Carnitine is a substance naturally present in the human body. It is localised in all tissues in the body but mainly in skeletal muscles, and is produced by the liver, kidneys, and brain. Although some is then released into the blood stream, some of the carnitine used by the body must be introduced in the diet (about 50 mg/day). Foods that contain carnitine are only meat based, that means that since carnitine is virtually absent in vegetable foodstuffs, vegetarians must use other sources to compensate for this “deficiency”. The oral assumption of carnitine rapidly increased its haematic levels. The importance of carnitine as a health food supplement comes from its main physiological function: carnitine, and only carnitine, is able to transport the fatty acids inside the mitochondria where they degrade in several stages with the formation of energy. This substance is therefore indispensable in lipid catabolism (lipolisis). Other functions of carnitine are directly or indirectly derived from this “fat burning” function:

1)       increased production and availability of energy (more ATP and acetyl-CoA);

2)       facilitates oxidation of amino acids in ramified chain (more energy is obtained from these substances);

3)       increased pyruvate production at the expense of lactate (with the possibility of delaying the harmful effects of this metabolic on skeletal muscle activity).

Many studies have shown that both natural aerobic (stamina) and anaerobic (power) exercise cause a significant decrease the haematic levels of carnitine. This assumption suggests that assumption of carnitine can prevent deficiency induced by various types of physical activity.

Several rare genetic diseases in which the subject is not able to produce endogenous carnitine demonstrate the function of carnitine in lipid metabolism. These deficiencies explain the accumulation of fats in muscles (inside the muscle cells) with serious effects on normal skeletal muscle activity. Carnitine is the drug of choice in these cases, being able to alleviate the effects of these dismetabolic states.

Numerous studies in sports environments (assumption of carnitine has been studied for over thirty years) have shown that relatively high doses (from some hundreds of milligrams to 10 grams a day, administered both individually and chronically) bring about a general improvement in energy metabolism in the athlete and mainly improve performance in athletes who have trained little. In other words, this substance is not able to improve the athlete’s absolute maximum performance but it can accelerate the attainment of the top form to which the athlete aspires. It is extremely significant that at all the dose levels carnitine has ever been tested at, it has never been found to have harmful or undesirable side-effects.

SPORT:The product is particularly suitable for all dedicated sportsmen and women. Taking carnitine improves the athlete’s energy levels in both power and stamina resistance exercise. What is important in the two types of exercise is the regime for taking the product (see dosage) so that the formation of lactic acid is reduced.

dosage:take a relatively high dose in power exercise (up to 10 capsules) before competition or training.

 

 

EVERYDAY LIFE:the product is suitable for asthenia, and muscular weakness. Good for supplementing diets that partially or totally lack meat based products (vegetarians). It is indicated for children and the elderly whose intake of meat may be inadequate.

dosage: 1 capsule a day preferably to be taken on an empty stomach.