Background and objective: Oxidative stress is a consequence of professional
sports that could endanger the health of athletes. This study aimed to determine
the effect of L-carnitine supplementation on health indicators of untrained
men over a period of resistance training.
Methods: A double-blinded, randomized controlled trial study conducted on
twenty-four healthy untrained male. Study subjects were randomly assigned to
two equal groups, L-carnitine and placebo (n=12). Both groups participated in
8 weeks resistance training period and supplementation of 2 g/day L-carnitine
or placebo (maltodextrin) was done. Anthropometric measurements, dietary
intakes and blood biochemical parameters including glutathione, malondialdehyde,
superoxide dismutase and catalase were measured at the beginning and
end of the study.
Results: At the end of the study in L-carnitine group, mean serum glutathione
(GSH) were significantly increased (p<0.05) and mean serum malondialdehyde
(MDA) were significantly decreased (p<0.05). Also mean of these parameters
between the two groups were significantly different from each other (p <0.5).
Enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly
increased in both groups but the increase was higher in the supplement
group (p <0.01).
Conclusion: In this study, supplementation with 2 grams of L-carnitine per day
for 8 weeks, increased serum glutathione,superoxide dismutase and catalase
enzyme activity and decreased serum malondialdehyde significantly.
Paper Type: Research paper
Mohammad S, Alinejad H A, Jafari M, Khalagi K, Asjodi F, Falah E. Effect of L-carnitine Supplementation on Health Indicators of Untrained Men Over a Period of Resistance Training: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Iran J Health Educ Health Promot 2014; 2 (3) :232-241 URL: http://journal.ihepsa.ir/article-1-192-en.html