ALCAR 5-6g a day

Hi,

I'm working with cirque du soleil doing 8-10 shows 6 days a week.

For the last 6 months I've been using ALCAR at 5 or 6 grams during my warmup for the energy boost and focus I get from it.

It's subtle but much 'cleaner' than caffeine, without the jitteriness which i can do without on stage.

I've tried to have a look around for safety concerns with this much usage but didn't turn up much.

I'm after some opinions on ALCAR used at this amount, has anyone read anything or come across any high dose studies?

People compare ALCAR to caffeine all the time on this forum, but in my humble opinion there is absolutely no similarity between the effects they have.

Caffeine might increase jitteriness, but beware, ALCAR increases sweating significantly, so if that's an issue for you (being on stage), be careful!

Possible downsides of high dose ALCAR have been discussed on this forum many times before and the concern seems AFAIK to relate to the increase in free radical / ROS generation by mitochondria when high doses of ALCAR are taken, which, in one study, was reduced or neutralised by co-supplementation with Alpha Lipoic Acid.

I doubt you'd get much more benefit from 6 grams as you would from 2-3 grams (my experience) - have you tried taking a lower dose? Was it less effective? If so, do you think it's possible that this might be placebo related (psychological)?

Edited by hamishm00, 22 November 2011 - 08:07 AM.

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Isn't that a dose at which you'd have to take ALA to compensate?

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Cheers for the replies,

Yeah I really should re-order ALA

The sweatiness is no issue. No acrobalance, I work with fire and am already soaked in sweat after the first minute of the routine.

I think the slowly increasing dosage has been my growing flippancy in just dumping a spoonful in my juice. Which gets a little bit bigger when I'm tired or feel i really need it. could definitely be placebo or wishful thinking.
I'll try to pull that back to 2g and see if i notice any difference.

Yeah It's not like caffeine at all but caffeines the most common energy booster to compare it to.
I really do feel the body responds much better to the warmup and I feel a bit sharper and more 'up for it'.

Knew about the free radical thing, knew i should be getting ALA again. Was interested to see if anyone else had come across anything else long term that could be a problem with it. Especially as i'm using it with such regularity.