We’re going to talk about carnitine today. Carnitine is an amino acid that is extremely beneficial in a few areas, one it’s important in fatty acid metabolism. Where would that be? Well, that’s your ability to break down fats. So if you’re on ketogenic diets and you’re wondering why I have something called the keto flu, it might be that you’re deficient in carnitine and the ability to process those fats efficiently into your mitochondria, the energy centers. So carnitine, mostly you get it from foods like meats or protein sources. However, some people are really deficient in carnitine. If they aren’t consuming these proteins, or you have a low stomach acid, maybe you’re either getting older, your stomach’s not producing as much acid or you’re on a medication that might be an antihistamine or a proton pump inhibitor, or you regularly take Tums or baking soda to reduce the acid.
Well, you’re going to have a lot of problems absorbing and assimilating things like carnitine. Carnitine not only is good for fats, but it’s also critical for your heart critical for your eye’s health, and absolutely, most people who are on a plant-based diet vegan type strategy, usually are deficient in carnitine. Carnitine is important in mitochondrial health and energy production. So, if you’re fatigued all the time and you eat a plant-based diet and you may not just be deficient in B12 or iron, it may be carnitine. That’s also being a problem. Now don’t just jump out and grab any old carnitine supplementation, because there are some concerns that we need to be watching for, for example, carnitine, depending on your microbiome or your gut flora, if you consume products that are high in carnitine, whether it be an oral supplement or whether it be steak or something high in carnitine, right?
It hits your gut flora and some people, their gut flora, metabolizes that inappropriately. And it actually becomes a harmful metabolite for your vascular system, your heart and blood vessels. And until we know that about you, we can actually the test and see if you’re producing that when you have carnitine orally. And if that happens, we actually have to correct your gut flora for you to be able to do that. Until we know that a safest delivery method for carnitine is actually to give you an nutrient shot of carnitine or give it as an IV nutritional delivery. So we really, really like this method to get carnitine in your system. We know a hundred percent of it’s going to contact your cells. We also know that depending on your individuality, it’s a very safe method to give without possibly driving up cardiovascular concerns until we know more about your gut and gut health.
So please consider one of our nutrient injections or our IVs. We do add carnitine to those, or if you want something more customized with larger, we can use carnitine in that delivery form. Now, another thing people don’t know about carnitine is it’s not just internally good for your system. It’s also really important in your skin health. It basically helps with how those fats are secreted in the skin and it can reduce blemishes or acne formations on the skin as well. So if this all sounds like great information, please give us a call to learn more about our Interactive Health approach to personalized medicine at 425-361-7945, or visit our website www.interactivehealthclinic.com.
