Assessing the antioxidant and metabolic effect of an alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine nutraceutical

Personalized nutrition (PN) is seen as a potentially effective and affordable strategy for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In this study we aimed to evaluate the antioxidant and metabolic effect of a dietary supplement based on alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) in order to include this product in a novel PN service. The antioxidant properties of the commercial nutraceutical were investigated at physiological conditions (through in vitro digestion) and at mitochondrial conditions. The metabolic activity was assessed in a human pilot study using a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) methodology in dried urine samples. The nutraceutical exerted an elevated antiradical activity and reducing capacity, especially at mitochondrial conditions, after in vitro digestion. This increase in mitochondrial activity was also evidenced in vivo by a significant increase in the urinary phosphate concentration (p = 0.004). As pro-oxidant effect was reached with the concentration of 4 capsules, 2 capsules at the same time could be a reasonable dose. No adverse effects were recorded in vivo with this dose. Thus, although its metabolic effect was not so conclusive, ALA thorn ALC combination might be beneficial as a dietary supplement for the prevention of the oxidative stress and an interesting dietary supplement to consider in large scale studies.