The Benefits of L-Carnitine
Nutrition is crucial to health and wellness.
Supplementing vital nutrients can help you reach fitness and weight loss goals when combined with diet and exercise.
L-Carnitine is a popular amino acid supplement that has many promising benefits. Read on to learn how adding L-carnitine to your health plan may benefit you.
What is L-Carnitine?
L-Carnitine is an amino acid that plays a critical role in energy production within your body.
It’s found in nearly every cell, and it transports fatty acids from the bloodstream into the cells. In doing so, it ensures fat can be burned (oxidized) and converted to energy. This has several potential benefits for your health.
What are the Benefits of L-Carnitine?
Only a small amount of L-Carnitine is produced in the body or absorbed naturally from food. By supplementing with L-Carnitine, you can potentially increase its fat-burning and energy-producing effects.
Here are some potential benefits of L-Carnitine:
- Increase fat-burning at the cellular level leading to easier weight loss.
- Preserve muscle during exercise.
- Reduce overall muscle fatigue and effort during exercise.
- Increase protection against cardiovascular disease (CVD).
One study found that supplementing L-Carnitine while fasting not only helped the subjects (who experienced metabolic disease) lose over 30% more weight, but also decreased hunger and fatigue while fasting compared to a placebo group.
How to Take L-Carnitine
There are several forms of L-Carnitine available for supplementation. The right one for you depends on your comfort level with certain delivery systems like injections, your response to taking the supplement, and other factors.
Oral L-Carnitine
Oral L-Carnitine is typically 500 mg per capsule, taken one to three times per day.
Only a fraction of the supplement is absorbed via the digestive tract, which is why the dosage is typically on the higher side.
Injectable L-carnitine is more efficient for absorption, but capsules may be preferable if you’re uncomfortable with self-administered L-carnitine shots.
It’s usually best to take the medication after meals to avoid nausea and upset stomach. If you take more than one, they should generally be taken at least 3-4 hours apart.
Defy Medical offers access to L-Carnitine capsules from Metabolic Maintenance, which creates high-quality and bioavailable supplements.
Injectable L-Carnitine
L-Carnitine is absorbed more easily by your body when it’s injected, because it doesn’t have to go through your digestive system.
This means you can inject smaller amounts for greater effects. L-carnitine shots also typically work faster because the medication goes straight into the bloodstream.
Defy Medical offers access to quality L-carnitine shots. The medication comes in a 10 mL vial and Defy Medical provides all the tools necessary for injection.
We also offer L-Carnitine as part of a lipotropic injection that supports fat loss and fat burning. Learn more about lipotropic injections.
IV Therapy
When taken via an IV infusion, L-Carnitine can boost athletic performance or increase metabolism and cardiovascular health.
Similar to injections, IV therapy with L-carnitine can start working immediately because the nutrient goes straight into your bloodstream. You can also receive other vitamins and nutrients intravenously at the same time, making it a comprehensive nutrition therapy.
Defy Medical offers L-Carnitine in some of our IV infusions at our clinic in Tampa, FL.
- Athletic Performance IV Infusion – This IV therapy includes L-Carnitine along with Bi-Amino, Taurine, Glutathione, and Glycine with a Myers Cocktail nutrient base. The goal of this IV is to support athletic performance and muscle recovery.
- Cardio-Lipo Infusion – In addition to L-Carnitine, this IV therapy includes Bi-Amino, B-Complex, Taurine, Glutathione, and B12. This IV can help boost the metabolism of fat for better fitness and weight loss results.
- You can also combine L-Carnitine as an individual injection with any of our IV infusions.
Experience the Benefits of L-Carnitine with Defy Medical
L-Carnitine is available in different forms based on your needs. The supplement can support fat burning and athletic performance, among other important functions.
Whether you’re looking for oral capsules, self-administered L-Carnitine shots, or IV therapy, Defy Medical can support your nutritional goals.
Ready to learn more?
Get StartedRelated Health Articles
Article Excerpt: Benefits of D-Ribose
Not having d-ribose is like trying to build a fire without kindling—nothing happens. Research indicates that d-ribose plays a role in energy.
Learn More About Article Excerpt: Benefits of D-Ribose
Lipo-C for Fat loss, Energy and Metabolism
Lipotropics are compounds that help break down fat in the body. Lipo-C has shown benefit in fat loss, energy, and more.
Learn More About Lipo-C for Fat loss, Energy and Metabolism
5 Tips for Holiday Wellness
The holidays are a time when we eat too much and skip our workouts. Here are five tips to stay focused on wellness during the holidays.
Learn More About 5 Tips for Holiday WellnessSources
- Longo N, Frigeni M, Pasquali M. CARNITINE TRANSPORT AND FATTY ACID OXIDATION. Biochimica et biophysica acta. 2016;1863(10):2422-2435. doi:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2016.01.023.
- Wall BT, Stephens FB, Constantin-Teodosiu D, Marimuthu K, Macdonald IA, Greenhaff PL. Chronic oral ingestion of l-carnitine and carbohydrate increases muscle carnitine content and alters muscle fuel metabolism during exercise in humans. The Journal of Physiology. 2011;589(Pt 4):963-973. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2010.201343.
- Seiler SE, Koves TR, Gooding JR, et al. Carnitine Acetyltransferase Mitigates Metabolic Inertia and Muscle Fatigue During Exercise. Cell metabolism. 2015;22(1):65-76. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2015.06.003.
- Oyanagi E1, Yano H, Uchida M, Utsumi K, Sasaki J. Protective action of L-carnitine on cardiac mitochondrial function and structure against fatty acid stress. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011;412(1):61-7. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2011.07.039.
- Zhang, et al. L-carnitine ameliorated fasting-induced fatigue, hunger, and metabolic abnormalities in patients with metabolic syndrome: a randomized controlled study. Nutrition Journal. 2014;13(1):110. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-110.