Five Superstars for Liver Health Includes Coconut-Based Product

Data from SPINS, a market research firm specializing in natural products category, revealed the liver health category brought in around $31 million to dietary supplements sales across multiple sales channels, NutraIngredients-USA reported on February 12.  These are Milk Thistle, Dandelion, Glutathione, Alpha Lipoic Acid, and Choline.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is compound derived from caprylic acid, which can be found in various mammal milk as well as coconut or palm kernel oil.  Though it did not make SPIN’s top 10 ingredients in terms of sales, but it did make it to the top 10 in terms of dollar growth.  In 2018, sales of alpha lipoic acid supplements in the liver health category went up by almost 30%, hitting $129,000, the report said.
    An animal study conducted by Serbian researchers published in 2014 found that, alpha lipoic acid may improve fat peroxidation and nitrosative stress in mice that have been induced with NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) through a methione- and choline-deprived diet.  Additionally, they linked alpha lipoic acid supplementation to an increase in DHA.  Other studies that provide evidence of alpha lipoic acid’s benefits include a 2012 rat study done in Korea and a 2018 study by Iranian researchers conducted on obese patients with NAFLD.