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acetyl-l-carnitine / ALC...Worth it?
- Thread starter MrRTTB
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Boulder257
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Carnitine (also called L-Carnitine) is the natural molecule your body needs to move fuel sources into cells, and to move waste products out of cells. It occurs naturally in the highest concentration in red meat. Your muscles, heart and brain contain the highest levels, since they use the most energy. This is why Carnitine supplementation can help with muscle weakness and fatigue. It helps give the body the ability to reach peak exercise goals and then to recover more quickly from exercise.
A deficiency of Carnitine can cause fatigue, depression, heart problems, weakness, hypoglycemia, fat accumulation, poor heart function and a host of other ailments. This is because it is essential to the chemistry of energy, and nothing in the body works without energy. Carnitine supplementation helps your body produce energy on a cellular level, and has a number of beneficial effects.
Carnitine can greatly improve heart function, and research suggests it can help you recover more quickly from a heart attack or bypass surgery. Carnitine has been shown to protect the heart muscle, and to improve exercise tolerance, including walking distance, in those who suffer from angina and poor circulation. It has been tied to improved performance of seasoned athletes and quicker recovery in untrained “weekend warriors.” (Marconi et. al., Effects of L-carnitine loading on the aerobic and anaerobic performance of endurance athletes, Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., 54(2):131-135, 1985).
The benefits of Carnitine are not limited to muscles. It can also improve memory, attention span, senility, learning disabilities and brain-blood flow. This is because it can mimic acetylcholine, the primary neurotransmitter of the brain. It also has the ability to increase the body's production of glutathione, which is a key nutrient in the detoxification of the body. Carnitine also works with Coenzyme Q10 (among other things), which enables the heart to pump more efficiently and improves energy metabolism.
Studies have shown that a Carnitine deficiency can cause low sperm motility in some men. It can also be the missing ingredient needed for the body to deal with a number of conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver, memory loss, depression, diabetes, recurrent infections and respiratory distress in infants. Carnitine deficiency can be made worse by consuming alcohol, fatty foods, and sugar.
Carnitine helps the body metabolize fatty acids. It helps your body use fat by carrying fatty acids into the mitochondria so that the fat can be burned as energy, instead of stored as fat in your arteries and tissues. This explains why studies demonstrated significant increase in weight loss among patients taking Carnitine while on a healthy eating plan.
By definition, Carnitine is not a vitamin. A vitamin is something your body cannot produce on its own. Carnitine can be synthesized in the body from the amino acids Lysine and Methionine. If you don’t have sufficient levels of these and other amino acids you can’t make optimal levels of carnitine. This is why it has been called a “conditionally essential” nutrient. (Meaning that under some conditions the body can’t make all that it needs.) It is a naturally occurring substance, similar in structure to a B-vitamin and present in all tissues.
Although 20 times as much Carnitine is present in red meat than in fruits and vegetables, meat is probably not the optimal source of this nutrient. A better source is an L-Carnitine Fumarate supplement (500 mg 2 to 3 times a day), combined with a good multi-vitamin to help improve absorption and utilization.
Be sure to use a high quality source of pharmaceutical grade L-Carnitine Fumarate. Poor quality sources can contain D-Carnitine which is hazardous and should never be taken internally. It is also recommended that you avoid carnitine extracted from animal sources, as you can’t be sure it is free from BSE infected animals (“mad cow” disease).
There are currently over 9,000 academic papers published on L-Carnitine. Recent research is demonstrating that L-Carnitine can be helpful for people suffering with many conditions. One recent study found that carnitine greatly improved energy levels in subjects suffering with chronic fatigue.(Plioplys AV, Plioplys S. Amantadine and L-carnitine treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome. Neuropsychobiol 1997;35:16–23.)
In one study, carnitine supplementation in diabetics resulted in a significant drop in triglycerides, serum lipids and cholesterol, within 10 days (Abdel-Aziz et. al., Effect of carnitine on blood lipid pattern in diabetic patients. Nutr. Rep. Internat. 29:1071, 1984). In another study, patients with high triglycerides had significant reductions with carnitine supplementation (Maebashi et. al., Lipid-lowering effect of carnitine in patients with Type IV hyper-lipoproteinemia, Lancet, 805-807, Oct 14, 1978). Other studies have shown results in just two weeks (Lancet, 1201-2, June 1979). Research in 10 Italian hospitals found that carnitine improved attention span, long-term memory and verbal ability in Alzheimer's patients (Science News, Nov. 30, 1991, pg 365). They found that carnitine stimulates nerve cells to make new membranes and acetylcholine.
taken from http://pureenergea.com/whatdoescard.html
Having said all of that, I have taken carnitine in both capsule form and liquid form and noticed only a minimal amount of energy, memory capacity, and energy. The changes may have been solely a placebo affect. I am not sold on the supplement, but I know some that have had noticeable results. Try a bottle of the liquid form and see what you get.
