A study of the efficacy of antioxidant therapy in 32 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis was published by a group of Russian physicians and scientists in 2002.
Group 1: (consisting of 18 patients) was treated with alpha-lipoic acid alone. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) was first discovered in the 1950s, and it was first recognized it as an antioxidant in 1988. ALA has been widely studied in numerous degenerative diseases, including heart disease and stroke, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, HIV, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and MS. Dr. Lester Packer, a leading expert on antioxidants is among these researchers, and has conducted studies on ALA at the University of California, Berkeley. One of the best-known proponents of ALA is Dr. Bruce Ames, professor of molecular and cell biology and like Lester Packer is also at the University of California, Berkeley. He has helped develop and study an ALA supplement called Juvenon, which has been patented by UC Berkeley. Juvenon, in addition, contains another promising compound, acetyl-L-carnitine, which is also involved in energy production in the mitochondria. Ames and his colleagues have found that high doses of these compounds, in combination, enable elderly rats to function like younger ones. Human studies are just getting started to determine if these exciting results are applicable to humans as well.
ALA is essential for thhe production of energy in the body. It plays a crucial role in the mitochondria, the energy-producing structures found in the cells of the body. Our bodies produce sufficient ALA for basic metabolic functions. However, ALA acts as an antioxidant, only when there is an excess of it in its "free state" within the cells of our bodies. There is little free ALA circulating in your body, unless you consume supplements or get it injected into your body. Foods contain only very small amounts of ALA.
The therapeutic dose of ALA has been described by some researchers as 400 Mg per day. Based on MS research, it appears that the effective dose range is from 100 mg to a maximum 600 mg per day.
Group 2: (consisting of 14 patients) received a complex of antioxidants and neuroprotectors with various mechanisms of action (oc-lipoic acid, Tocotrienol may be added to lipoic acid compositions to form oc-liopic acid. Tocotrienols are natural and synthetic counterparts of tocopherol (vitamin E) that bear unsaturated tails.Nicotinamide, Acetylcysteine sources of acetylcysteine include NAC, or n-acetylcysteine, and whey protein precursors such as Immunocal, Triovit Beta-carotine, Alpha-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), Ascorbic acid, vitamin C, the mineral Selenium, Pentoxifylline, the prescription medication Trental, Cerebrolysin, an investigational drug being researched also for Alzheimer's disease, and Amantadine hydrochloride (an anti-viral prescription medication used to treat the flu) during 1 month of treatment, 2 times a year.
Both treatments resulted in significant reduction (2-3 times) of relapse frequency in multiple sclerosis patients (especially in group 2) and decrease of required corticosteroid courses. After antioxidant therapy the content of lipid peroxide products was significantly reduced (most expressed in group 2). The improved method of multicomponent antioxidant and neuroprotective therapy can be considered as pathogenic threatment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Source: New approaches to antioxidant therapy in multiple sclerosis. Odinak MM, Bisaga GN, Zarubina IV., Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2002;Suppl:72-5.
