Found in almost all the cells in your body, Carnitine comes from amino acid where it goes by different names like propionyl-L-carnitine and the more popular acetyle-L-carnitine. It is found in many types of food while being included in a lot of dietary supplements which helps in the digestive system as well as for energy production through enhancing of your kidney and liver health.
Sources
Carnitine can be produced naturally within your body. However, you can get a lot of carnitine from natural foods like red meats and most notably, dairy products like milk and cheese. Besides that, various types of vegetables contain carnitine as well and this includes Brussels sprouts, broccoli and apricots. Bananas and garlic meanwhile are known sources of this nutrient together with buckwheat and wholemeal.
In most cases, carnitine is found in dietary supplements which are designed to channel energy. As such, you will find a lot of producers of supplements who include carnitine into their energy foods, meal replacement products and others.
What does it do?
The most significant role that Carnitine does is that it helps to transfer long-chain fatty acids for beta-oxidation within the mitochnodria which is very crucial in the kidneys and livers. This is very important because your kidney and livers are involved in producing energy for your body to perform optimally each day. A weak liver will naturally lead to a series of health problems that could be very serious. This simply means that carnitine is involved directly in energy production while transporting unwanted waste out of your organs.
Deficiency and Symptoms
When the carnitine concentrations in the plasma and tissues of your body is lower than required, you will experience this deficiency. As such, you will start to experience fatigue and lacking in energy. Symptoms of this deficiency includes constipation and indigestion while you could even experience shortness of breath as well.
Recommended Dosage
At average, you should be getting about 650 to 700mgs of carnitine per day. Where this is concerned, you would be having sufficient amount of carnitine through a health and fiber rich diet. However, if your daily diet does not warrant this type of foods, then you can source the amount from dietary supplements.