.
Felt
Things a person could notice without a test.
fatigue severity scale
appetite suppression
Measured
Things only a test, a scale or a device shows.
aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation
insulin resistance
insulin sensitivity
body weight
acute change in flow mediated dilation
chronic change in flow mediated dilation
acute change in exercise capacity
chronic change in exercise capacity
flow mediated dilation
24 hour blood pressure
Meaningful
Things that change how a life goes, not only a number.
activities of daily living at 18 months
mortality
mobility timed 25 foot walk
functional independence
A registered study says what someone planned to measure. It does not say what they found. A number moving is not the same as a life going better. The two are shown apart here.
Felt, but not shown to help. A person notices a change. No study showed it leads anywhere good.
Measured, but not felt. A number moves. The person notices nothing. Both can be true.
Measured, but not shown to matter. A number moves in the good direction. Nobody showed that lives went better.
Matters, but takes years. The result that counts may take longer than anyone would keep watching.
Names that fit none of the three (24)
f2 isoprostane
ototoxicity measurement
forearm blood flow
biomarkers of oxidative stress
endothelial function
brain atrophy by mri
spirometric fvc values at baseline
spirometric fvc values at endpoint
spirometric fev1 values at baseline
spirometric fev1 values at endpoint
spirometric fef values at baseline
spirometric fef values at endpoint
histological evaluation
trails making test part b
ventilator free days
total symptoms
phase i percentage of adverse events
cycles in six months of therapy
good quality blastocyst per fertilized oocyte on day 5
comparison of oral tolerance between r la and racemic la
These are harms, study-process measures, or names the rules did not recognise. They are shown rather than dropped.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How long anything takes
Nine different lengths of time that get confused with each other. None of them is worked out from another.
Before anything is noticed.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Before a test result moves.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Before performance moves.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
How long the result was watched.No finished study window is recorded for a study that tested this substance.
How long people took it.How long people actually took it is not stored. The study window is not the same thing.
How long people were followed.Follow-up length is not stored separately. It is never read off the study window, which would be a different thing.
How fast the body clears it. 0.5 hours hours
Read from the label, which states: “The decline observed in the plasma concentration was steep (t1/2, 0.5 h).”
How long effects linger.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Beyond the studies. Nothing is recorded about the long term.
The longest finished study sets the edge of what anyone measured.
A study window is not how long people took it, and neither is how long they were followed. Where RNAWiki holds only one of the three, it shows one.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Were people like you studied?
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it, and where the result stops carrying.
Who was studied
People similar to this profile were included.
People with diabetic neuropathy, particularly in Germany where it is prescribed, people taking it for blood glucose or weight, and a general antioxidant market.
Who is missing from the studies
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
Where the result stopped carrying
The four-year disease-modification endpoint in diabetic polyneuropathy, missed at P = 0.105
The assumption that this compound has no serious harms, which a nephrology case series overturned in 2021
This is a scope explorer, not a diagnosis engine.
It shows who was studied so you can see whether people similar to you were included.
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Why it might seem to do nothing
A real effect and a noticed effect are different things. These are the recorded reasons the two come apart.
It was studied for a different goal
The studies measured something else entirely.
On this record: Some registered studies measured things that match no goal on this page.
It was studied in different people
The people in the studies were not much like the reader.
On this record: Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
The evidence may simply be wrong
Small early studies often do not hold up.
On this record: RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
The product may not be what it says
Contents of a sold product are not always what the label states.
On this record: This is sold as a supplement, so no agency checked what is in a given tub before it was sold.
Other reasons RNAWiki checked and found nothing for (9)
A different form was studied
The studied form is not the form on the shelf. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
There was nothing to correct
Where a level is already normal, topping it up may change nothing. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else had to happen too
In the studies it was paired with training, a diet or another treatment. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The change is too small to feel
A real change can still sit below what a person notices. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Day-to-day swing hides it
Sleep, food, stress and time of day move most numbers more than this would. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Not enough time yet
The studies ran longer than the person has waited. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
It was not taken as studied
Missed days change the result, and studies count them. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else changed at the same time
Two changes at once cannot be told apart afterwards. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
No recorded reason
RNAWiki has nothing stored that would explain it. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
None of these is a reason to take more. Taking more is not a step this page ever suggests.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What taking it involves
The recorded facts about getting hold of it and using it. Nothing here is a suggestion about what you should do.
