Alpha lipoic acid

Hey Caustic just curious if its necessary to take biotin with the ALA listed on your regimen because yesterday i was reading the label and i saw that it has biotin in it. So i didnt take biotin what what would i still be able to take the ALA?

I doubt it has anywhere near as much biotin inside as the biotin supplement CS is recommending (1667% RDI).

youngbalder - In most cases a good branded distributor of Stabilized R-Lipoic Acid will also put some biotin in their product, but not always. As Misirlou suggested it may not be enough for optimal use though. There is an area where it gets tricky. Airing on the side of caution, biotin levels are at the greatest risk when there is either poor glucose metabolism or a history use of antibiotics.

Taking extra biotin does have other benefits, but if you're healthy in all respects do you need to take extra? Unfortunately unless any of the above paragraph applies there isn't enough evidence one way or the other to be certain.
I can say that a 1,000 milligrams instead of 5,000 mcg should be fine.

CS - Some regimen questions:

1. Do you take the biotin every time you take ALA with each meal? Or just once a day?
   
2. Is it alright to take the Ecklonia cava extract with breakfast and dinner? Or is it better to take it when you wake up and before you sleep?
   

Warren - Usually every time I take Lipoic acid I also take biotin. This isn't necessary, but I do it usually.

It is much preferred to take Ecklonia with Breakfast and Dinner instead of right after bed or before sleep. The reason is that it will absorb better with the food while protecting against some of the metabolic waste products of that food.

What would happen if we were to use ALA as a topical for our scalps? I know it fights wrinkles so it's gotta be good for scalp skin health, but would it deplete biotin in the scalp leading to more hairloss instead of hair growth?

Or should we only worry about this when we ingest ALA and biotin?

jksl - No worries on topical ALA.