Well, me being unqualfiied and having no scientific background, i'd probably be useless in answering your question directly. I can only discuss it by results more than anything else.

The creator knew exactly what He was doing. The ALA that is used in supplement form is potent, so when in this form, one needs to know how to use it appropriately, so that the high dose does not cause the opposite effects of what one is attempting to do. Today we do not have the food we once had, the levels of these things that may have been more readily available, would have dropped also, considering the environment, the degradation of foods etc and our bodies also suffer from a lack of what may have once been abundant. This world is not exactly paradise, or even remotely what it must have been once.

Also, it makes sense that if we have it in us all the time, there is no big spikes of ups and downs of it's concentration as such, nor would it be such a significant amount as to be a risk. But if you want to use it in potent form to address something as potent as mercury, then you'd have to attempt to get as close as possible to getting the blood levels consistant and even, so that there is no ONE BIG DOSE and then nothing again till the next time. Using it every 3-4 hours, allows the blood levels of ALA to remain even, so that the movement of mercury can be as even as possible also. IF the blood levels of ALA are allowed to reduce too much by leaving too long an interval between doses, then the movement of mercury become erratic and then the risks of redistribution increase.

naturally occuring ALA inside us, in foods, are not in levels that would have the risks attached to mercury. But when one wishes to take onboard the supplement itself, then they need to find the safest way possible. One can rely on foods if they wish, but I for one have not found that effective and the amount of time it woudl take? who knows and who the heck would wait around? I know people have been ill for years and only when chelating were able to finally get results. Some people were able to get well naturally, but those with signifcant brain/organ mercury often could not get far until they used a specific chelation regime, and ALA is a big part of this.

So certainly, we were not supposed to be exposed to mercury like this. That was not part of the Creator's plan either don't you agree? Mercury has its uses, but not inside the human body from Amalgams or poisoned fish. Consider again the degradation of the planet and the human body as well. THe things that should be abundant, once again, have also declined. So we need to use our brains to also find methods of helping ourselves also. And maybe this means using a little more of something that is "naturally occuring", in order to produce more significant results.

I don't doubt that the proper diet would help a person, I just feel that in some cases, more is needed.

I cannot talk to you about ALA and the R-lipoic, as I do not know enough about either of them to give any scientific answer. You would need to mention that on one of the forums devoted to his protocol, so that andy himself, or someone more informed than me can answer you better.http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/frequent-dose-chelation/

But so far, Andy has only done the chelation with the typical ALA and it's produced results, so he is not overly quick to use or recommend the other, when this was the only ALA he did the trials on and the one that he used to cure himself and others . Anybody can use the other form if they wish to try it and if it is even better, great. But until Andy has used this and had enough experience with it, seen enough results and proven it's safety in this area of chealtion, he is not in a position to advocate it, as he's not had enough trials using it as yet. but the other one is doing just fine, so in his mind, there is no real need to alter it. If it isn't broke, why fix it? He needs to hear enough good reports beforehand. Otherwise he's risking people to something he's not done enough studies on.

If I were you, I'd discuss this on the other forum with people more up on this. Andy I hope might answer you too. My arguments are only by results. i can't really argue from a scientific perspective, other than the logic of the frequent dosing itself, which makes a lot of sense to me.

There are many things today that are manmade problems and I am certain were not intended by the Creator, so sometimes it is up to us to find ways to help our fellow man and improve things also. Using our mind definitely was intended. I don't beleive anybody will have the perfect answers though, but Andy has helped a LOT of people, both adults and kids, which is pretty good going.

My understanding is that the amount of ALA produced by the body is trivial compared to the amount used in chelation therapy.