How it works?
Benfotiamine raises the blood level of thiamin pyrophosphate, the biologically active coenzyme of thiamin, and stimulates transketolase, a cellular enzyme essential for maintenance of normal glucose metabolic pathways. Benfotiamine was shown to cause, on average, a 5-fold greater increase in blood thiamin levels than thiamin mononitrate, with a concomitant greater thiamin concentration in red blood cells. Benfotiamine readily passes through intestinal cells and is converted into thiamin. Alpha-lipoic acid is a key factor in the cellular process that metabolizes glucose for energy production. Aging is accompanied by a decreased ability of the liver to recycle ascorbic acid following oxidative stress. R-lipoic acid, after two weeks of supplementation to aged rats, reversed the age-related impairment of ascorbic acid recycling and concentration in liver cells. Aging is associated with oxidative stress in the brain. The brain’s high rate of metabolism and its long-lived neurons make it particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress. Since alpha-lipoic acid interrupts cellular oxidative processes in both its oxidized and reduced forms, it plays a modulatory role in the brain and nervous system.