BulkSupplements.com R-Alpha Lipoic Acid Powder - R-ALA Supplement, R Alpha Lipoic Acid 200mg - Antioxidants Supplement, Gluten Free, 200mg per Serving, 25g (0.88 oz) (Pack of 1)

I'm so grateful for the free sample making this easy to try as I was scared by the comments about the acidity burning one's tongue which made me extra hesitant to buy it as I have found some alpha-lipoic acid products make my stomach burn even when consumed with food which reduces its bio-availability. FORTUNATELY I'M FINDING THIS POWDER GREAT & EASY TO WORK WITH & fine to take on an empty stomach which I have read is important to get maximum benefits of any ALA product. I'm even finding I can often put the powder straight in my mouth if I aim it towards the back of my tongue & have some water ready to wash it down fast before any burning starts. I do love the convenience of the pure powder making this powerful anti-oxidant immediately & easily available & easy to take at the same time as other powerful antioxidants like glutathione as a PBS doctor said that most anti-oxidants enhance each other's effects when taken together. AND WHAT'S MOST IMPRESSIVE is that I am rapidly noticing much more stable blood sugar (not that I'm diabetic but I do tend to hypoglycemia at times) & feeling better when I take this vs. no noticeable impact from having tried R-ALA in pill form from 2 other brands for a year now in addition to using 100mg of ALA 2-3 times a day for many years now. I had continued those supplements because of the antioxidant benefits but it's so much better when there are noticeable benefits & improvements from a supplement than to just continue on faith or the theory that it's beneficial. So I'm very grateful that BulkSupplements makes it easy to try products through their free sample offer following any purchase of theirs as I would have never thought I needed this. AND AS A CHEMICALLY & GENERALLY VERY SENSITIVE PERSON, I was afraid to try out supplements from a new company especially when manufacturing sounds like it often does happen in China. But from having tried many of their powders so far, it seems like they really have figured out how to pull off excellent quality control that guarantees purity & potency which is so helpful in enabling skipping needless fillers. These powders are so much easier to take than pills once you're set up with a good set of measuring spoons that go down to 1/32 tsp which makes it super easy to adjust dosage & take as desired/recommended. I love the multi-colored set that has a huge range of easy to distinguish sizes "Prepworks From Progressive International Ultimate 19-Piece Measuring Cup and Spoon Set" & I find this also works great as a fun gift for anybody who likes to cook.

It is wet, clumpy, and reacts like styrofoam in water. There is zero solubility. Does not appear to be something you would want to put in your body. I have never felt an R-ALA supplement, like I have read in some reviews of other products as well (and I lift, cycle..). I had high hopes for the BULK SUPPLEMENTS brand R-ALA because I am currently enjoying their NAC, or at least I thought I was. The NAC is good, smells like sulfur, calms my nerves (I am 4 months off cigarettes). Within 10 seconds of opening the R-ALA, I knew I wanted to return it. So far a seemingly easy return. Bulksupplements, what a major bummer!

Arrived on time. Packaging good. Product as specified.Only item out of large order that had any potential qualms associated with it. The item is double bagged (the good part), but R-Alpha Lipoic Acid must polymerize (I.E. reacts to form larger chains) as the material is difficult to separate and not a powder in the perfect sense of the word but more of a clump. Since item is not refrigerated on delivery it seems that any higher temperatures probably aid this. It does say the item should be refrigerated. It does dissolve in baking soda since it is an acid and for my use it seems ok. Anyone wanting to dissolve it can do the same as another reviewer was spot on saying that he/she does this as it works and various medical uses usually use, to my knowledge, the R-Alpha Lipoic Acid salt form (I.E. form neutralized by a base such as baking soda) so neutralizing it should work OK. But just remember if you are on a sodium restricted diet this method may not be ok as baking soda contains much sodium. Bulksupplements.com provides an excellent method of buying pure supplements as it is difficult to find suppliers that sell in a variety and of reasonable amount to where you don't have to buy a 55 gallon drum of the stuff nor buy too little. It is amazing how difficult it is to find pure supplements and pure minerals has been a near impossible quest to find (ridiculous aint it?). Things are constantly being adulterated with non-pertinent other substances which may lead to health problems themselves (E.G. those innocent sounding fillers in vitamins may over time not be good for ones health). It is obvious that adulterating pure health substances (E.G. stevia now has erythritol or other things added too it: why not include only pure stuff and let I, you, or other person figure out what they want). It is a vast plan to prevent individuals from finding things that work good for their health as substance adulteration makes it very difficult for one to formulate their own supplemental formulations. I am not using this as a food additive so I can not vouch for any synergistic effects, only that everything with order of this (and many other items) turned out good.

