The dosage may vary by the type of L-carnitine supplement, however. Acetyl-L-carnitine, for example, can be used in doses up to 2, milligrams per day while the dose for L-carnitine L-tartrate, a form typically used to enhance athletic performance, can range all the way up to 4, milligrams. Most people use L-carnitine to help boost weight loss and increase fat burning.
However, there are many other potential reasons you may want to add carnitine into your diet. It can correct deficiencies, boost brain function, prevent muscle damage, increase endurance and enhance athletic performance.
It can also be incredibly useful for vegans and vegetarians who may have a limited intake of carnitine-rich foods. Taking a supplement can be an easy way to help meet your needs for this crucial amino acid. Here are some recipes that are high in carnitine for you to try out:. When used as directed, carnitine can be safe and effective with minimal risk of side effects. Common L-carnitine side effects include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. L-carnitine may increase the risk of seizures in those with epilepsy.
Additionally, carnitine may worsen symptoms of hypothyroidism. If you have an underactive thyroid, you should consult with your doctor before taking this amino acid. If you experience any negative side effects, be sure to report to your doctor to determine if supplementation is right for you.
Finally, keep in mind that carnitine may enhance fat loss and weight loss for some people, but it should be used in combination with a healthy diet and active lifestyle to see the most results. Josh Axe is on a mission to provide you and your family with the highest quality nutrition tips and healthy recipes in the world What Is L-Carnitine?
More Nutrition Dr. Axe on Facebook 1 Dr. Axe on Twitter 22 Dr. Is there any danger in consuming too much carnitine?
Muscle weakness in uremic individuals and seizures in those with seizure disorders are rarer adverse effects. Supplementing with L-carnitine may result in nausea, diarrhea, cramping, or vomiting. Because L-carnitine is made by your liver and kidneys from two amino acids, lysine and methionine, it is not needed in your diet.
This substance is essential in your body because it transports long-chain fatty acids to the mitochondria of your cells, where they generate energy. Carnitine is a modified form of the amino acid lysine that is also found in the body.
The main difference between acetyl-carnitine and carnitine is that acetyl-carnitine is easier to absorb from the stomach and crosses the blood-brain barrier more quickly. Acetyl-carnitine has some benefits as a supplement. Glutamine is a vital amino acid that serves a variety of activities in the body. It is a protein building ingredient and an important component of the immune system. This amino acid is produced naturally by your body and may also be found in a variety of foods.
However, you may be uncertain if you need more glutamine in the form of supplements for optimum health. Leucine, isoleucine, and valine are the three essential amino acids that make up the branched-chain amino acids BCAAs.
BCAA supplements have been proven to increase muscle mass, reduce tiredness, and relieve muscular pain. It comes from food and is required for the body to produce proteins. If l-carnitine was supplemented, it may not have gotten into the muscle tissue sufficiently to exert its benefits.
Benjamin T. Wall et al. The Journal of Physiology. Up until the study, everyone was still confused about l-carnitine. The study aimed to enhance the study design and build upon findings from the past, which highlighted the effects l-carnitine supplementation can have on muscle and exercise performance. Objective: Determine whether chronic L-Carnitine plus carbohydrate feeding in healthy men increased muscle carnitine content to the same degree as their previous lab studies.
Hypothesis 3: Those positive effects of increased muscle carnitine content would improve high intensity exercise performance. The study lasted 24 weeks, and involved 14 healthy, male recreational athletes in their mid-twenties who engaged in triathlon training run, bike, swim 3 to 5 times per week. Their VO2max was tested again after the study to ensure no significant improvement in aerobic capacity had been made meaning the supplemental protocol would be the cause of any significant change in performance.
Subjects visited the lab 3 times over the 24 weeks with 12 weeks between each. They exercised on a cycle ergometer for:. Important: Insulin stimulates the transport and uptake of carnitine into muscle, which is why a carbohydrate drink was used as the delivery method in this study. Again, this was based on previous research which showed this to be a viable way to increase carnitine retention. A biopsy is the surgical removal of muscle tissue. In this instance, the researchers used the Bergstrom percutaneous needle method.
With that in mind, remember that these med were subjected to 3 of these biopsies per visit, and two of them within 5 seconds of peddling on an ergometer.
We all benefit from the data that comes out of these studies, but not all of us get sliced up while doing an intense workout in the process. This was due to the reduction in glycogen usage during the low intensity exercise and so there was no difference in glycogen usage between groups after high intensity exercise. This means of course that less lactic acid was produced during exercise, which in-turn means less anaerobic ATP production was required.
There was also a trend towards greater acetylcarnitine and free carnitine in the Carnitine group. This was the first study that demonstrated a reliable method to increase muscle carnitine content, with the co-ingestion of a carbohydrate drink. To any endurance sport athletes out there, that result should get you pretty excited because it leaves more glycogen for the more intense efforts.
Also, for anyone who exercises in the low intensity range for fat loss, it should be even more exciting. The energy required to exercise must come from somewhere, and if more than half the glycogen is being used then it is coming from fat stores. Another blinding result is the large difference in lactate production at high intensity exercise that l-carnitine supplementation appeared to facilitate compared to control. That increase caused the control group to use more glycogen and thus anaerobic respiration, which produced more lactate.
The Carnitine group at 24 weeks even reduced their lactate production from 12 weeks and saw a zero increase compared to week 0, despite a concomitant rise in glycogen storage. This again means that more ATP is produced via mitochondrial membrane flux rather than through anaerobic respiration.
The follow up study that came in dealt with that body mass observation during the study, where the Control group added over 5 lbs on average, and the Carnitine group added no body mass despite all subjects consuming a calorie surplus. Skeletal muscle carnitine loading increases energy expenditure, modulates fuel metabolism gene networks and prevents body fat accumulation in humans. Francis B. Stevens; Benjamin T.
So, while the study was exciting with respect to muscle carnitine content; physical performance and energy metabolism, the study took a closer look at the energy metabolism aspect. Perhaps most importantly for a lot of people, the emphasis on body fat mass could tell them with more certainty as to whether l-carnitine was a viable weight loss supplement.
Additionally, they decided to measure the expression of nearly genes associated with carnitine and energy fuel metabolism in the subjects. Gene expression would bolster the insight gained from the invasive scientific analysis alongside, plus that of the study. Hypothesis: that any change of energy metabolism as a result of increased muscle carnitine content would occur alongside adaptations in expression of genes related to fuel use, mitochondrial function and insulin signalling.
Mitochondria exist inside every cell in the body. They produce the energy that cells need to function. The body creates carnitine from the amino acids lysine and methionine.
Scientists first isolated it from meat. As a result, takes its name from the Latin word for meat. There is some evidence to support the use of carnitine in medicine. It is a popular supplement among athletes, but more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in improving performance. A part of carnitine transports long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria. They are burned there, or oxidized, to produce energy. Another part transports waste and toxic compounds out of the mitochondria, and this prevents unwanted substances from building up.
Skeletal and cardiac muscles that use fatty acids as a dietary fuel have high concentrations of carnitine. The liver and kidney usually produce enough carnitine in the human body, so topping up with food or supplements is not necessary. There is no recommended daily intake. However, genetic or medical reasons can cause some people produce too little. Primary systemic carnitine deficiency can happen when the protein that is responsible for bringing carnitine into cells undergoes a genetic change.
This deficiency causes problems with processing food. This rare condition can lead to :. To treat it, the physician will prescribe pharmacological doses of carnitine, to correct the problems of cardiomyopathy and muscle weakness.
If it happens as a result of other metabolic diseases, this is secondary carnitine deficiency. Cancer and aging reduce carnitine levels.
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