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Maxim
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 Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:59 pm Post subject: alpha lipoic acid cream |
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I think there is a lot of hype about alpha lipoic acid cream because of perricone madness !! The research evidence substantiating the effects of topical application is extremely limited. There is little research available on the effect of supplementing on actual human beings & even less on the potential benefits of topical application of alpha lipoic acid .
some report that inflammation is one side effect which is taking as fine wrinkle improvement ? |
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drtodorov
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cjdavis
Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 191
Location: Atlanta
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: alpha lipoic acid cream |
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| Maxim wrote: | I think there is a lot of hype about alpha lipoic acid cream because of perricone madness !! The research evidence substantiating the effects of topical application is extremely limited. There is little research available on the effect of supplementing on actual human beings & even less on the potential benefits of topical application of alpha lipoic acid .
some report that inflammation is one side effect which is taking as fine wrinkle improvement ? |
Indeed, the data on topical application is limited but very promising. I do think the human data is more prominent that you think, particularly for the treatment of diabetic neuropathies. ALA being a natural compound can not be patented and therein lies the problem. What company is going to spend hundreds of thousands of more on studies assessing the efficacy of a topical ala formulation only to not be granted exclusive rights to market the product? In this business we are often left to extrapolate from small trials and theoretical biochemistry for a proposed mechanism of action from similar treatments. You may be surprised to see how many “proven” treatments both in allopathy and naturopathy have little scientific basis. Hell, even the tried and true glycolic acid has modest clinical substantiation, but is a regularly applied treatment. Some times, and believe me it pains me to admit this because i consider myself to be very objective minded and scientific, empirical and anecdotal data and case studies can give valuable feedback for the effectiveness of these treatments for the skin. It is a real sticky situation in this business because trying to objectively monitor improvements (or lack thereof) in skin aging from an applied treatment is very difficult. Simply put it is very easy to use what social psychologists call the confirmation bias, which is simply seeing or confirming an original disposition despite contradictory evidence. In other words, if you believe a treatment is going to work/fail you will confirm this and actually see this despite any actual supporting evidence. It really is an amazing phenomenon and it influences our social interactions more than personality theorist want to admit (can you tell that I was a psychology major). Anyway it is even easier to do this in this area because most improvements are modest anyway; it would be different if we were studying a treatment for something more prominent and not as susceptible to a placebo effect, like a cancer treatment. |
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drtodorov
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Good point. In medicine, the line between proven and unproven is more like a gray area than a clear divide. I wish medical research was as reproducible and clear cut as classical physics experimnets, but medical reality is unfortunately rather messy. |
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