How it is supplied
Varies by country
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
Read from the recorded approval status.
No source is stored against this line.
Form and route
Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form and route recorded on this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
Who oversees it
Not usually supervised: sold as a supplement or food ingredient where recorded. That is a legal category, not a safety judgement.
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
The identity record classes it as a supplement ingredient; no medicines register records an approval.
No source is stored against this line.
What is in the pack
Sold in the United States as a dietary supplement under DSHEA with no pre-market review, and licensed as a prescription medicine for symptomatic diabetic polyneuropathy in Germany and several other countries — the same molecule under two regulatory regimes.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on how this is sold. The rest of the recorded wording: Nearly all trial material is racemic; the naturally occurring enantiomer is R-lipoic acid, and products sold as pure R-lipoic acid are not the material the trials used. Free lipoic acid polymerises on exposure to heat and light, so storage conditions affect what is actually in a capsule. Absorption is reduced by food and the plasma half-life is on the order of tens of minutes.
No source is stored against this line.
Where it is registered
Regulatory records are listed in the technical disclosure at the foot of this page.
# Counted from records
Where this came from
A count of rows RNAWiki holds. It describes our records, not your body.
Register entries are stored per jurisdiction and shown with their dates.
No source is stored against this line.
Why people stop
Not recorded.
∅ Nothing recorded
Where this came from
RNAWiki holds nothing here and says so rather than guessing.
No record of why people stopped taking it is stored for this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What can go wrong
Sorted by where each line came from. A regulator's label and a report somebody sent in are not the same kind of fact.
·Worth asking a clinician aboutWritten into the record from the studies named on this page
Nausea, rash and, at high doses, hypoglycaemia are the commonly reported effects, and the compound is insulin-mimetic enough that people on glucose-lowering therapy should be aware of it. Over four years, serious adverse events occurred in 38.1% of treated patients against 28.0% on placebo, which is the most consequential safety figure in this literature and comes from the trial that missed its primary endpoint. Five cases of NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy, four biopsy-proven, have been traced to lipoic acid supplementation, presenting with high-grade proteinuria and remitting on discontinuation. Alpha-lipoic acid is also one of only two medications — the other being methimazole — that a 2020 review of insulin autoimmune syndrome classifies as having a high-strength association with triggering that condition, in which autoantibodies to endogenous insulin cause recurrent hypoglycaemia; the same review notes the association has been increasing over the last decade and that the originally proposed HLA-DRB1*0406 restriction was not confirmed in Caucasians or in other Asian populations.
Nobody counted how many people took this and were fine, so this cannot be turned into a rate.
These are reports people sent to a regulator. They do not show the medicine caused the reaction.
Nobody counted how many people took the medicine and reported nothing.
The same event can be reported more than once, and many reports are incomplete.
News coverage, lawsuits and new warnings change how often people report.
A count is not a rate and not a risk.
Alpha-lipoic acid appears in spontaneous reports to regulators. Across the 10 most-reported reaction terms, 55 reaction mentions were counted. One report can name several reactions.
open-targets-adr · recorded 2026-06-24 · a recorded source, not a stored snapshot
Over a long time. No completed tested study window is recorded, so long-term effects are not established by the registry record.
Groups the studies covered thinly. Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Does the exact form matter?
Evidence belongs to the exact thing that was tested. A different salt, a different mixture or a different preparation is a different question.
The form that was studied
Oral capsule or tablet, as racemic alpha-lipoic acid or as R-lipoic acid
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form used in the studies cited on this page.
No source is stored against this line.
What is sold
Nearly all trial material is racemic; the naturally occurring enantiomer is R-lipoic acid, and products sold as pure R-lipoic acid are not the material the trials used. Free lipoic acid polymerises on exposure to heat and light, so storage conditions affect what is actually in a capsule. Absorption is reduced by food and the plasma half-life is on the order of tens of minutes.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on which forms are sold and how they compare.
No source is stored against this line.
What is recorded as being sold
48 products list this as an active ingredient in the United States drug directory. 11 of them contain it and nothing else.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 0642-0207 · read 2026-08-29
They are sold as liquid, ointment, pellet, powder, solution/ drops and spray, taken oral and topical.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 0642-0207 · read 2026-08-29
36 published labels name it as an active ingredient. None of them describes this substance alone, so no label text on this page can be attributed to it rather than to a combination.
