Peptide Atlas · Small molecule

Alpha-lipoic acid

Alpha-lipoic acid (thioctic acid) is an antioxidant; in the 3-week ALADIN trial in 328 people with type 2 diabetes and painful neuropathy, daily intravenous infusions of 600 or 1,200 mg reduced foot symptom scores more than placebo.

established

provisional
PubChem 864
2 citations
0 discussions
0 followers
5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentanoic acid
ALA
R-ALA (R-enantiomer)
lipoic acid
sodium R-lipoate (sodium salt)
thioctic acid

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What the evidence says

six tiers, never blended

established — replicated in humans, or settled by a regulator

every claim resolves to its source

All 2 citations resolve to their original source. · 0 posts naming it, 0 members counted once each.

Evidence, kept apart

The Atlas never mixes evidence types into one blob. Each claim below carries the tier it actually sits in; an unresolved citation is shown and does not move the page.

Evidence map for Alpha-lipoic acid. Tier reflects study design, not enthusiasm.
Claim	Tier	Source
Intravenous alpha-lipoic acid reduced symptoms of diabetic neuropathy over 3 weeks (ALADIN)	emerging	pmid 8786016
Meta-analysis of four RCTs: intravenous alpha-lipoic acid improves symptomatic diabetic polyneuropathy	established	pmid 14984445

Unanswered questions

No open questions on file. Either everything about this molecule is known, or nobody has admitted what is not.

Negative findings

failure is information

Nobody has filed a failure yet. Failures are information; this list is waiting for an honest one.