BulkSupplements.com R-Alpha Lipoic Acid Powder - R-ALA Supplement, R Alpha Lipoic Acid 600mg - Antioxidants Supplement, Gluten Free, 600mg per Serving, 10g (0.35 oz) (Pack of 1)

It is wet, clumpy, and reacts like styrofoam in water. There is zero solubility. Does not appear to be something you would want to put in your body. I have never felt an R-ALA supplement, like I have read in some reviews of other products as well (and I lift, cycle..). I had high hopes for the BULK SUPPLEMENTS brand R-ALA because I am currently enjoying their NAC, or at least I thought I was. The NAC is good, smells like sulfur, calms my nerves (I am 4 months off cigarettes). Within 10 seconds of opening the R-ALA, I knew I wanted to return it. So far a seemingly easy return.Bulksupplements, what a major bummer!

I'm so grateful for the free sample making this easy to try as I was scared by the comments about the acidity burning one's tongue which made me extra hesitant to buy it as I have found some alpha-lipoic acid products make my stomach burn even when consumed with food which reduces its bio-availability.FORTUNATELY I'M FINDING THIS POWDER GREAT & EASY TO WORK WITH & fine to take on an empty stomach which I have read is important to get maximum benefits of any ALA product. I'm even finding I can often put the powder straight in my mouth if I aim it towards the back of my tongue & have some water ready to wash it down fast before any burning starts.I do love the convenience of the pure powder making this powerful anti-oxidant immediately & easily available & easy to take at the same time as other powerful antioxidants like glutathione as a PBS doctor said that most anti-oxidants enhance each other's effects when taken together.AND WHAT'S MOST IMPRESSIVE is that I am rapidly noticing much more stable blood sugar (not that I'm diabetic but I do tend to hypoglycemia at times) & feeling better when I take this vs. no noticeable impact from having tried R-ALA in pill form from 2 other brands for a year now in addition to using 100mg of ALA 2-3 times a day for many years now. I had continued those supplements because of the antioxidant benefits but it's so much better when there are noticeable benefits & improvements from a supplement than to just continue on faith or the theory that it's beneficial. So I'm very grateful that BulkSupplements makes it easy to try products through their free sample offer following any purchase of theirs as I would have never thought I needed this.AND AS A CHEMICALLY & GENERALLY VERY SENSITIVE PERSON, I was afraid to try out supplements from a new company especially when manufacturing sounds like it often does happen in China. But from having tried many of their powders so far, it seems like they really have figured out how to pull off excellent quality control that guarantees purity & potency which is so helpful in enabling skipping needless fillers.These powders are so much easier to take than pills once you're set up with a good set of measuring spoons that go down to 1/32 tsp which makes it super easy to adjust dosage & take as desired/recommended. I love the multi-colored set that has a huge range of easy to distinguish sizes "Prepworks From Progressive International Ultimate 19-Piece Measuring Cup and Spoon Set" & I find this also works great as a fun gift for anybody who likes to cook.

This time it came in ok..The first time I bought R-ALA it came in a clump. So I looked up everything that I could find on stabilized R-ALA and depolymerizing the clump. You'll note that in the name alpha lipoic acid is the word 'acid'. Sodium bicarbonate will break down the polymerized alpha lipoic acid. So what I did was find a glass jar that held 6oz. of water, found out that I could get 35 tsp. of liqued out of it. I wanted 300mg a tsp so 35*300mg=10.5g. I put 10.5g of polymerized crumbled A-ALA in with 7g of sodium bicarbonate, and added water to bring it up to 6 oz. If you are friendly with sodium bicarbonate you can put in a few grams more and it will react faster. This will foam up quite a bit so it's better to do it in a larger container than the 6 oz that I used. Still the whole reaction is slow, and it may take a few days in the refrigerator, stir when you think of it, it eventually will clear. ( Don't stir it with metal, polymerized A-ALA sticks to metal like glue. ) This gives you a syrup which is basically stabilized alpha lipoic acid in water. Then I would just take a tsp of it for 300mg. It's good to mix it with a little water.

I received this product and it was gelled solid.

Arrived on time. Packaging good. Product as specified.Only item out of large order that had any potential qualms associated with it. The item is double bagged (the good part), but R-Alpha Lipoic Acid must polymerize (I.E. reacts to form larger chains) as the material is difficult to separate and not a powder in the perfect sense of the word but more of a clump. Since item is not refrigerated on delivery it seems that any higher temperatures probably aid this. It does say the item should be refrigerated. It does dissolve in baking soda since it is an acid and for my use it seems ok. Anyone wanting to dissolve it can do the same as another reviewer was spot on saying that he/she does this as it works and various medical uses usually use, to my knowledge, the R-Alpha Lipoic Acid salt form (I.E. form neutralized by a base such as baking soda) so neutralizing it should work OK. But just remember if you are on a sodium restricted diet this method may not be ok as baking soda contains much sodium. Bulksupplements.com provides an excellent method of buying pure supplements as it is difficult to find suppliers that sell in a variety and of reasonable amount to where you don't have to buy a 55 gallon drum of the stuff nor buy too little. It is amazing how difficult it is to find pure supplements and pure minerals has been a near impossible quest to find (ridiculous aint it?). Things are constantly being adulterated with non-pertinent other substances which may lead to health problems themselves (E.G. those innocent sounding fillers in vitamins may over time not be good for ones health). It is obvious that adulterating pure health substances (E.G. stevia now has erythritol or other things added too it: why not include only pure stuff and let I, you, or other person figure out what they want). It is a vast plan to prevent individuals from finding things that work good for their health as substance adulteration makes it very difficult for one to formulate their own supplemental formulations. I am not using this as a food additive so I can not vouch for any synergistic effects, only that everything with order of this (and many other items) turned out good.

I had two initial rounds of buying this with no major issues. However, international shipping was always at the slower end of the spectrum, the powder is pretty bitter, and on my third order I ran into the heat-congealing issue that you'll see if you delve into some of the other reviews.I'm working my way through the two packets of former powder/now putty, and alternating that every other day with a capsule product from Amazon (which arrived a lot quicker). The capsule one will be my go-to now I'd say.