US prescribing information · 8b6077c2-ecab-441a-8196-fcf736643fc6 · read 2026-08-29
Those labels are classed as human otc drug and human prescription drug.
US prescribing information · 8b6077c2-ecab-441a-8196-fcf736643fc6 · read 2026-08-29
23918 marketed supplement labels list this ingredient, classed as non-nutrient/non-botanical.
Those labels carry all other, nutrient and structure/function claims. A claim of that kind is written by the manufacturer and is not assessed by any regulator, so its presence says nothing about whether it is true.
Evidence carries across two names for one substance. It does not carry across a salt, a mirror form or a mixture.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What you could measure
Watching one thing carefully can tell you whether it moved. It cannot tell you what moved it.
This is sold without a prescription, so a person can sensibly watch one thing and see whether it moves.
Pick one goal. One goal only. Two at once cannot be told apart afterwards.
Pick one thing to watch. Registered studies measured things like: aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation; insulin resistance; insulin sensitivity.
Measure before you start. Take the same measurement several times first. One reading is not a starting point.
Know the swing. Write down how much it moves on its own across a normal week.
Change one thing. Change nothing else at the same time, including training and sleep.
Give it the study length. No finished study window is recorded, so no length is suggested here.
Track whether you took it. Missed days are the most common reason a home test shows nothing.
Read the trend. Look at the line across weeks. A single reading tells you almost nothing.
What not to measure
Anything that swings more day to day than the change you are looking for.
A wearable estimate of sleep stages, which is an estimate and not a measurement.
Weight on one morning, which mostly records water.
A feeling you did not write down before starting, such as: fatigue severity scale.
When to stop
Stop if something new and unpleasant starts, and ask a pharmacist or doctor.
Stop if you cannot keep everything else steady, because the result will not mean anything.
Stop at the end of the window you set, and read the trend then.
Tracking can show whether something changed for you. It cannot show what caused it.
RNAWiki does not work out an amount for anyone.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Claims that go past the evidence
Things said about this substance that sound reasonable, and the exact step that is missing between the evidence and the claim.
✗Goes past the evidence
That supplemental lipoic acid supports the mitochondrial enzymes whose cofactor it is named for, which it does not join
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That short-term symptom relief implies slowing of the underlying nerve damage
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a 1.27 kg pooled weight difference with no dose-response is a pharmacological weight-loss effect
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a compound well tolerated over five weeks is well tolerated over years
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What nobody knows yet
Open questions, each with why it is open and what would close it.
Missing populations
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing long-term data
No completed tested study window is recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
No reviewed conclusion
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing interaction studies
No interaction was found in the registers checked. Not finding one is not the same as showing there is none.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Formulation uncertainty
Several salts, forms or products of Alpha-lipoic acid are recorded. Results from one form may not transfer to another.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Mechanism not reviewed
No reviewed mechanism story exists for this substance.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Check any of this yourself
Every line above traced back to the study it came from. This is the technical layer, and the vocabulary changes here.
Every line above can be traced to the study named beside it. Follow the link and read it.
SYDNEY 2: symptoms improved 51% against 32% on placebo, over five weeks
In plain words
In 181 people with diabetic nerve pain, five weeks of oral lipoic acid roughly halved symptom scores, against about a third on placebo. All three doses worked equally.
What was measured
Change from baseline in Total Symptom Score, and proportion achieving a 50% or greater reduction
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
SYDNEY 2 randomised 181 diabetic patients in Russia and Israel to once-daily oral alpha-lipoic acid at 600 mg (n = 45), 1,200 mg (n = 47) or 1,800 mg (n = 46), or placebo (n = 43), for five weeks after a one-week placebo run-in. The primary outcome was change in the Total Symptom Score covering stabbing pain, burning pain, paraesthesia and numbness of the feet. Mean Total Symptom Score fell by 4.9 points (51%) on 600 mg, 4.5 (48%) on 1,200 mg and 4.7 (52%) on 1,800 mg, against 2.9 points (32%) on placebo, all P < 0.05 versus placebo. Response rates, defined as a 50% or greater reduction, were 62%, 50%, 56% and 26% respectively. Significant improvements also appeared for stabbing and burning pain, the Neuropathy Symptoms and Change score and patients' global assessment. The Neuropathy Impairment Score — the objective measure — was only numerically reduced. Note the dose-response: three doses spanning a threefold range produced essentially identical effects, which is not the shape of a dose-dependent pharmacological action and is compatible with a ceiling reached at the lowest dose or with a substantial non-specific component.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
NATHAN 1: four years, 460 patients, primary endpoint missed at P = 0.105
In plain words
The long trial designed to show that lipoic acid slows nerve damage rather than just easing symptoms did not meet its main endpoint over four years.
