Do you need it? Carnitine

​Imagine you are in a beautiful island off of the Caribbean. This vacation was possible because you have developed a very successful business and decided to go on a vacation to a remote place with little technology. The entire trip is amazing until you find out that this place has very little civilization and no ATM machines or debit terminals. All you brought was a small amount of cash and your bank cards that represent the loads of money to your name in some account located very far away. Once you have run out of cash, your bank cards are worthless no matter what amount of money you have in the bank. You have to cut your stay on the island short because although you have money in the bank, your method of payment for necessities is not compatible with the local methods and therefore useless.
Many supplements have some great studies backing them up and have many positive claims to them. One of them is Carnitine. Carnitine comes in many different forms but it is known as a great antioxidant, a great aid for good heart health and a great supplement for burning extra fat. Carnitine is very popular in the fitness industry for its ability to be able to shuttle fat into the mitochondria and facilitate the process of burning this fat up as energy. This means essentially that the higher the levels of carnitine within your body, the faster your body fat will be dropping. Many different forms of carnitine can be found in health food stores across the world in a pill, powder or even a liquid form.
With many studies to prove the effectiveness of carnitine it must be worth a try right!?
Many of the studies done throughout the decades on carnitine have actually been done with injectable carnitine and not oral. When taken orally, studies have shown that carnitine is actually poorly absorbed by the body. In a study done on 9 patients who took oral carnitine for 1 year and switched over to injectable carnitine, it was shown that with only 1 week of administration, their carnitine levels increased by 40%. Many more studies have shown similar results to taking carnitine orally. From this we can draw the conclusion that orally ingesting carnitine is not as useful as injecting it as it is poorly absorbed by the gut.
Just like our example in the beginning, the resource you want to use must be compatible with how you will use it. Although the carnitine may be of high potency when you buy it at your local supplement store, it still might not be compatible when your digestive tract is finished with it. As much as taking oral carnitine can be helpful to minor increases in carnitine within your body, injectable carnitine is a sure way to absorb much more of the administered dose. Unfortunately it is much harder finding injectable carnitine in your local supplement store and many will be deterred by the method of administration.
Even with the injectable carnitine, is it worth taking?
There is no doubt that it will help burn off extra body fat, but you must remember that the majority of results comes from your nutrition and your training regime. Many people give this supplement far too much credit for helping them shed fat, when the individual would have had pretty similar results without it.
Make sure that if you want to use carnitine to do your research on what method you feel is best for you. It is crucial to get the most bang for your buck as oftentimes the supplement industry can be led by hype as opposed to actual results. Although carnitine can be a helpful tool in your arsenal against the war on fat, it has to be compatible with how you want to use it!
 
 
 
 
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379349/
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25878778/