L-Carnitine

1
L-Carnitine

• The Science Behind an Important Functional
  Nutrient for People and Pets

• Johnny Lopez, PhD

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Outline

• Introduction and history
• Food Science and Chemistry
• Roles of L-Carnitine in the body
• Thinking outside the box
• Summary

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Introduction and history

• L-Carnitine first discovered in 1905
• 1927 structure became more defined
• 1948 thought to be a B vitamin (Vitamin BT)
• its role in B oxidation became more understood
• 1962 established it to be L- Carnitine
• Years later much more learned

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Historical review of progress
Item Timeframe
On Mitochondria 1960s
Inflammation and connective tissue Late 60s-70s
Tumor and cancer cells Early 70s to date
Myopathies, cardiac failure 90s thru today
infants and feeding formulas Mid 90s
Aging, type 2 diabetes, chronic fatigue, Alzheimer's, performance Late 90s thru today
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Food Science and Chemistry
-
O
O

• Synonym Vitamin BT
• Reactive properties
• Molecular weight 161
• Hygroscopic
• Stability Thermostable (up to 395F)
• Toxicity Small, LD50 (rats) gt5 g/kg BW
• Approved AAFCO and FDA approved

C
C
H
H
C
H
O
H
C
H
H

N
CH
CH
3
3
CH
3
L-Carnitine

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Food Science and Chemistry

• Naturally synthesized
• Manufactured in liver kidneys but varies by
  species
• In dogs, liver is the only active organ
• In cats, both liver and kidney are active
• Starts with protein-bound Lysine and
  S-adenosylmethionine
• A 5-step process, typically last step is rate
  limiting
• to manufacture 1 g of LC requires 30 g of muscle
  protein
• requires vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6 and iron
• In humans, 25 of L-carnitine needs met by
  synthesis.

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Metabolic demands for L-Carnitine

• Can be divided into 3 categories
• Primary
• Secondary
• Functional shortage
• age dependent
• condition dependent

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Carnitine content of foods (mg/g)

• Muscle (lamb) - 2.03
• Muscle (beef) - 0.61
• Muscle (pig) - 0.27
• Heart (cattle) - 0.23
• Muscle (poultry)- 0.09
• Milk (cow) - 0.026

• Liver (lamb) - 0.022
• Salmon - 0.0006
• Rice - 0.018
• Eggs and peas - 0.008
• Potatoes - 0.0003
• Carrots/spinach - 0.000

adopted Heinz Loster 2003/Rigault 2007
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Total Carnitine, humans (umol/ml)

• Infants (3 kg)
• Skeletal muscle 1.98
• Liver 0.55
• Heart 0.77
• Plasma
• males 0.026
• females 0.023

• Adults (70 kg)
• Skeletal muscle 3.96
• Liver 2.90
• Heart 4.80
• Brain 0.30

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L-Carnitine in Pet Food

• Varies by type of ingredients
• foods of animal origin blended with other
  ingredients
• processing such boiling, soaked, washing
• freezing and/or drying
• Not understood is bioavailability of natural
  forms of L-Carnitine
• It matters bound vs free L-Carnitine

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L-Carnitine physiology and its role in energy
production
Cell
Mitochondria
Cytosol
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L-Carnitine supplementation can influence
total metabolism
Pyruvate Carboxylase
Glycogen
? ß-oxidation
Fat L-Carnitine
Protein
Amino Acids
? BCAADH (leucine, iso,)
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Roles of L-Carnitine in the body

• Convert fat into energy.
• Helps manage weight loss in dogs and cats
• Cardio-vascular system
• Heart energy comes mostly from fat and
  L-Carnitine
• Antioxidant support
• Serves as an antioxidant
• Cognitive function
• cerebral absorption of Fat soluble vitamins
  protect from oxidative decay
• Maintaining muscle integrity
• provide blood flow to smooth muscles

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Human usage of L-Carnitine

• Large number of products entering the market
• Examples
• The amount of publications out per year
• Table

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Thinking outside the box

• Weight management
• other applications

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• Johnny Lopez, PhD
• Business Technical Manager

• 817-995-2484

• 201-669-3576

• johnny.lopez_at_lonza.com