What was measured
Composite of Neuropathy Impairment Score lower limbs plus seven neurophysiologic tests over four years
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
This entry records a failure.
From the source
NATHAN 1 was a multicentre randomised double-blind parallel-group trial in 460 diabetic patients with mild-to-moderate distal symmetric sensorimotor polyneuropathy, assigned to 600 mg of oral alpha-lipoic acid once daily (n = 233) or placebo (n = 227) for four years. The primary endpoint was a composite of the Neuropathy Impairment Score in the lower limbs plus seven neurophysiologic tests. Change in that primary endpoint from baseline to four years showed no significant difference between groups (P = 0.105). Several secondary measures favoured lipoic acid: the Neuropathy Impairment Score (P = 0.028), NIS-lower limbs (P = 0.05) and the NIS-LL muscular weakness subscore (P = 0.045), with more patients showing clinically meaningful improvement and fewer showing progression on NIS (P = 0.013) and NIS-LL (P = 0.025). Nerve conduction and quantitative sensory test results did not significantly worsen on placebo, which the authors flag — a trial designed to detect slowed deterioration cannot succeed if the control group does not deteriorate. The finding that matters most for a consumer is elsewhere in the paper: serious adverse events were higher on alpha-lipoic acid at 38.1% than on placebo at 28.0%.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Lipoic acid supplementation traced to a specific form of kidney disease
In plain words
Unexpected heavy protein loss in the urine appeared in the treatment arm of a lipoic acid trial. Biopsies identified a distinct kidney lesion, and it went away when the supplement was stopped.
What was measured
Biopsy-proven NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy and proteinuria after lipoic acid supplementation, with remission on discontinuation
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
This entry records a failure.
From the source
Investigators running a clinical trial of lipoic acid supplementation in multiple sclerosis observed high-grade proteinuria as an unexpected adverse event specific to the treatment arm. That observation led them to identify similar patients in their nephrology practice, and they reported four biopsy-proven cases and a fifth suspected case of neural epidermal growth factor-like 1 (NELL1)-associated membranous nephropathy following lipoic acid supplementation. Discontinuation of lipoic acid together with supportive therapy resulted in remission. NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy is a recently characterised subtype, and identifying an exposure that appears to cause a reversible form of it is a substantive finding. Five cases is a case series and supports no incidence estimate whatever. What it does establish is that a widely sold over-the-counter antioxidant, under investigation in multiple sclerosis, diabetes and schizophrenia, produced a biopsy-confirmed glomerular lesion in the treatment arm of a controlled study — and that nobody had been looking for it.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The supplement is not the cofactor it is named after
In plain words
Lipoic acid is famous as an essential piece of the enzymes that burn fuel in mitochondria. The lipoic acid in a capsule does not become part of those enzymes.
What was measured
That supplemental alpha-lipoic acid supports the mitochondrial dehydrogenase complexes for which lipoic acid is the named cofactor
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Endogenous lipoic acid is synthesised inside the mitochondrion by lipoyl synthase, acting on an octanoyl group already attached to the target protein, and it exists in biology almost exclusively as lipoyl-lysine covalently bound to the E2 subunits of pyruvate dehydrogenase, alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase and the glycine cleavage system. Free lipoic acid is not a normal metabolite at meaningful concentrations, and mammalian cells do not efficiently attach exogenous free lipoate to those complexes. Supplemental alpha-lipoic acid therefore acts as something else: a free, redox-active dithiol that is reduced to dihydrolipoic acid, regenerates other cellular reductants, chelates transition metals, and is rapidly beta-oxidised and cleared with a plasma half-life measured in tens of minutes. That is a legitimate pharmacology, and it is a different one from the cofactor role that supplies the molecule's reputation. Dietary lipoic acid, which occurs as protein-bound lipoyllysine, is delivered in amounts orders of magnitude below the 600 to 1,800 mg used in the trials.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The weight loss effect is 1.27 kilograms
In plain words
Pooling ten randomised double-blind trials, lipoic acid produced about 1.3 kilograms more weight loss than placebo, and the dose made no difference.
