what is the difference between the two? what are the benefits of each “supposed” to be?
There are various types of L-Carnitine out there with different benefits. If my memory is working well, I think Acetly-L-Carnitine Arginate is the one that can help promote neural growth or something.
A bit of Google searching, or even searching the site should pull up some details.
Arginine: is best known for it’s ability to stimulate growth hormone and nitric oxide(NO) production. NO increases blood flow to muscles and optimizes muscle growth.
L-carnitine: enhances fat metabolism aids in muscle recovery and enhances the function of testosterone
L carnitine
Acetyl carnitine
Acetyl carnitine is the one used by anti-oxidant authority Lester packer to revitalize aged rats via reving up their mitochondria (R-ala was also administered and needs to be). Also has CNS benefits.
Acetly-L-Carnitine Arginate can supposedly do good stuff–nerve growth perhaps, but there is no human data and only a limited amount of data at all (that I know of). There are better candidates if this is your interest.
Plain carnitine has had publicity over the years for varying things muscle/performance related. However the form used in the studies was propionyl carnitine which was not widely available in the US till mid '05. (Now available in bolk).
The folks who sell the Acetly-L-Carnitine Arginate sell several other novel forms and make claims, again based on slim data and no human data (that I know of).
These folks sell it, and talk about all kinds of studies, but they don’t really specifically mention what has or has not been observed in studies involving living humans vs other types of studies.
However, if you really want to research this they do provide a nice (unlinked) list of references at the end that you can do some searching for.
[quote]yaml wrote:
what is the difference between the two? what are the benefits of each “supposed” to be? [/quote]
L-carnitine is sold as a fat furner, but i’ve never heard of anybody having results with it.
ALCAR (Acetyl L-Carnitine) has some nootropic benefits…i love the stuff. i take 1000mg twice a day, and will prolly use it for the rest of my life. it’s the ONLY thing that has helped the ringing in my ears, and it gives me energy, without the jitters of caffiene/ephedrine. a weird thing if noticed is how much clearer everything looks and sounds, and i seem to have a weird energy reserve…
give it a whirl, but make sure you use a decent dose.
[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
yaml wrote:
what is the difference between the two? what are the benefits of each “supposed” to be?
L-carnitine is sold as a fat furner, but i’ve never heard of anybody having results with it.
ALCAR (Acetyl L-Carnitine) has some nootropic benefits…i love the stuff. i take 1000mg twice a day, and will prolly use it for the rest of my life. it’s the ONLY thing that has helped the ringing in my ears, and it gives me energy, without the jitters of caffiene/ephedrine. a weird thing if noticed is how much clearer everything looks and sounds, and i seem to have a weird energy reserve…
give it a whirl, but make sure you use a decent dose.[/quote]
An unfortunate side effect of taking it is that you’re increasing free radical production in mitochondria and you need some form on antioxidant protection that works in the mitochondria e.g. lipoic acid (Packer has used R-ala) or NAC.
Vroom,
Only a small portion of that article is on that form of carnitine, and the references for that form are for articles that use cells or cell culture, not even rats.
[quote]ScottL wrote:
Vroom,
Only a small portion of that article is on that form of carnitine, and the references for that form are for articles that use cells or cell culture, not even rats.[/quote]
I know. It’s a starting point. You can use PubMed and find citing articles and so forth…
A study was done where Endurance athletes were given about 3-5 grams of L-carnitine a day. In 21 days they group that received the L-carnitine had 3 points higher on their v02 max test than the placebo group.
This test was done on “TRAINED” athletes. It was a pretty big increase for just taking a supplement on the v02.
I have some of this stuff, just haven’t gotten around to use it yet.
[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
yaml wrote:
ALCAR (Acetyl L-Carnitine) has some nootropic benefits…i love the stuff. i take 1000mg twice a day, and will prolly use it for the rest of my life. it’s the ONLY thing that has helped the ringing in my ears, and it gives me energy, without the jitters of caffiene/ephedrine. a weird thing if noticed is how much clearer everything looks and sounds, and i seem to have a weird energy reserve…
give it a whirl, but make sure you use a decent dose.[/quote]
I agree. I’m into bjj training and I like ALCAR before it. Helps with focus, awarness and alertness. I take 1000-1500mg 2x/day in powder form. It’s gross though but just chase it.
I like it a lot and also n-acetyl tyrosine. They are not caffeine or Spike but they work good. I try to limit use of stims like caffeine and Spike so when I use them they have a big effect.