In their bodies, human adults store about 20 grams of L-Carnitine, primarily in skeletal muscle, in the liver, and in the heart. L-Carnitine is not metabolized or degraded, but excreted in the urine, mostly in the form of L-Carnitine esters. Therefore, lost L-Carnitine has to be replenished by biosynthesis, by the consumption of foods of animal origin or by consumption of dietary supplements.
At the 'Symposium on Conditionally Essential Nutrients', reported in the Journal of American College of Nutrition (1986) the nutritional importance of L-Carnitine and of other similar substances - including choline was emphasized. L-Carnitine was described as an essential nutrient.
Interestingly, L-Carnitine is an essential nutrient for infants: age dependence of the last enzyme of the L-Carnitine biosynthetic pathway results in limited endogenous synthesis during the first months of life, reaching adult capacity by the age of 15 years. |
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