What was measured
Mean difference in body weight and body mass index between lipoic acid and placebo groups
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Kucukgoncu and colleagues meta-analysed ten randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies and found lipoic acid treatment associated with 1.27 kg greater mean weight loss than placebo (95% CI 0.25 to 2.29) and a mean BMI difference of -0.43 kg/m2 (95% CI -0.82 to -0.03). Meta-regression showed no significance of lipoic acid dose on either BMI or weight change, while study duration significantly affected BMI change but not weight change. The authors describe the effect as small and short-term and call for research on different doses and long-term benefit. Two features undercut a pharmacological reading. A weight loss effect with no dose-response across the studied range is difficult to attribute to the compound, and 1.27 kg with a confidence interval reaching 0.25 kg is within the range that dietary co-intervention and adherence effects readily produce in supplement trials.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The programme moved from symptoms to disease modification, and the answer changed
In plain words
Short trials showed lipoic acid eases how diabetic nerve damage feels. The long trial designed to show it slows the damage itself did not succeed.
What was measured
That short-term symptom relief in diabetic neuropathy implies slowed progression of the underlying nerve damage
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
The sequence is unusually clean. Five-week SYDNEY 2 measured a patient-reported symptom score and found roughly half of symptoms relieved against a third on placebo, with response rates of 50 to 62% against 26%. Four-year NATHAN 1 measured a composite of objective impairment and neurophysiology and did not meet it (P = 0.105), while several impairment secondaries did move. Read together, the honest summary is that alpha-lipoic acid is better supported as a symptomatic agent over weeks than as a disease-modifying one over years, and that its symptomatic evidence rests on subjective endpoints with no dose-response across a threefold dose range. The safety arithmetic changed too: a compound that was well tolerated over five weeks recorded serious adverse events in 38.1% of treated patients against 28.0% on placebo over four years.
This order is fixed in code and does not count clicks or time on the page.
What is not here
3 questions this page could not answer
These sections were prepared and left out because there was nothing to put in them. They are listed rather than hidden, so the gaps in this record are visible.
What it may clash with — found nothing in the sources checked.
Other ways to the same goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
What changed on this page — found nothing in the sources checked.
The record as stored
The full record, for auditing
Everything above is built from what is below. This layer keeps the technical vocabulary, record identifiers and every stored row, so a reader who wants to check the page can.
The older medicine-wide conclusion held in this record
Written for a clinical reader, and about the medicine as a whole rather than about one indication, population and set of trials. RNAWiki does not treat it as a programme conclusion and no reviewer has signed it off in that form. It is here word for word because it is what the record holds.
Five weeks of oral alpha-lipoic acid reduced diabetic neuropathy symptom scores by about half against a third on placebo, but the four-year NATHAN 1 trial missed its primary composite endpoint at P = 0.105 with serious adverse events in 38.1% on treatment against 28.0% on placebo, and in 2021 five cases of NELL1-associated membranous nephropathy were traced to lipoic acid supplementation.
Recorded evidence blocks (15)
Q1
What did Alpha-lipoic acid's largest trial (1526 people) and its longest (13 years) measure?
1526 people in Alpha-lipoic acid's largest registered study, 13 years in its longest registered window, measuring mortality. ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
29 phase2, 28 na, 19 phase3, 14 phase4, 11 phase1, 2 early phase1; NCT02115724; 2027-01. Last human test completed 2026, NCT06040190.
Interpretation These counts include studies where Alpha-lipoic acid was a comparison treatment, a background treatment or an exposure in an observational study, and the longest window may be a planned end date. Trial roles have not yet been classified for this record.
Show the evidence
phase2
29
na
28
phase3
19
phase4
14
phase1
11
early phase1
2
1 more recorded row
Last recorded human testNCT06040190
2026-07-01
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q2
From C. elegans to human: where has Alpha-lipoic acid shown lifespan?
