In recent months, Ive told you many wonderful ways to protect your heart. Ribose restores lost energy. CoQ10 gives it more energy production. Copper chelation actually rebuilds the diabetic heart.
Well, heres another great nutrient for a diseased heart — carnitine. The nutrient is essential for creating energy in your cells. And new evidence shows it also can help restore a diseased heart.
In a recent study, a group of researchers wanted to see what carnitine would do for a rabbits heart. They gave one group 120 mg per kilogram of carnitine (in the form of propionyl-L-carnitine). They did not give the control group anything.
After nine months, the rabbits that took carnitine had significant improvements. They had significantly less age-related remodeling. Remodeling is when useless tissue (collagen) replaces healthy heart cells. The more remodeling your heart has, the more diseased it becomes. They also had less apoptosis (heart cell death).
This study shows that carnitine can protect your heart. But more than that, it can actually rebuild diseased heart tissue. So if you have heart disease, its vital you add carnitine to your supplement regimen. You cant get enough from food. I usually recommend 500-1,000 mg two to three times daily for people with heart conditions.
Ref: Orlandi, A., A. Francesconi, et al. Propionyl-L-carnitine prevents age-related myocardial remodeling in the rabbit, Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, 2007; 50(2): 168-175.