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15.05.2023

Worn knee a bit less painful due to L-carnitine supplementation

According to a human study, supplementation with L-carnitine reduces pain to a certain extent in mild forms of knee osteoarthritis. A dose of 750 milligrams per day is sufficient. But if you take NSAIDs, carnitine may not have any effect.

Study
Researchers from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran gave 33 women with mild pain complaints due to osteoarthritis in the knee joint 750 milligrams of L-carnitine every day for 8 weeks. This dose was divided into 3 intakes of 250 milligrams each. The Iranians used L-carnitine-L-tartrate [chemical structure above].

A comparable group of 36 women used a placebo daily for 8 weeks.

Just before the supplementation started and on the last day of the supplementation period, the women reported how painful their knee was. The researchers also measured the concentration of a number of inflammatory factors in the subjects' blood.

Results
The concentration of interleukin-1-beta and matrix metalloproteinase-1 was reduced in the supplement group, while it increased in the placebo group.

The inflammatory factor interleukin-1-beta is increased in arthritis. Interleukin-1-beta stimulates the immune system to break down cartilage via matrix metalloproteinase-1, among other things.

Click on the table below for a larger version.

Pain scores decreased in both groups. The decrease in pain was significantly greater in the women who had received carnitine.

When carnitine doesn't work...
The subjects in this study used paracetamol as needed to control pain. They did not use NSAIDs.

In a more recent study - also from Iran - researchers gave women with osteoarthritis in their knee 1 gram of carnitine daily for 12 weeks, without any reduction in pain scores. [BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2021 Feb 17;22(1):195.] In that particular study, all women used NSAIDs.

Source:
J Am Coll Nutr. 2016 Sep-Oct;35(7):597-603.

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