Diet

L-carnitine effect

General

L-Carnitine is primarily needed for the human body to burn fat.

Statistically, the number of people who are increasing Obesity suffer dramatically worldwide every year. In order to achieve successful loss of fat body mass, all factors for successful fat burning must be met. The compound plays a role in the metabolism of fat in the body L-carnitine a prominent role.

L-carnitine is a chemical protein compound that occurs naturally in the human body. The body can make L-Carnitine itself from two amino acids which are ingested through food. L-carnitine itself can be found in relatively large quantities in products containing meat. L-carnitine has a number of functions in the human body, all of which are directly related to fat metabolism, as well as those required Enzymes and thus indirectly affect the lipid metabolism.

Action in the skeletal muscle

From an evolutionary point of view, the accumulation of adipose tissue in the human body in moderation represents a biological advantage, since these stores represent an enormous proportion of the body's energy reserves. In order to utilize this energy from the adipose tissue, the existing fatty acids have to be metabolized by the body and converted into energy.

The function of L-carnitine in the biochemistry of burning fat in the human body. Most of the fat metabolism takes place in the so-called Mitochondria instead of. Most of the cells in the human body have mitochondria, which are understandably called Cell power plants are designated. The reason for this name is the conversion of the body's own fat into energy.

Before the fatty acids become the high-energy compound Acetyl-CoA can be metabolized, they must be activated. This activation takes place on the outside of the mitochondria. In order to get inside the mitochondria after activation, L-carnitine must be present in the cell. L-carnitine is therefore necessary in any case if fat cells are to be metabolized into energy in the body. This means that if there is a lack of L-carnitine, the normal number of fatty acids cannot be “burned off” because some of them cannot even get into the mitochondria.

Another effect of L-carnitine in the mitochondria is the maintenance of a ratio of bound CoA and free CoA. The ratio is important because only with a sufficient amount of free CoA will the total glucose can be converted into energy. At the same time, L-carnitine prevents the "acidification" of the muscles through this effect, as it can partially break down the lactic acid in the muscle tissue.

When hungry, L-carnitine is assigned an additional role. During phases in which no food was taken for a long time, the presence of L-carnitine prevents muscle tissue, which is rich in proteins, from being broken down to an increased extent. With the same effect, athletes are also protected from the breakdown of protein-rich mass when they are subjected to continuous exercise that would lead to muscle breakdown. There also the human immune system consists of proteins, L-carnitine is also said to have a strengthening effect on the immune system in this particular situation.

Effect in the heart muscle

The heart is an important muscle when it comes to the performance of the human body. With many diseases of the heart there is a significant reduction in the body's performance. L-carnitine also plays a special role in the heart, as the heart increasingly uses the fat reserves as an energy source. An L-carnitine deficiency in the heart muscle can lead to particularly severe performance restrictions. This is particularly dangerous if there are already diseases of the heart muscle, which is why the adequate supply of L-carnitine in the case of heart muscle disease has recently been part of studies.

Food supplements

As a dietary supplement, L-carnitine is particularly popular with athletes and as a diet product. Most studies on the subject have so far failed to find a positive effect on fat burning and muscle building if test subjects did not suffer from a proven deficiency in L-carnitine.

According to current scientific opinion, the body cannot burn more fat even with an excess of L-carnitine than it would with the normal amount of L-carnitine. For this reason, the effect of L-carnitine as a dietary supplement is highly controversial. Experts believe that it would be wrong to assume that people without an increased need for L-carnitine could increase the breakdown of fatty acids in their body by taking the dietary supplement. Rather, L-Carnitine can only develop its effect as a dietary supplement if the body actually uses the energy that is generated by metabolizing the fatty acids. The intake of L-carnitine as a nutritional supplement is therefore only sensible for athletes who may have an increased fat metabolism due to their stress.

Despite everything, there are people who have an increased need for L-carnitine for whom a substitution of L-carnitine makes sense. A vegetarian lifestyle, for example, can be associated with reduced levels of L-carnitine in the body.

The side effects of an overdose are intolerable compared to the non-existent benefit in non-athletes, which is why additional intake is not recommended in most cases.

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Summary

Overall, L-carnitine takes on a number of vital functions in the human body. The entire fat metabolism depends on the availability of L-carnitine in sufficient quantities in the human body. The heart in particular is dependent on the energy that arises from fat metabolism. It follows that people who suffer from diseases of the heart muscle should take special care to supply sufficient amounts of L-carnitine to prevent a deficiency of the substance. Other groups of people who, due to an unbalanced diet, consume few foods in which L-carnitine occurs naturally in significant amounts, also benefit from the external intake of L-carnitine.

However, the promises of the fat burner L-carnitine cannot be scientifically confirmed. Without simultaneous exercise, no decrease in body fat can be expected from an intake of L-carnitine in healthy people, where there are sufficient amounts of L-carnitine in the body. In addition, current studies note that a chronically increased concentration of L-carnitine could be harmful to health and therefore, from a medical point of view, taking L-carnitine without a proven deficiency cannot be recommended.

Additional information

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