Sporting/exercise applications: Limited studies in humans show improvements in systemic markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity following muscle-damaging exercise with short-term ALA supplementation¹¹. Evidence from animal studies shows inconclusive effects on skeletal muscle oxidative stress, antioxidant enzymes, mitochondrial biogenesis, and endurance performance.¹¹ Some studies conducted in humans have investigated markers of muscle damage during recovery following an intense muscle-damaging exercise bout with supplementation with ALA (600 mg/day) for 8-10 days.^{12; 13} Zembron-Lacny et al.¹³ reported significantly lower creatine kinase following combined submaximal endurance exercise and a muscle damaging eccentric downhill treadmill run, while Zembron-Lacny et al.¹² reported no significant effect of ALA supplementation on either creatine kinase or lactate dehydrogenase levels following muscle damaging eccentric resistance exercise.

Diabetes: ALA has been found to reduce micro- and macro-vascular diabetic complications in rodents^{14; 15} and improve neuropathic pain in rodents¹⁶ and humans.² ALA has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in rodents¹ and humans¹⁷ with diabetes.

Weight loss: a recent meta-analysis of RCTs found a small but significant mean weight loss of 1.27 (95% CI -2.29 to -0.25) kg in clinical patients across studies using doses of 300-1800 mg LA per day for between 8-52 weeks.¹⁸