More Alpha-lipoic acid was worse in human: at what point?
Hormetic in human: "The endogenous and dietary agent, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), is evaluated for its capacity to induce a broad spectrum of adaptive responses via hormetic dose responses and their underlying mechanisms." Europe PMC · dose-response search · 2023-05-10
4 recorded sentences naming Alpha-lipoic acid; hormetic, dose-response, biphasic
Show the evidence
hormeticPMID 37169059
"The endogenous and dietary agent, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), is evaluated for its capacity to induce a broad spectrum of adaptive responses via hormetic dose responses and their underlying mechanisms."
dose-responsePMID 32091656
"There are numerous trials reported the effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on obesity measurements; while no summarised dose-response meta-analysis is available to address the effects of dose and duration of ALA supplementation on obesity measurements."
biphasicPMID 10512372
"Alpha-lipoic acid had a biphasic effect: it dose-dependently increased fructose, glucose, and sorbitol, peaking at 25 mg/kg, and then fell beyond that dose, and it dose-dependently increased myo-inositol."
dose-responsePMID 8922368
"Thioctic acid provoked an upward shift of the glucose-uptake insulin dose-response curve."
recorded 2023-05-10 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q6
Alpha-lipoic acid's half-life is 0.5 hours — which schedules were studied?
0.5 hours, the half-life Alpha-lipoic acid's label states. openfda-label · 2026-08-28
bioavailability about 30% %.
Show the evidence
half life
0.5 hours hours; The decline observed in the plasma concentration was steep (t1/2, 0.5 h).
bioavailability
about 30% %; Exogenous racemic alpha-lipoic acid orally administered for the symptomatic treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy is readily and nearly completely absorbed, with a limited absolute bioavailability of about 30% caused by high hepatic extraction.
recorded 2026-08-28 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q7
Could one person measure Alpha-lipoic acid's effect on aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation?
Aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation: measured in Alpha-lipoic acid's trials.
aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation is the recorded endpoint.
Show the evidence
biomarkers
aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation; 2026-09-01
f2 isoprostane; 2026-09-01
ototoxicity measurement; 2026-09-01
forearm blood flow; 2026-09-01
insulin resistance; 2026-09-01
biomarkers of oxidative stress; 2026-09-01
14 more recorded rows
biomarkers
insulin sensitivity; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
endothelial function; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
activities of daily living at 18 months; 2026-09-01
0; NCT04021550; EARLY_PHASE1; the smallest recorded human enrolment at or below 30; the registry states no direction of its result; WITHDRAWN
Q8
Which of 24 hour blood pressure, activities of daily living at 18 months and acute change in exercise capacity did Alpha-lipoic acid's trials measure?
24 hour blood pressure, activities of daily living at 18 months and acute change in exercise capacity lead 40 outcome terms across Alpha-lipoic acid's trials. ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
forearm blood flow, insulin resistance, biomarkers of oxidative stress, insulin sensitivity, endothelial function and activities of daily living at 18 months follow.
Show the evidence
aim 1 change in flow mediated dilation
1
f2 isoprostane
1
ototoxicity measurement
1
forearm blood flow
1
insulin resistance
1
biomarkers of oxidative stress
1
14 more recorded rows
insulin sensitivity
1
endothelial function
1
activities of daily living at 18 months
1
brain atrophy by mri
1
spirometric fvc values at baseline
1
spirometric fvc values at endpoint
1
spirometric fev1 values at baseline
1
spirometric fev1 values at endpoint
1
spirometric fef values at baseline
1
spirometric fef values at endpoint
1
body weight
1
fatigue severity scale
1
histological evaluation
1
appetite suppression
1
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q9
Which of Alpha-lipoic acid's 16 ongoing trials reports first?
