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Alpha-Ketoglutaric Acid (AK)
Characteristics
- Part of the Krebs/ Citric Acid Cycle (basic energy source for the body)
- Helps the liver break down by-products of muscle exercise
- ammonia
- lactic acid
- ?arachidonic acid? this fatty acid is the chemical messenger first released by muscles during strong exercise. It regulates muscle growth. [need more info, including does AK break it down?]
- Body-builders use AK to
- exercise longer with less resultant pain and stiffness
- build up more lean body mass
- very acidic
Sources I've tried:
- Pyridoxine Alpha Keto-Glutarate (PAK)
- strongly hydrophilic; loses potency as it absorbs water
- the Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) gave me headaches and eventually (when I took more because the AK component was losing potency) a liver attack. [What does it mean about my liver that most B vitamins do this? One possible answer is mineral deficiency.]
- very acidic
- Smart Basics has some, with a good description.
- Twin Labs' Potassium Fuel
- AK is combined with large amounts of potassium and magnesium to neutralize the acid
- was hard to compare the AK dosage to that in the PAK I'd been taking; as a result I didn't get enough into me and muscle spasms from TMJ apparently set off a liver attack
- Pure Alpha Ketoglutaric Acid powder
- L-Ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate
My experience:
- Before I started taking AK, walking a few hundred yards would give me a liver attack. When I first started using it, I could do heavy gardening; see the description in my essay "Garden Meditations."
- It also reduced the nerve pinching pain from repetitive motion stress
- AK gives me energy...
- When I first started taking it, it made me feel tense and "wired" with both sleep and meditation more difficult. I would tailor how much I took to the minimum I needed to handle the results of exercise. I took it once a day.
- Now I need (and tolerate) it about every two to three hours. It goes a long way toward keeping my chronic pain down, and doesn't tense me up anymore.
- But I can still only tolerate a very small amount at a time. I dilute 1/4 tsp of the powder in 1 quart of water, then use 2 ounces of that for each dose. It works out to about 75 mg per dose, and I take from 4 to 6 of them a day.
- When I have tried to take a larger dose, it gives me a throbbing headache in both temples (not the same headache I get with liver attacks, but still incapacitating).
- When I have a liver attack, I can't tolerate it, have to stop taking it. When I start again, I can't resume taking it at the same level; I have to start lower and work up again or I get the throbbing temples, and it doesn't protect me in exercise. Wonder if it's like CoEnzyme Q10: needs to get the system that uses it beefed up before it's effective (though it only takes a few days, not weeks).
- Pure amino acids need to be taken on an empty stomach, and not with other supplements. (Although perhaps other pure amino acids are okay?) I give it half an hour before I eat, and an hour after.
- It's extremely hygroscopic / hydrophilic, and degrades fast (it stops working before the expiration date Jo-Mar gives).
- It reduces inflammation for me, notably when I use my wrists a lot on the computer. (That's why I listed it as useful for arthritis.)
Please note
I am not advising anyone to do what I'm doing. Your body may react entirely differently from mine. I am not a doctor, and do not know enough about these supplements to recommend them.
copyright © 2000-2005 by Catherine Holmes Clark. Last updated 24 October 2005
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