L-Carnitine, Insulin Resistance and Metabolism

I went to a wonderful event at the New York Academy of Sciences about metabolism and cancer. The molecular pathways shown were complex for this blog. I will highlilght briefly what Deborah Muoio, professor of metabolism and exercise physiology at Duke Unviersity had to say. She spoke about pathways in the amino acid L-Carnitine, which is used ot shuttle fat molecules into the mitochondria to be metabolized. I believed I had a blog spot about it here. There is an
article on it on the Web site www.louizapatsis.com. She said that there is no conclusive evident in human beings or animals that L-Carnitine burns fat. However, when I used it for a few months, it made me sweat and helped in losing weight when I wanted to be a size 2 or 6. I would barely used over-the-counter nutritional substances. I As I have written, they are not needed for the average person., are not regulated usually, and are not good in the long term, usually. She is finding evidence that L-Carnitine increases the amounts of acetyl-CoA, which in turn increases glucose oxidation. This is the opposite to glucose intolerance found in adult-onset diabetes, which is a big problem in this country. L-Carnitine decreases with age and in obesity.

She hopes that future research will find mechanisms through which exercise enhances mitochondrial function. lipid tolerance and insulin sensitivity, and DNA studies to examine the impact of diet and/or exercise on metabolic regulation and mitochondrial function in muscle. You can find articles by her on www.pubmed.gov.
Here is one abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19553674.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.