L-Carnitine stops people dying but will likely be ignored

Posted on Sat, 14 Sep 13

L-Carnitine can significantly reduce risk of death in people who have had a heart attack and decrease other heart problems. However because it’s a freely available dietary supplement and not a pharmaceutical drug it is unlikely to get the attention it deserves. 

An analysis pooling the collective data from 13 clinical trials including 3629 people in total examined the ability of L-carnitine to reduce cardiovascular disease and death in people who had previously had a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction).

L-carnitine is an amino acids that plays an important role in cardiovascular health and has been shown to improve heart muscle energy and metabolism, especially in situations where the heart has been starved of oxygen, like a heart attack.  

Compared with placebo or no carnitine the analysis found that L-carnitine supplementation resulted in a:

27% reduction in death from all-causes

65% reduction in ventricular arrhythmias

40% reduction in anginal symptoms

“Despite [these] potential study limitations, we believe that the overall results of this meta-analysis support the potential use of L-carnitine in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and possibly in secondary coronary prevention and treatment, including potentially for angina, and advocate for a larger trial to be performed in the AMI setting to confirm these results in the modern era of routine revascularization and other intensive medical therapies” commented the investigators.

“However, a large trial may never be performed because L-carnitine is an over-the counter supplement available to the public, which decreases the potential revenue compared with a synthesized product.”

In other words, L-carnitine looks like a robust way to improve recovery from heart attacks yet is unlikely to get the attention it deserves because our medical system favors surgery and commercially attractive drugs.

Reference:

DiNicolantonio JJ, Lavie CJ, Fares H, Menezes AR, O'Keefe JH. L-carnitine in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis. Mayo Clin Proc. 2013 Jun;88(6):544-51.