This product was so defective that Amazon should delete it immediately. Instead of being a powder, the product was clumped into add-shaped balls that were difficult to breakup -- even after the package was smashed 57 times with a hammer. The clumps were gummy and sticky. The result was that, if they were swallowed, they would burn your mouth and esophagus as you tried to digest them. IMO, this product actually is dangerous and could be harmful to certain users. This also meant it was almost impossible to create an accurate dose of the item. When we asked for a replacement, the Seller (BulkSupplements.com) offered a refund instead but never sent one. There was not a lot of money involved (under $50) but we wanted to warn others the degree to which this product is severely effective and potentially dangerous.

I use alpha lipoic acid mostly as an antioxidant although I've read about it's ability to heal nerve damage in many places, including the clinical literature. But I'd tried another brand without any noticeable results. I switched to bulksupplements because 1) as usual they are less expensive and 2) they sell R-ALA (the active form). The shipment arrived and sat around while I knocked off the last few pills from the other brand. I just dump 200 mg into a glass of water. A review article on ALA stated it's reasonably available in oral form since it is both fat and water soluble and converts into its active form in tissues. It also works as an antioxidant in both it's oxidized and reduced states. At any rate, I do have problems with my C7, C6 and C5 vertebrae. It's been two years since I pinched those nerves but my thumb, forefinger and index finger are still numb at the tips. Today, I realized the feeling had come back to my thumb and partway up the tips of my other two fingers. Still, it isn't as if I'm going to be doing surgery. But wait! I also have Morton's neuroma - the joints between my 3rd and 4th toes pinch the nerve that runs in between. That means I can't wear tight shoes - as in high heels. If that nerve heals up, I'll be singing, podiatrists will weep... Update: 6/28/2017 Can it be? I haven't experienced any foot pain while wearing flats for over two weeks. I tried on a pair of heels and I could wear them without immediate pain or even any pain after several hours. The Morton's neuroma which I've had for over 20 years is... gone??? Sensation is returning to all my fingers. The tips still feel like they are recovering but I can feel again. Interestingly, some of my back pain is diminishing too. I always though that pain came from arthritis but a lot may have been coming from nerve damage. 7/23/17 I took a break from ALA for about two weeks. The foot and back pain both returned but my fingers are OK. I assume my foot and back are taking damage routinely and the ALA is strong enough to heal it. 10/29/2017 I took another break from ALA recently (supplement overload, aka, I forgot). I was about to restart when I realized, I hadn't experienced any severe foot or back pain for a while. What could have happened? Well, I recently fixed my magnesium deficiency, started supplementing with zinc to correct a minor deficiency and worked on killing a bad gut infection. A bad gut infection can inflame your whole body and a zinc deficiency will show as poor wound healing (check). It appears the gut infection can add one more notch to it's belt - bipolar, ADHD, diabetes, cardiovascular risk, nerve damage. It appears that my healing (including nerve healing) is much improved. i can even pick up heavy objects without hearing a bunch of clicking noises from my back. I am most pleased that the ALA was not required to heal the nerve damage forever but it's still a potent antioxidant and my mitochondria are under attack from environmental toxins from all sides - Roundup, pesticides, BPA-like chemicals and more. Update Dec. 2018 : It's still effective. No nerve pain from my foot. Still enjoying my high heels : )

