Benefits of Acetyl L-Carnitine: More Potent Than Testosterone!

​The Benefits of Acetyl L-Carnitine being used to positively influence the body is probably something you're already aware of if you're either a gym goer or someone who's conscious about their health in general.

Whether you've stumbled across l-carnitine for weight loss, or heard about its benefits for bodybuilding; you'll probably agree that this is a pretty potent supplement that the vast majority of people will benefit from using in some way (after all, anything that helps ​metabolise body fat is always a good thing!)

Today we highlight what is perhaps the most significant of l-carnitine's benefits for men, and discuss how it can affect your body significantly in a way you probably didn't expect; that being increasing how potent your bodies testosterone is and as a result also increasing your libido and erectile power!

Improved Testosterone Efficiency

Taking Acetyl L-Carnitine (ALCAR) will lead to an increase in the potency of the bodies testosterone stores due to the heightened state of energy manifestation within the body, specifically an increase in density of androgen receptors. It's these receptors that our testosterone binds to. Essentially, our testosterone harnessing abilities actually increase, providing more effects from the testosterone we already have. As the study linked to above outlines, this made carnitine more effective than testosterone injections for sexual dysfunction, depressed mood and fatigue.

Carnitine provides a unique way of getting the benefits of increased testosterone without actually increasing testosterone levels. If you have prostate issues increasing testosterone can make your symptoms worse, but using carnitine can allow you the benefits without those risks.

Propionyl L-Carnitine leads to an increase in nitrous oxide production, so when combined, results clearly showed that the benefits of carnitine supplementation actually exceed testosterone injections and came without its potential side effects.

With them being the less invasive option too, its safe to say that most men would probably prefer to take this route rather than being injected.

In the pursuit of enhanced erectile function and an increase in testosterone levels, the more discretely one can reach their goals the better, and many people may be completely unaware of the amazing benefits of the ALCAR and propionyl l-carnitine combination; we hope that this article may help lead you towards a treatment you're more comfortable with.​

Increased Fat Burning and Muscle Repair

As you may already know, carnitine is widely used in bodybuilding circles due to its fat burning capabilities. L-carnitine and bodybuilding work together incredibly well for a number of reasons, though, not just fat burning.

Carnitine has actually been linked to a decrease in the breakdown of cells within the body, and an enhanced state of internal repair after exercise; ideal outcomes for anybody wanting to develop, protect and repair lean muscle tissue.

Other Carnitine Benefits

The benefits of acetyl l-carnitine and carnitine, in general, are potentially very diverse including:

So as you can see, this is potentially going to become an indispensable part of your supplement arsenal. Lets delve a little deeper into what it is and how it works.

What Makes L-Carnitine Work?

As we said earlier, if you're no stranger to the world of supplementation then you probably already know that any carnitine supplement you see on the shelves is often purchased for enhancing your fat burning abilities.

What you may not be aware of however, is that there are two types of l-carnitine available as outlined in the previous study with testosterone injections. Both serving slightly different purposes but combined will have a fantastic effect on the body.

Different Carnitine Types

We have access to both acetyl l-carnitine and propionyl l carnitine, both of which serve to enhance our energy production albeit in slightly different ways.

L-Carnitine liquid and l-carnitine in tablet form are both widely available to suit the ingestion needs of any would be carnitine user.

In its liquid form, it would likely be accessed and digested faster than it would be in tablet form, however, there's really no difference between the two in terms of benefits.

You may also like to try acetyl l-carnitine HCL (hydrochloric acid) as hcl is a useful digestive aid and will help with the absorption of alcar.

Acetyl L-Carnitine vs L-Carnitine

ALCAR is less common than the normal l-carnitine tartrate (tartrate is simply an antioxidant included with carnitine to help reduce side effects) you'll see on the shelves so we understand if you're feeling a little confused about which one is the most effective at the moment.

In a nut shell, acetyl has been proven to allow molecules to bypass the blood-brain barrier and get successfully utilised in the system, whereas normal l-carnitine is more commonly only associated with fat burning.

However, acetyl l-carnitine can actually do everything that normal l-carnitine can; if you choose one type, ALCAR would likely be the best choice as you'll essentially get more bang for your buck.

It should be noted here that propionyl l-carnitine is more effective than either acetyl l carnitine or l-carnitine tartrate in the production of nitric oxide, therefore needs to be consumed separately in its own right to reap that particular benefit.

When to Take L-Carnitine and How Much

Acetyl l-carnitine dosage (as with propionyl l-carnitine) needs to be high in order to reap the benefits of the study we looked into earlier (were carnitine supplementation exceeded testosterone injections.)

You'll need to take 2 grams of acetyl l-carnitine, and 2 grams of propionyl l-carnitine daily. You can spread this out by having 1 gram of each in the morning, and 1 gram of each in the evening. If you prefer you can also consume all 4 grams at once in the morning.

Acetyl L-Carnitine Side Effects

Side effects from carnitine is rare but some individuals have experienced nausea and vomiting, restlessness and a fishy odour to the breath and urine. It has also been linked to interference with thyroid hormones, so those with an underactive thyroid should avoid using it.

Side effects would likely take place as a result of the increased internal oxidisation produced by taking these two compounds, therefore supplementing acetyl l-carnitine with alpha lipoic acid (ALA) will certainly help to alleviate or avoid any of these symptoms due to its strong anti-oxidant properties. This won't diminish the effects, but rather, help to get rid of any unwanted pro-oxidant effects instead.

As with any supplement, there is never any guarantee that it will work for you, but until you have tried, you may always be wondering! Being that it's a safe supplement to take (side effects are few and far between) it's certainly something that's worth some serious consideration.

Product Image credits: Amazon.com