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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

17.02.2011

L-Carnitine makes Alli weight loss even more effective

We wrote recently about how weight loss with the slimming aid sibutramine is even more effective if you take a couple of grams a day of L-carnitine. L-Carnitine also improves the effect of the slimming medicine orlistat, the active ingredient in Alli.

Study
The Italians did an experiment with 227 fat people who had diabetes-2. Half of the group were given 3 doses a day of 120 mg orlistat, for a year. Orlistat suppresses the enzymes that are involved in the fat uptake in the digestive tract and therefore reduces the amount of calories absorbed from food.

The other half of the group took not only orlistat but also 2 g L-carnitine every day. The mitochondria, the cells' power stations, use L-carnitine to burn fatty acids. It's still not actually clear whether you burn more fatty acids if you take L-carnitine, but that’s another story.

Resulrs
At the end of the year the orlistat group had lost 9.5 kg. The combination group had lost 11.3 kg.

Other values, such as those for the insulin resistance markers and inflammatory process markers, improved faster in the combination group than in the orlistat group.

HbA1c: glycated haemoglobin; FPG: fasting plasma glucose; PPG: post-prandial plasma glucose; FPI: fasting plasma insulin; HOMA-IR: homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index; Hs-CRP: high sensitivity-C reactive protein.

L-carnitine had no side effects.

Source:
Endocr J. 2010 Sep 29;57(9):777-86.

More:
Weight loss with sibutramine goes faster when L-carnitine is added 15.02.2011