This time it came in ok.. The first time I bought R-ALA it came in a clump. So I looked up everything that I could find on stabilized R-ALA and depolymerizing the clump. You'll note that in the name alpha lipoic acid is the word 'acid'. Sodium bicarbonate will break down the polymerized alpha lipoic acid. So what I did was find a glass jar that held 6oz. of water, found out that I could get 35 tsp. of liqued out of it. I wanted 300mg a tsp so 35*300mg=10.5g. I put 10.5g of polymerized crumbled A-ALA in with 7g of sodium bicarbonate, and added water to bring it up to 6 oz. If you are friendly with sodium bicarbonate you can put in a few grams more and it will react faster. This will foam up quite a bit so it's better to do it in a larger container than the 6 oz that I used. Still the whole reaction is slow, and it may take a few days in the refrigerator, stir when you think of it, it eventually will clear. ( Don't stir it with metal, polymerized A-ALA sticks to metal like glue. ) This gives you a syrup which is basically stabilized alpha lipoic acid in water. Then I would just take a tsp of it for 300mg. It's good to mix it with a little water.

I've used Bulk Supplements before, multiple times. They've been good, but this caused me heartburn. It seems to burn the mouth and throat as being swallowed. It doesn't dissolve in water. So, I tried oil. No, it didn't dissolve. So, I heated it up in water and it became like glue. I had to use Ajax cleanser to clean it out of the pan and off the spoon I tried to stir it with. It was like cleaning off dried egg.

this is a follow up of my follow up you know when your first diagnosed with diabetes and metformin only helped to lower your glucose levels from 300 to 200 you start searching for alternative remedies and I threw everything at it which I don't recommend start with a two or three products at the most and see what helps and what doesn't and give the natural time but if you don't see changes once the bottles are consumed then move on to the next two products. I have finally come up for something that works for me No.1 R-ALA from bulk supplements, No2. Life Extension IRVINGIA Phase 3 Calorie Control which has Chromium and other great thing for diabetes. No 3 is Glycobol , No4 Nutrigold Bitter Melon Gold. My blood sugar was 98 yesterday. I do also use a whey isolate protein powder with Acetyl L-carnitine also from Bulk supplements which is synergistic with R-ALA and makes taking the bulk R-ALA a lot easier because it is harsh on the throat it is a acid. Wow the first time I took this I took it with zero calorie flavored water and the Acid portion of Alpha Lipoic Acid made itself evident. I since then have lowered my dose to a little under 1/8 teaspoon and now take it with milk and some protein powder mix for flavoring. I hardly know that I am taking it when I take it with milk. Its too early to determine health benefits but I take other supplements that contain ALA and it has lowered my glucose levels what I have noticed so far is more energy. I combine my R-ALA with Acetyl Carnitine because I read somewhere it is synergistic with carnitine. Also be aware that the first time you take it a weird sensation happens I think its do to the R-ala crossing over into the brain barrier its not off putting and only last for a minute or two then quickly dissipates. And after the third of fourth time you don't seem to get it anymore. Stick with the lower doses 1/16 and build to 1/8 teaspoon or a little less than 1/8 teaspoon and take with milk Update I been on this now for 5 weeks and I love it and you'll will too takes time to get into system by I love the results too many to list I could not be any happier with the results

I had two initial rounds of buying this with no major issues. However, international shipping was always at the slower end of the spectrum, the powder is pretty bitter, and on my third order I ran into the heat-congealing issue that you'll see if you delve into some of the other reviews. I'm working my way through the two packets of former powder/now putty, and alternating that every other day with a capsule product from Amazon (which arrived a lot quicker). The capsule one will be my go-to now I'd say.