International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012ISSN 2250-3153

1

Effects of L-Carnitine (Neutraceutical) In Weight
Management among Overweight and Obese Adults ofAge between 20 – 45yrs – A Comparative Study inChennai and Tirupathi
Kalpana and Aruna
Department of Home science, Sri Padmavathi Mahila Vishwa Vidhyalayam, Tirupati

Abstract- Obesity is a global epidemic disease and isrecognized as a major public health problem in India.
Urbanization, Improved economical status, modernization andsedentary life style are some of the factors thought to underlie theepidemic. There is immediate need to treat the issue as Obesity is
the major causative factor for many non-communicable diseases.
The important strategies for weight management would be dietand Physical activity. But recently many other treatments
evolved like behavior modification, weight loss nutritional
supplements, non clinical weight management programs,
medically managed weight-loss and surgical treatment. LCarnitine, a vitamin like substance naturally synthesized in ourbody has gained much importance as weight loss nutritional
supplement in treating Obesity as L-carnitine plays an importantrole in our body to transport fatty acids for its oxidation. As anyother vitamin L-Carnitine is also naturally present in foods andthe most in animal foods. Hence the study was undertaken tocompare the rate of weight loss among overweight and obese
individuals after supplementation of L-Carnitine (1000mg/day)for 30 days.

Index Terms- Obesity, Weight management, Overweight, LCarnitine, Weightloss.

I. INTRODUCTION

L-Carnitine, (gamma-trimethylamino-hydroxybutyric aid), is asmall-polar molecule and a quaternary amine. L-Carnitine isnaturally occurring in all mammalian species and is found inalmost all cells. The human pool of L-Carnitine is around 20g
with 98% of this within the cardiac and skeletal muscle pool,
1.4% in the liver and kidney, and 0.6% in extracellular fluid. In
1905 L-Carnitine was isolated for the first time from muscle
tissue; its structure was established in 1927. L-Carnitine wasshown to be an essential nutrient for a meal worm (Tenebriomolitor) and was therefore called vitamin B T.
L-Carnitine is supplied to the body through bothendogenous synthesis and food intake. The human bodysynthesizes about 20mg of L-Carnitine every day. The major
sites of L-Carnitine biosynthesis are the liver and kidneys. This
process requires two essential amino acids, protein bound lysineand methionine, plus vitamin C, iron, Vitamin B6 and niacin andinvolves a series of enzymatically catalyzed reactions. The needfor all these essential nutrients implies that malnutrition has ahighly negative impact on L-Carnitine biosynthesis.

II. SOURCES
For the most part, however the daily L-Carnitine
requirement is met by food intake. Products of animal origin
contain reasonable amounts of this nutrient, whereas foods ofplant origin contain only very little, if any L-Carnitine.
TABLE 1: L-Carnitine content in selected foods (mg/100g)

Foods of Animal
Foods of Plant
Origin
L- Carnitine Origin(uncooked)(mg/100g)(uncooked)
Lamb190
Mushroom
Beef
143
Carrot
Pork
25
Bread
Poultry
13
Rice
Fish
3 to 10BananaEgg
0.8
TomatoSource: CARNITINE MIRACLE

L-Carnitine(mg/100g)
2.6
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.1
0.1

IMPORTANTFUNCTION
OF
L-CARNIITNE:
Whenever our body requires energy the fatty acids are released
from VLDL and chylomicrons which are transferred to the cellwith the help of L-Carnitine. The fatty acids after reaching thecell requires a medium to enter mitochondria were b-oxidation
takes place. L-Carnitine acts as a medium for to pass themitochondrial membranes. Hence when a person is Obese or
overweight and want lose weight L-Carnitine will be helpful.
That is when an obese person undergoes a physical activity hebody demand enegy, L-Carnitine will help to immediatelytransfer fattyacids to muscle for production of energy.
L-Carniitne though synthesized in the body the studies
show that with age the rate of synthesis declines but still there areno much research studies to prove this. Hence if body is not able
to synthesize sufficient amount of L-Carnitine the person will not
be able to produce energy from fatty acids, This could cause
deficiency of L-Carnitine in humans. Even vegetarians are more
prone to get L-Carnitine deficiency as the richest source being
non-vegetarian foods. Hence taking L-carnitine dietarywww.ijsrp.org

International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012ISSN 2250-3153

supplements will aid a weight loss program along with Balanced
diet and physical activity. Many studies show that 6g/day of LCarnitine intake is safe. But this requirement if for elite athletes
whose requirements are higher. A obese sedentary person who isdoing regular physical activity can take up to 2g/day. The richest
sources being non-vegetarian foods The L-Carnitine can beisolated from vegetarian sources and can be taken as asupplement. Hence the study was taken to hypothesize the effectsof L-Carnitine on weight management.
According to 2010 WHO study on Prevalence ofOverweight and Obesity (BMI ≥ 25 KG/m2) among females Age
15+ is 18% in India and among males who are of age 15+ is 20.1%. According to Obesity Foundation India (2011) study report,In Indian scenario, even with the growing awareness about healthand fitness, more than 3 percent (3 Crores) of the Indian
population are obese and more than 25% of Indians areoverweight. It has reached epidemic proportions in India in the21st century, with morbid obesity affecting 5% of the country's
population. Hence the study was conducted with an objective tostudy the Obesity management with the help of dietary
supplement L-Carnitine.

