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L-Carnitine Helps Muscle Recovery After Exercise

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, January 31, 2012, abstracted from “L-Carnitine L-tartrate supplementation favorably affects biochemical markers of recovery from physical exertion in middle-age men and women” in the August 2010 issue of Metabolism

People face many problems as they age, most notably chronic diseases like heart disease (25% of all deaths in 2008 and costing $109 billion in 2010 (1)), type 2 diabetes (affecting 25.8 million Americans and costing $174 billion in 2007 (2)) and cancer (562, 867 deaths in 2007 (3) and costing $263.8 (4)). Physical activity has become one of the most important ways to help prevent chronic disease and has become a focus of the National Institutes of Health in chronic disease prevention (5, 6)

Unfortunately, with aging comes a decreased ability to recover properly from exercise. This is due to increased cell damage caused by free radicals, lower levels of important hormones, and changes in the circulatory system (7). Because this decreased recovery potential can decrease overall physical activity, finding ways to help with recovery as we age is extremely important. Now a new study (8) suggests that L-carnitine may help.

In the study, 9 men with an average age of 45 and 9 women with an average age of 52 were given either 2 grams of L-Carnitine per day or placebo for 3 weeks. They then completed a weight training test of 4 sets of 15 repetitions of squat/leg press at 50% of their maximum known lifting weight. The participants then continued supplementation for 3 more days, during which the researchers monitored their recovery. The researchers obtained blood samples before the exercise test and at 0, 15, 30, and 120 minutes afterwards, as well as during the 4-day recovery period. After the 4-day recovery period, the participants stopped supplementation for 1 week (called a “washout period”) before switching supplement programs.

The researchers noted a benefit of L-carnitine supplementation on levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a waste product from cell damage due to free radicals (9). The chart below shows MDA levels in the men and women during the study, with the greatest benefits from L-carnitine seen both before and within 30 minutes after exercising in men, while the benefits in women lasted 2 hours after exercise:

	MDA Levels
	Before Exercise	Immediately After Exercise	15 minutes After Exercise	30 minutes After Exercise	2 hours After Exercise
Men - L-Carnitine (micromoles/L)	10 (29% lower)	11 (35% lower)	9 (40%)	10 (23%)	10.5 (4%)
Men - Placebo	14	17	15	13	11

Women - L-Carnitine	6 (40% lower)	7 (50%)	7 (44%)	7 (36%)	6.5 (35%)
Women - Placebo	10	14	12.5	11	10

The benefit of significantly lower levels of MDA in the L-carnitine group was evident in the reports of muscle soreness by the participants in the supplementation group, compared to those in the placebo group. The supplementation group reported as much as 50% less soreness throughout the 4 days of recovery, thereby increasing the likelihood of repeated exercise sessions, compared to the placebo group.

These results confirm earlier research (10) showing that both 1 and 2 g of L-carnitine per day reduced muscle soreness during recovery days after resistance exercise workout. The researchers concluded that L-carnitine supplementation “can reduce chemical damage to tissues after exercise and optimize [muscle recovery].”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

Reference:

1. “Heart Disease Facts” - http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

2. “2011 Diabetes Fact Sheet” - http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/factsheet11.htm

3. “United States Cancer Statistics” - http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/uscs/cancersbystateandregion.aspx

4. “Economic Impact of Cancer” - http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasics/economic-impact-of-cancer

5. “Exercise and Physical Activity: Your Everyday Guide” - http://www.nia.nih.gov/health

6. “How Exercise May Keep Alzhimer’s At Bay” - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/how-exercise-may-keep-alzheimers-at-bay/?scp=1&sq=exercise+Alzheimer&st=cse

7. Goldspink G, Harridge SD. Growth factors and muscle ageing. Exp Gerontol 2004;39:1433-8.

8. Ho JY. L-Carnitine L-tartrate supplementation favorably affects biochemical markers of recovery from physical exertion in middle-age men and women. Metabolism 2010;59:1190–1199

9. Farmer EE, Davoine C (2007). "Reactive electrophile species". Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 10 (4): 380–6. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2007.04.019.

10. Spiering BA, Kraemer WJ, Vingren JL, Hatfield DL, Fragala MS, Ho JY, et al. Responses of criterion variables to different supplementaldoses of L-carnitine L-tartrate. J Strength Cond Res 2007;21:259-64.