Carnitine is an amino acid derivative and a carboxylic acid,
technically it is not a real amino acid but we can consider it a
"cousin" of amino acids, since it has half the structure of amino
acids (in fact, carboxylic acid is the acid common to all amino acids), does
not participate in protein synthesis, as amino acids do, but acts as a vector
for fatty acids, which is why in many texts it is indicated with the term
carrier, which means precisely carrier or transporter.
Does Carnitine make you lose weight? what is it for?
To synthesize it we start from 2 amino acids which are
Methionine and Lysine, and our body is able to independently produce Carnitine,
and more precisely it produces it at the level of the liver and kidneys, but
its intake (and we will also see together the recommended times and dosages) is
recommended for us sportsmen, and I mean ALL sportsmen, I want to make this
clarification because when it comes to Carnitine, it is immediately associated
with those who want to lose fat mass, or those who practice exclusively aerobic
physical activity ... but it's also good for bodybuilders, powerlifters and
wheightlifters.
Carnitine is basically a transport shuttle, indeed a very
precious transport shuttle, in fact its function inside our body is precisely
that of transporting fatty acids (especially those with long and medium chain,
which are then most of those that we ingest with food), to the point where they
will be disposed of by degradation, and our Mitochondria use these fatty acids
transported by Carnitine to produce energy, without Carnitine, the fatty acids
could not enter the mitochondria, it is she who allows access to them, and I
remind everyone that mitochondria are cellular corpuscles, (which are found
inside our cells), and their task is precisely to produce energy, we can think
of our mitochondria as real energy plants.
For those who have heard of a process called Beta-Oxidation,
it is precisely the name of the energy process just described, that is
Beta-Oxidation is the metabolic process that our cells, more specifically that
our mitochondria use to burn fatty acids to energy purpose, that is, to produce
energy.
During an aerobic workout, the levels of fatty acids present
in the blood rise a lot, undergo a real surge, and rise too much in relation to
how many our Carnitine is able to transport it into the mitochondria, we are
therefore in the situation in which we have a abundant presence of fuel, but we
cannot exploit this abundance in the best way, that is to produce energy, the
solution is very simple, just use a good Carnitine supplement and that's it,
here we will have more shuttles, and therefore we will be able to transport
more fatty acids into our mitochondria.
So we will dispose of more fatty acids, and we will have
more energy to continue our training, it is good for the athlete who is
preparing a competition, and it is equally good for all the people who want to
lose some fat mass, and at the same time have more energy, those that change
are only the recommended doses, and in a while we will examine those too.
If we did not integrate using a good Carnitine supplement ,
the energy produced by fatty acids would be less, it would end sooner, and our
body would draw energy from muscle glycogen, and let us always remember that
the more muscle glycogen we have, the more our sports performance will be
brilliant. , while the less muscle glycogen we have, the poorer our sports
performance will be.
Some of you may be thinking "with all that oxygen
around from aerobic activity, and with a good Carnitine supplement I believe
fat burns great, but a bodybuilder or powerlifter who does Carnitine ? "
it does, however, yes, because carnitine has another characteristic which
unfortunately is very little talked about, it has the ability to induce
vasodilation, I'm not talking about the vasodilation produced by Citrulline, or
by Citrulline Malate, or by Arginine-Alfachetoglutarate , I'm not talking about
the vasodilation that are able to induce the best known nitric oxide
stimulators, but about the vasodilation of the peripheral arteries, and thanks
to this characteristic, Carnitine is able to sweep away more waste substances
due to intense training ,
BUT HOW MUCH CARNITINE DO YOU NEED TO TAKE?
The recommended standard dosage is 1gr of Carnitine per day,
perhaps divided into 2 intakes of 500mg each, one intake always about 30
'before training, the other intake in the morning, or before consuming the meal
of the day. richer in fatty acids, this is fine as a general rule, keep in mind
that for example cyclists who train consistently and regularly take between 2g
and 5g of Carnitine per day, and the higher dose of Carnitine they take about
30 'before 'training, the same intake (for quantity and timing) is also adopted
by those who train intensely with weights (to reduce muscle damage, and
post-workout pain), the benefit that doms bring to our muscles is the same, but
we feel less pain.
So, as we have just seen, the intake depends on the
frequency and intensity with which we train, those who train intensely 4 times
a week (both endurance and with weights) and take up to 5gr of Carnitine on
non-training days. makes a mistake, while those who practice a bit of aerobic
activity to have fun, and with the intention of losing some fat mass, can
safely stick to the standard dose of 1g per day, will dispose of fatty acids
more effectively, and will have more energy .
L-CARNITINE - ACETYL L-CARNITINE - L-CARNITINE TARTRATE Differences
Why are there different forms of Carnitine on the market?As
with many other substances, we try to make Carnitine more bio-available, but I
say Carnitine because it is her we are dealing with, I guarantee you that the
rule applies equally to the more famous Creatine, as to minerals, and when I
say more bio-available I mean better assimilable by our body, to try to explain
myself better I make a quick and simple example with Magnesium: Magnesium
participates in over 300 chemical reactions within our body, but in pure form
(Magnesium mineral) is not very bio-available, that is, our body is unable to
assimilate it very well, so in many media instead of finding Magnesium in pure
form, we find it as a Magnesium salt, which our body assimilates much better,
same speech applies to Carnitine,this is why we find products on the market
where Carnitine is in the form ofAcetyl L-Carnitine or L-Carnitine Tartrate , these two forms
represent the methods that the producers of food supplements adopt to make it
more bio-available, that is, to make our body assimilate it better.
In particular, L-carnitine Tartrate is Carnitine linked to
the ester of tartaric acid, to make it more bio-available, and its main
function is entirely aimed at sports performance, while Acetyl L-Carnitine is
the acetylated form of carnitine, and its main function is aimed at improving
mental cognition and reducing stress, not surprisingly, in our body, Acetyl
carnitine is found in the central nervous system, but let's remember friends
that at the base there is always the ability Carnitine to transport fatty acids
inside the mitochondria, which use them to produce energy.