III. MATERIALS & METHODS
The rate of weight loss among Overweight and Obese
adults after supplementation by L-Carnitine was assessed bycross-sectional, correlation and experimental study methods. The
study was conducted among subjects who are of age group 18-45

2years. The ethical approval was obtained from ethics committee
and informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Totally 600
subjects were invited for the study from two different states bystratified sampling methods. The total number of study subjects
were divided into 4 parts of which 3 parts (450 subjects) of thestudy subjects were from Chennai, a metropolitan city of Tamil
Nadu and one part (150 subjects) of the subjects were chosenfrom Tirupathi, a small town in chitoor District of Andhra
Pradesh.
Tools And Techniques: In each of the two cities the subjects
were divided in to two groups, one Experimental group and theother placebo group. In Chennai, of the 450 subjects 225 wereclassified as Experimental and 225 as placebo group. In the cityof Chennai the prevalence of Obesity is high according to a studyby Mishra people do regular physical activity by going to gyms,
hence subjects were randomly chosen who regularly visit gyms
for their daily workouts. In Tirupathi of 150 subjects 75 wereclassified as placebo and 75 subjects as placebo group. Both thegroups were assessed for Nutritional Status by a Questionnaireand Anthropometric tools. After assessment both the groups wereput on a weight loss program for 30 days. After 30 days again theAnthropometric data was collected for the subjects. For 30 days
the Weight loss program for experimental groups included Diet,
Physical activity and Dietary supplementation of L-Carnitine (1gper day) whereas for placebo groups the weight loss program
includes Diet and physical activity but no supplementation. The
data was then statistically analyzed

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International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012ISSN 2250-3153

3Table: 1The Distribution of study samples in the city of Chennai and Tirupathi town and Assessment process.
METHODOLOGY

IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONSPREVALENCE OF OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT:The statistical analysis was done and the values were interpreted.
First the prevalence rate was studied. The analysis from theabove table showed that the prevalence of Obese and Overweightsubjects among placebo group in Chennai was 38.2% and 61.8%
and in Tirupathi was 30.7% and 69.3%. The prevalence of Obeseand Overweight among experimental group in Chennai was37.6% amd 62.4% whereas in Tirupathi was 38.7% and 61.3%.

TABLE: 3. DISTRIBUTION OF OBESE AND OVERWEIGHT SUBJECTS WITH RESPECT TO PLACEBO AND
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP.
Cro sstabCentre
1 Chennai

OBESE.
OW

1 Obese
2 OW

Total
2 Tirupathi

OBESE.
OW

1 Obese
2 OW

Total

Count
column %Countcolumn %Countcolumn %Countcolumn %Countcolumn %Countcolumn %Carnitine
0 wit hout
1 wit h
84
88
38.2%
37.6%
136
146
61.8%
62.4%
220
234
100.0%
100.0%
23
29
30.7%
38.7%
52
46
69.3%
61.3%
75
75
100.0%
100.0%

Total
172
37.9%
282
62.1%
454
100.0%
52
34.7%
98
65.3%
150
100.0%

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International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 9, September 2012ISSN 2250-3153

4

COMPARISON OF WEIGHT AND BFP WITH RESPECT TO PLACEBO AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUP:FIGURE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT AND BFP BEFORE AND AFTER L-CARNITINE SUPPLEMENTATION

The above figure explains the weight loss and loss of bodyfat percentage in the subjects among placebo and experimentalgroups. The statistical analysis showed that the mean differenceof weight loss was significantly high among experimental groupof Chennai who had taken supplement L-Carnitine thanexperimental group in Tirupathi. The results showed that LCarnititne dietary supplement had increased weight loss byincreasing fatty acid oxidation. The Body fat percentage did notchange much before and after supplementation amongexperimental group and placebo groups in each of the two cities
independently. But comparatively the loss of fat (BFP) was moreamong the experimental group in Chennai than the experimentalgroup of Tirupathi. The reasons could be the physical activity
level, as in Chennai most of the subjects go to gyms regularly
than in Tirupathi who only walk for 30 – 45 minutes. The rate ofweight loss could be more when the VO2 max (Heart rate) isabove normal that happens when a person runs on a tread millthan a person who walks.

that after age of 30 the endogenous synthesis of L-Carnitine
declines, but again this requires extensive research study. As Lcarnitine is mostly available in animal products, vegetarians
need to get supplemented or they should regularly take aminoacids lysine and methionine that poroduce L-Carnitine in thebody. L-Carnitine is considered as important vitamin as it has
many other health benefits apart from fatty acids transportationand oxidation. Recently L-Carnitine is gaining importance evenin sports nutrition as a supplement during sports training adue toits property for oxidation of fats which serve as a fuel for long
duration trainings.

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V. CONCLUSIONS
From the statistical analysis it can be concluded that LCarnitine, a dietary supplement when taken by overweight andobese subjects will reduce more weight. But this will work only
when the person does any physical activity. The obese andoverweight subjects who are doing regular physical activity
require extra L-Carnitine for the transport of fatty acids which
are used for energy production. But large scale studied may berequired to prove this. But the experimental group especiallythose above age 30 lost more weight when given L-Carnitine
supplement than among the control group. The reason could be

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Hultman, E., G. Cederblad, and P. Harper Carnitine administration as atool of modify energy metabolism during exercise. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 62:450, 1991
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5AUTHORSFirst Author – R.Kalpana, PhD scholar, SPMVV TIRUPATI,
Email: kalpanaprasad_ks@yahoo.co.in
Second Author – Dr.Aruna, PhD, Associate Professor,
Department of Home Science, SPMVV Tirupati. Email:aruna.ahahw2012@gmail.com

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