Optimal Performance and Recovery

The primary role of L-Carnitine is to shuttle long chain fatty acids into the mitochondria, the “furnace of the cell”. There, the fatty acids are oxidised and energy is generated.

Consumers today are well aware of the relationship between health, diet and fitness and a healthy lifestyle and healthy food are now recognised as a priority in most people’s lives. The growth in sectors such as organic foods, vegetarianism, functional foods and dietary supplements clearly shows that the consumers’ demand for healthy food is increasing. Growing consumer awareness of the benefits of an improved diet means for manufacturers that the ingredients used in functional foods must be chosen with safety, efficacy and quality in mind. L-Carnipure can be considered to be a winning ingredient, helping functional food manufacturers capitalise on a healthy, growing market.

L-Carnipure is a high quality L-Carnitine, produced by the Swiss Life Science-driven company Lonza via a patented and biological process. L-Carnitine is essential for the conversion from fat into energy. The primary role of L-Carnitine is to shuttle long chain fatty acids into the mitochondria, the “furnace of the cell”. There, the fatty acids are oxidised and energy is generated.

Small quantities of L-Carnitine are produced within the human body on a daily basis. For the major part, however, the daily L-Carnitine requirement is met by food intake, with red meats being the richest sources of dietary L-Carnitine. Fruits and vegetables contain very little of this nutrient. In Europe, the L-Carnitine intake has decreased by about 20% over the last decade, mainly as a result of a decrease in beef intake. If intake of L-Carnitine is low, however, the body must almost entirely rely on the endogenous synthesis to meet the needs. A vegetarian diet is frequently low in some of the nutrients that are essential for L-Carnitine biosynthesis in the body, such as the amino acids lysine and methionine as well as bioavailable iron. Indeed, humans ingesting a lacto-ovo- or a strict vegetarian diet over years have shown to have decreased plasma L-Carnitine concentrations.

L-Carnitine has been used by sports enthusiasts since the early 1980’s. The physiological function of L-Carnitine in facilitating the production of energy from fat is crucial during exercise (especially endurance exercise) because fat is one of the main fuels used to provide energy for physical activity.

Not only athletes, but also all recreationally physically active people may benefit from L-Carnipure, since it has been shown in several studies to optimize performance, delay the onset of fatigue and improve the recovery process. Researchers observed a decrease in the production of free radicals, less tissue damage and reduced muscle soreness after exercise in recreationally trained athletes following 3 weeks of L-Carnipure supplementation.

Endurance athletes often use L-Carnipure to increase the oxidation of fat during exercise and spare muscle glycogen. But not only during exercise, also at rest has L-Carnipure been found to increase fatty acid oxidation. Two studies from the Universities of Leipzig and Rostock, Germany, demonstrated conclusively that oral L-Carnipure supplementation stimulates in vivo long chain fatty acid metabolism in healthy adults. Both studies observed a significant increase in fatty acid oxidation after L-Carnipure supplementation.

The growing interest in L-Carnipure can be attributed to a number of factors including its basic function in helping convert fat into energy, its efficacy, its excellent safety profile and, of course, its suitability for processing.

By Ulla Held, Lonza AG, Muenchensteinerstr. 38, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland

www.lonza.com