Acute Change in Flow mediated dilation; Changes in the Insulin sensitivity index (SI) obtained from FSIGT, in (mU/L)^-1 * min^-1; latest 2030-12-01
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT02115724
"Nitric Oxide Bioavailability and Early Life Stress (NO-Stress)"; n 74; "Acute Change in Flow mediated dilation"; 2027-01
NCT02690064
"Mechanisms for Vascular Dysfunction and Exercise Tolerance in CF"; n 13; "Acute Change in Flow mediated dilation"; 2027-01
NCT05713799
"Trial of the Combination of Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Mirabegron in Women and in Men With Obesity"; n 60; "Changes in the Insulin sensitivity index (SI) obtained from FSIGT, in (mU/L)^-1 * min^-1"; 2030-03-01
NCT06286098
"Alpha Lipoic Acid in Pediatrics on Hemodialysis"; n 50; "Serum level of E-Selectin"; 2028-03-01
NCT07157722
"Evaluating the Effect of N-Acetyl Cysteine and Alpha Lipoic Acid in Patients With Beta Thalassemia"; n 66; "The change from baseline in carotid intima media thickness (CIMT)"; 2026-01-30
NCT07182526
"Effects of Adding Quercetin or Alpha Lipoic Acid to Usual Care on Symptoms and Blood Markers in Iraqi Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome"; n 150; "Change in Hormonal Profile (LH, FSH, Testosterone) from Baseline"; 2026-05-01
10 further recorded trials
NCT07256119
"Evaluation of the Effect of Alpha Lipoic Acid on Radiation Induced Dermatitis in Breast Cancer Patients"; n 40; "Incidence of development of radiation induced dermatitis (RID)"; 2025-12-28
NCT07360379
"Comparing N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Versus Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) as Adjuncts for Postoperative Pain Management After Laparoscopic Appendectomy"; n 180; "Visual analogue scale (VAS)"; 2026-05
NCT07381361
"Photobiomodulation Therapy vs. Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Burning Mouth Syndrome Treatment"; n 60; "Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)"; 2026-03-10
NCT07456176
"Effect of Low-Dose Versus High-Dose Alpha-Lipoic Acid on Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Clinical Outcomes in Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease"; n 75; "Oxidative Stress & Inflammatory Biomarkers"; 2026-06-01
NCT07564479
"Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Mitigating Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity"; n 50; "Change in SCr and CrCl in patients receiving Cisplatin Chemotherapy + Alpha-Lipoic Acid compared to Control Group"; 2027-06
NCT07574684
"Clinical Effects of Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Advanced NSCLC"; n 60; "1. Clinical Benefit Rate (CBR)"; 2027-04-20
NCT07630779
"Efficacy of Alpha Lipoic Acid Combined With Myo-Inositol in Non-Diabetic PCOS Patients"; n 180; "Ovulation Rate"; 2026-12
NCT07685431
"Alpha-Lipoic Acid Supplementation and IVF Outcomes in Women of Advanced Maternal Age"; n 60; "Embryo quality"; 2028-06-30
NCT07725484
"Efficacy of Lipoic Acid on Chronic Ischemic Heart Failure Patients"; n 1526; "Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACE)"; 2030-12-01
NCT07785544
"Efficacy and Safety of Low-Dose Duloxetine Plus Alpha-Lipoic Acid Versus Standard-Dose Duloxetine in Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy"; n 170; "Change in pain intensity measured by Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) from baseline to Week 9"; 2027-08
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q10
Which running trial of Alpha-lipoic acid could settle insulin sensitivity?
NCT05713799 measures Changes in the Insulin sensitivity index (SI) obtained from FSIGT, in (mU/L)^-1 * min^-1, reading out 2030-03-01.
1 open trial; n 60; "Trial of the Combination of Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Mirabegron in Women and in Men With Obesity"
Show the evidence
TrialNCT05713799
"Trial of the Combination of Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Mirabegron in Women and in Men With Obesity"; n 60; "Changes in the Insulin sensitivity index (SI) obtained from FSIGT, in (mU/L)^-1 * min^-1"; 2030-03-01
Q11
Which 35 trials of Alpha-lipoic acid posted no result?
Posted no result
35 of 35 completed trials
Registrations
NCT00033176, NCT00010842, NCT00079807, NCT00308971, NCT00490867 and NCT00795262, and 29 more
Completion dates
oldest 2004-08; newest 2024-05-05
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT00033176
2004-08
NCT00010842
2004-12
NCT00079807
2007-02
NCT00308971
2007-07
NCT00490867
2007-08
NCT00795262
2009-07
14 further recorded trials
NCT00994513
2010-05
NCT01515839
2010-06
NCT00505427
2010-07
NCT00845156
2010-09
NCT01056497
2011-06
NCT01355952
2012-12
NCT01696448
2013-04
NCT00112996
2014-04
NCT01877590
2015-07
NCT01524861
2016-01
NCT01381354
2016-05
NCT02382328
2016-07
NCT02775266
2016-10
NCT02937363
2017-07
Q12
At the median, Alpha-lipoic acid's trials enrolled 60 people — anything larger?
