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 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 digestion. This increase in mitochondrial activity was also evidenced 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 with this dose. Thus, although its metabolic effect was not so conclusive, ALA ​+ ​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.