A deficiency of Carnitine can cause fatigue, depression, heart problems, weakness, hypoglycemia, fat accumulation, poor heart function and a host of other ailments. This is because it is essential to the chemistry of energy, and nothing in the body works without energy. Carnitine supplementation helps your body produce energy on a cellular level, and has a number of beneficial effects.
Carnitine can greatly improve heart function, and research suggests it can help you recover more quickly from a heart attack or bypass surgery. Carnitine has been shown to protect the heart muscle, and to improve exercise tolerance, including walking distance, in those who suffer from angina and poor circulation. It has been tied to improved performance of seasoned athletes and quicker recovery in untrained “weekend warriors.” (Marconi et. al., Effects of L-carnitine loading on the aerobic and anaerobic performance of endurance athletes, Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., 54(2):131-135, 1985).
The benefits of Carnitine are not limited to muscles. It can also improve memory, attention span, senility, learning disabilities and brain-blood flow. This is because it can mimic acetylcholine, the primary neurotransmitter of the brain. It also has the ability to increase the body's production of glutathione, which is a key nutrient in the detoxification of the body. Carnitine also works with Coenzyme Q10 (among other things), which enables the heart to pump more efficiently and improves energy metabolism.
Studies have shown that a Carnitine deficiency can cause low sperm motility in some men. It can also be the missing ingredient needed for the body to deal with a number of conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver, memory loss, depression, diabetes, recurrent infections and respiratory distress in infants. Carnitine deficiency can be made worse by consuming alcohol, fatty foods, and sugar.
Carnitine helps the body metabolize fatty acids. It helps your body use fat by carrying fatty acids into the mitochondria so that the fat can be burned as energy, instead of stored as fat in your arteries and tissues. This explains why studies demonstrated significant increase in weight loss among patients taking Carnitine while on a healthy eating plan.
By definition, Carnitine is not a vitamin. A vitamin is something your body cannot produce on its own. Carnitine can be synthesized in the body from the amino acids Lysine and Methionine. If you don’t have sufficient levels of these and other amino acids you can’t make optimal levels of carnitine. This is why it has been called a “conditionally essential” nutrient. (Meaning that under some conditions the body can’t make all that it needs.) It is a naturally occurring substance, similar in structure to a B-vitamin and present in all tissues.
Although 20 times as much Carnitine is present in red meat than in fruits and vegetables, meat is probably not the optimal source of this nutrient. A better source is an L-Carnitine Fumarate supplement (500 mg 2 to 3 times a day), combined with a good multi-vitamin to help improve absorption and utilization.
Be sure to use a high quality source of pharmaceutical grade L-Carnitine Fumarate. Poor quality sources can contain D-Carnitine which is hazardous and should never be taken internally. It is also recommended that you avoid carnitine extracted from animal sources, as you can’t be sure it is free from BSE infected animals (“mad cow” disease).
There are currently over 9,000 academic papers published on L-Carnitine. Recent research is demonstrating that L-Carnitine can be helpful for people suffering with many conditions. One recent study found that carnitine greatly improved energy levels in subjects suffering with chronic fatigue.(Plioplys AV, Plioplys S. Amantadine and L-carnitine treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome. Neuropsychobiol 1997;35:16–23.)
In one study, carnitine supplementation in diabetics resulted in a significant drop in triglycerides, serum lipids and cholesterol, within 10 days (Abdel-Aziz et. al., Effect of carnitine on blood lipid pattern in diabetic patients. Nutr. Rep. Internat. 29:1071, 1984). In another study, patients with high triglycerides had significant reductions with carnitine supplementation (Maebashi et. al., Lipid-lowering effect of carnitine in patients with Type IV hyper-lipoproteinemia, Lancet, 805-807, Oct 14, 1978). Other studies have shown results in just two weeks (Lancet, 1201-2, June 1979). Research in 10 Italian hospitals found that carnitine improved attention span, long-term memory and verbal ability in Alzheimer's patients (Science News, Nov. 30, 1991, pg 365). They found that carnitine stimulates nerve cells to make new membranes and acetylcholine.
taken from http://pureenergea.com/whatdoescard.html
Having said all of that, I have taken carnitine in both capsule form and liquid form and noticed only a minimal amount of energy, memory capacity, and energy. The changes may have been solely a placebo affect. I am not sold on the supplement, but I know some that have had noticeable results. Try a bottle of the liquid form and see what you get.