Median enrolment
60
Largest enrolment
1526
Registered trials counted
89
Q13
What do 55 spontaneous reports say about Alpha-lipoic acid — and not say?
These are reports people sent to a regulator. They do not show the medicine caused the reaction. Nobody counted how many people took the medicine and reported nothing. The same event can be reported more than once, and many reports are incomplete. News coverage, lawsuits and new warnings change how often people report. A count is not a rate and not a risk.
Alpha-lipoic acid appears in spontaneous reports to regulators. Across the 10 most-reported reaction terms, 55 reaction mentions were counted: drug-induced liver injury 8; hepatotoxicity 8; hepatic cirrhosis 7; hepatic encephalopathy 7. open-targets-adr · CHEMBL33864 · 2026-06-24
Show the evidence
drug-induced liver injury
8
hepatotoxicity
8
hepatic cirrhosis
7
hepatic encephalopathy
7
hepatic necrosis
7
drug interaction
6
4 more recorded rows
areflexia
3
diabetic neuropathy
3
glycosylated haemoglobin increased
3
muscle contractions involuntary
3
recorded 2026-06-24 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q14
Was Alpha-lipoic acid studied with exercise?
exercise is named in Alpha-lipoic acid's label sentences: "The study included 82 participants allocated into the intervention group (alpha-lipoic acid and exercise on 15 consecutive therapeutic days, <i>n</i> = 42) and control group (alpha lipoic acid only, <i>n</i> = 40)." openfda-label+europepmc · 2024-12-01
1 recorded statement; exercise
Show the evidence
exercise
The study included 82 participants allocated into the intervention group (alpha-lipoic acid and exercise on 15 consecutive therapeutic days, <i>n</i> = 42) and control group (alpha lipoic acid only, <i>n</i> = 40).
recorded 2024-12-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q15
What is recorded about Alpha-lipoic acid and AMPK?
"This study investigated the synergistic neuroprotective potential of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and metformin through the coordinated activation of Nrf2 and AMPK signaling pathways in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-induced encephalopathy." — where Alpha-lipoic acid and AMPK appear together. Europe PMC · pathway abstract search · 2025-07-18
"This study investigated the synergistic neuroprotective potential of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and metformin through the coordinated activation of Nrf2 and AMPK signaling pathways in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-induced encephalopathy."
PMID 39261583
"Alpha lipoic acid (ALA), an indirect AMPK activator that inhibits hepatic steatosis, shows antitumor effects in different cancers."
"Alpha lipoic acid (ALA), an indirect AMPK activator that inhibits hepatic steatosis in rodents, shows antitumor effects in different cancers."
autophagy
PMID 35098396
"The present work was designed to determine the possible synergistic effects of alpha-lipoic acid (LA) preconditioning and IPostC on myocardial I/R damage in type-II diabetic rats through modulating autophagy, and the involvement of mitochondrial function."
PMID 32715610
"In this issue of EMBO Reports, Du et al report that alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) sustains an active endocytosis-autophagy network that effectively reverses age-dependent ISC hyperplasia in Drosophila (Du et al, 2020)."
sirtuin
"This recycling causesactivation-induced cell death, suppresses lymphocyte countproliferation, and leads to IL-1β hypersecretion and worsening RHC.Ultimately, this cytokine storm and severe RHC induce autoimmunity.Evidence suggests this pathological state can be avoided by restoring calcium homeostasis using a combination of DHEA, vitaminD3/calcitriol, magnesium, ubiquinone, and the AMPK/SIRT1…"
recorded 2025-07-18 · last checked 2026-09-04
Where it is registeredIdentifiers, relations and other names
ChEMBL ATC CC BY-SA · ClinicalTrials.gov — US Government work · Europe PMC — metadata only, under the recorded legal gate · Open Targets 26.06 — CC0 · derived from this page's own recorded fields; no external licence · mixed register set; per-register licences in docs/specs/corpus-20k-sources.md · openFDA / DailyMed — US Government work
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