Heart attack, the most common term for myocardial infarction (MI), is triggered by oxygen insufficiency in the heart due to a blocked artery that slows down the blood flow.
Nowadays, heart attack patients have a greater chance of survival. After their hospitalization, on top of the home medications, the doctors prescribe a maintenance drug that may help improve a heart attack patient’s quality of life. One of these medications is L-carnitine.
Deficiency in L-carnitine can cause oxygen deprivation in the heart muscle that may lead to angina and heart disease. Facing high risks are people on hemodialysis and those who have weak heart muscles.
L-carnitine works like a carrier as it shuttles fats into the cells and into the mitochondria where it is broken down and converted into energy. The heart and skeletal muscles rely on the breakdown of fats for energy in order to function properly.
Results of the L-Carnitine Ecocardiografia Digitalizzata Infarto Miocardico (CEDIM), a multi-center, randomized, double-blind trial, published in the American Heart Journal in February 2000, showed that metabolic intervention with L-carnitine may be a therapeutic approach for preventing left ventricular dilation or enlargement of the heart.
Dr. Sabino Iliceto of the Institute of Cardiology, University of Padua, Italy and his colleagues tested the efficacy of L carnitine administration on long-term left ventricular dilation. Results of the CEDIM trial suggest that L-carnitine therapy may limit adverse effects of heart attack, thus improving a heart attack patient’s chance of survival.
"There seems to be strong evidence to suggest that carnitine supplementation (immediate and short-term – less than 30 days), may be beneficial in patients with ischemic heart disease," said Dr. Carl Pepine, professor of medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine and immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology, and Dr. Michael Welsch, associate professor of the Department of Kinesiology at the Louisiana State University.
In an article in the book The Carnitine System, Pepine and Welsch presented evidence to suggest a beneficial effect of L-carnitine on clinical outcomes, suggesting improvements in symptoms, exercise tolerance as well as reductions in mortality.
In another study, conducted by Davini et al, patients with a diagnosis of recent MI were randomly given four grams of L-carnitine for 12 months in addition to the pharmacological treatment generally used. In comparison with the control group, patients treated with L-carnitine showed an improvement in clinical symptoms accompanied by a lower mortality rate. Results of the study suggest that L-carnitine can improve a patient’s quality of life and life expectancy.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved L carnitine as a therapy for low-energy levels, congestive heart disease and other diseases associated with low-cellular energy levels.
In the Philippines, L-carnitine is manufactured by Pascual Laboratories. For more information on the benefits of L-carnitine, call 920-1911 local 146, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
L-carnitine is a prescription drug and should be bought only at a doctor’s advice.