Carnitine; a stimulant to the heart, brain, and muscles

If you have trouble remembering or your powers are failing, carnitine might be your rescue.
Carnitine is an - undeservedly - overlooked dietary supplement that is now coming in from the cold. A clear signal is that the New York Academy of Sciences devotes a whole issue of its famous scientific annals to carnitine alone.
Here, you can read over 197 pages of summaries from all 18 contributions at a two-day conference on carnitine that was held by the Academy in March 2004. They deal with the significance of carnitine in the oxidation of fat, in the function of the muscles and heart, and in its promising role in the fight against impaired memory.
Carnitine is an essential nutrient that is particularly abundant in red meat and dairy products. The body only produces small amounts of carnitine and particularly vegans will risk being deficient in this substance. Carnitine is necessary for the ability of the mitochondria (the energy factories of the cells) to burn fat. First, carnitine fascilitates the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria, then it promotes their oxidation and thereby prevents harmful accumulation of fatty acid recidues while, at the same time, providing the cells with energy.
With age, sluggishness occurs in the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria. Moreover, the mitochondria become less efficient at disposing of incompletely decomposed fatty acids. This will lead to an accumulation of free radicals which is one of the main reasons for mitochondrial degeneration. However, without mitochondria there is no life. The degeneration of the mitochondria is a key phenomenon in the ageing process.
A remedy against premature ageing
For this reason, many people believe that carnitine is an extraordinarily obvious partner in the fight against ageing. In a summary, Charles Rebouche of the University of Iowa states that a supplement of carnitine seems to be able to inhibit ageing in rats - in humans it counteracts the age-related impaired memory and mitigates the aggravation of Alzheimer's disease.
The fact that carnitine supplements can actually replace a defective carnitine function is evident from experiences with children who have a genetic defect that impairs the transport of carnitine into the mitochondria. If left untreated, the children will suffer severe cardiac- and muscular diseases but by means of carnitine supplements, children with these rare sufferings have survived until their thirties - and are still doing fine.
A great many people can benefit from the results of Italian studies that display the possibility of limiting the destruction that takes place in the heart when a blood clot terminates a part of the blood flow to the cardiac muscle. Carnitine reduces the deformation of the heart that would otherwise take place and after having undergone long-term treatment with carnitine, people will be able to work both longer and harder as well as improve their physical fitness.
This is an utmost exciting result corresponding with results showing that patients with claudication (pain in the legs while walking caused by atherosclerosis of the arteries) have improved their performance on a treadmill after having been given a daily supplement of 2 g. of carnitine.
After the congress, studies have shown that carnitine is also beneficial against the type of diabetic neuritis that causes pain. In both rats and humans, a significant effect has been observed on this type of neuritis - a condition that is a frequent, painful companion to undertreated diabetes. The dosage was ½ - 1 g. three times a day.
The nerves, muscles, and heart are large-scale consumer of energy. Carnitine helps to provide this energy. When the brain, heart, or muscles are weakened with age, it would apparently be wise to start thinking about taking a carnitine supplement.
Reference:
Salvatore Alesci et al. (Eds.). Carnitine: The science behind a conditionally essential nutrient. Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences 2005, vol. 1033.