118 Lipoic Acid Supplementation Promotes Weight Loss and Improves Body Composition in Overweight or Obese Women: Results of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study Weijian Zhang1, Jonathan Purnell2, Clive Woffendin3, Cliff Pereira4, Alexander J Michels1, Joseph A Vita5, Maret G Traber1, Tory M Hagen1, Gerd Bobe1, and Balz Frei1 1Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, USA, 2Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, USA, 3Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, USA, 4Department of Statistics, Oregon State University, USA, 5Evans Department of Medicine and the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, USA We have shown previously that alpha-lipoic acid, a naturally-occurring dithiol compound, inhibits atherosclerotic lesion development and body weight gain and lowers serum triglycerides in apoE-/- and apoE-/- LDLR-/- mice. In addition, we found that alpha-lipoic acid stimulates triglyceride clearance and inhibits liver triglyceride secretion in ZDF rats, thereby potentially promoting body weight and visceral fat loss. We, therefore, hypothesized that overweight or obese humans would benefit from oral (R)-alpha-lipoic acid (R-LA) supplementation by decreasing plasma triglycerides, body weight, and body fat mass. Eighty adults (46 women, 34 men; 21-60 years; BMI 25.6-52.0 kg/m2; plasma triglycerides 100-401 mg/dL) were enrolled in a 24-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and assigned to either R-LA (600 mg/day) or matching placebo. The study was completed by 64 participants (31 receiving R-LA). Using an intention-to-treat analysis, we found significant interactions between gender and R-LA supplementation for anthropometric measures. In women (n=35), R-LA supplementation compared to placebo decreased body weight (-5.0%; P=0.0002), body fat percentage (-4.6%; P=0.03), body fat mass (-9.4%; P=0.002), body lean mass (-2.4%; P=0.04), waist circumference (-5.5%; P=0.03), and hip circumference (-2.5%; P=0.004). No significant effects of R-LA supplementation on plasma triglycerides were observed; although in both male and female subjects receiving R-LA, body weight loss was linearly correlated with decreased triglyceride concentrations (r=0.50, P=0.004), whereas no significant correlation was observed in adults receiving placebo (r=0.24, P=0.17). We conclude that R-LA supplementation of overweight or obese women promotes weight loss and improves body composition, primarily by lowering visceral fat. Based on these observations and our preclinical studies, R-LA

of cardiovascular disease. This study was supported by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) grant P01 AT002034 and NIH NCATS grant UL1TR000128.

SFRBM 2014 S57

doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2014.10.433