Acetyl L Carnitine Aids Metabolism, Detoxification, and Brain Health

All right, next, our nutrient spotlight for today, we're gonna talk about acetyl L-carnitine. And this is again from Wellness Resources. This is acetyl L-carnitine aids metabolism, detoxification, and brain health. So let's talk about exactly what acetyl L-carnitine is. Now, there's been a lot of research so far on it, and they've known that it's great for brain health, it's great for nerve health. Those were the biggest things that acetyl L-carnitine really does, okay? But now we're seeing that its benefits extend well beyond that into metabolism, mitochondria, blood sugar, and even cardiovascular health. So let's talk about it. So let's first talk about exactly what acetyl L-carnitine is and or carnitine. So carnitine is a water-soluble vitamin-like amino acid, and it's typically found in meat and dairy. And it's also naturally made by your liver, okay? And kidneys from the amino acids lysine and methionine. So it's a natural amino acids made in your liver, but obviously you gotta take in the amino acids for it to go through the process so it can make carnitine. So we'll go through that. So carnitine transports long-chain fatty acids such as fats, glucose, and coenzyme A into the mitochondria for energy production and metabolism. Okay, now a lack of carnitine occurs when you consume a diet low in lysine and methionine, right? So if you're not eating a lot of protein, you're not eating enough proteins, this is where you can actually get into a lack of carnitine in general, okay? And a deficit in carnitine can lead to changes in fat and glucose metabolism. Keep that in mind. So let's take a look at some methionine-rich foods so that you can kind of see what you need to take in in order to make sure that carnitine is being manufactured and or used. So methionine-rich foods include turkey, beef, fish, pork, milk, cheese, nuts, beans, tofu, quinoa, and foods rich in lysine include lean beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish, cheese, milk, beans, lentils, and peas. Now you have to understand that those of you who are on a complete plant-based diet, vegans, vegetarians, you have to be, you know, it could be a little tricky for you guys, okay? So you have to kind of make sure you're doing it in a smart way and getting your amino acids in and getting enough of the amino acids in because sometimes if you don't know what you're doing on a plant-based diet, you know, of course, the plant-based folks I know out there will say, well, I can get enough protein from a plant-based diet. I'm not arguing that point, but you want to get the highest quality protein because unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that the most usable proteins by the human body is the animal-based proteins. Now you can argue whether the animal-based proteins are good for you or not in terms of saturated fat and all that type of stuff. Of course, there's arguments on both sides and they both have valid points. What I'm saying is that if you're not eating those, you know, beef, fish, pork, milk, cheese, all these types of things, I'm not talking about the processed ones, by the way, which are the most absorbable, right, and contain the highest amounts, then you've got to get it from somewhere. So those of you, again, who are on plant-based diets, just keep that in mind that you have to get your protein sources from somewhere. And again, you have to be a little bit more creative in how you get them. Again, people do it, right? There are plant-based folks out there who are thriving and doing extremely well. And I actually eat probably 70 to 80 plant-based as well, but I do eat lean chicken and turkey as well. That is a part of my diet. So something to keep in mind. Now, let's take a look at blood sugar and mitochondria. So ALC, acetyl L-carnitine, supports vital functions that impact cardiovascular health, blood sugar, and insulin function as well. Okay, there was systematic reviews and meta-analysis, studies that demonstrate the importance of L-carnitine and ALC for these essential processes, okay? So you have to understand that when you consume foods, the nutrients that bring fats and glucose into the mitochondria must be present for energy production. Well, ALC is one of those transport nutrients, literally helps to transport these nutrients and to get it in there for this process, so your mitochondria and all this type of stuff and your cardiovascular health and everything can work properly. ALC is extremely involved in that process. ALC also helps to support menstrual cycle regulation. There was a recent 2021 randomized clinical trial in young women. It evaluated the effects of ALC on stress and menstrual cycle rhythms. Women who were given 1,500 milligrams of ALC twice daily experienced better hormone levels and menstrual cycle regularity. Also, brain support and weight management. So years and decades or a lifetime of excess weight creates substantial metabolic stress on cognitive and mental health. Ongoing support of physiological mechanisms is essential to keeping metabolism efficient and healthy and protecting your brain from the stress and inflammatory adipose tissue. Well, ALC has been studied for this, okay? It's been studied for decades to help support memory and nerve integrity. That's what I was talking about before. It is also now documented that the metabolic benefits of ALC greatly support central nervous system function against the stress effects of adipose tissue. As a matter of fact, there was a November 23 journal report and it reported on the significant benefits of ALC on brain health and weight management. The results demonstrated significant protection for mitochondrial function and brain health. We already know that it supports mood, nerve function, and cognitive function. But now they are also showing that it also supports dopamine and GABA, which are neurotransmitters in your brain. We all know that GABA is kind of the relaxant in your brain. It's one of the neurotransmitters that help with stress tolerance, motivation, relaxation, all these types of things. Well, ALC helps with that as well. ALC also helps with liver detoxification and healthy liver function, helps with detoxification of heavy metals, xenobiotics, toxic byproducts that are released from gut microbiome imbalances. Again, what were we talking about, right? The pop chemicals. ALC can help with that as well. And there was a 2023 animal study that demonstrated that ALC was protective of the liver from underlying gut stress caused by food preservatives and all different types of free radicals and cytokines that were in food. Great, great stuff here. By the way, here's something that I didn't know. Did you know that the CDC states that the average adult in the United States consumes 40 micrograms of arsenic per day? I didn't know that. I'm wondering if you guys knew that, okay? And it's found actually in common foods and water supplies such as meat, fish, poultry, rice, rice products, other grains, shellfish, algae. And actually algae accounts for most of the dietary intake, okay? Well, arsenic, we know that it can be a problem, causes free radical stress to mitochondria, disrupts their function. It can cause swelling in high amounts, obviously. It can also trigger problems with mitochondria and surrounding blood sugar dysregulation and increased blood pressure, okay? But we have found that acetyl L-carnitine can actually help with the detoxification of arsenic and all these types of things, especially dealing with liver function. So great, great, good stuff, right? It helps to protect the liver enzymes ALT and AST. And another aspect of it is metabolic health in terms of heart and blood vessel function. So a small clinical trial showed that the use of 500 milligrams of ALC and 200 milligrams of alpha lipoic acid twice per day improved blood vessel relaxation, blood oxygenation, and vascular function. Great stuff. So what do I talk about all the time, right? I talk about nitric oxide, endothelial nitric oxide. Very, very important for blood vessel dilation. Well, now we know that ALC also helps with this. So again, it's intimately woven in blood vessel relaxation and oxygenation. So again, as we always talk about on this show, right? I talk about the health toolbox. I talk about taking all these nutrients that we talk about and you can add them to your toolbox, right? So if you think about a carpenter, they have a toolbox with all the tools in it. They don't need the tools all the time, but sometimes they need it for certain things. Well, now we can use ALC as a member of that toolbox if we need extra or if we need to boost up on stuff or we need support with certain things. So acetyl L-carnitine is great for this. Again, if you wanna take a look at it, Wellness Resources offers ALC as a standalone product. It's acetyl L-carnitine with 500 milligrams per capsule and also in Stress Helper with 250 milligrams per capsule. So great things. You can take a look at it. Of course, again, the Wellness Resources products that we use on this show and we talk about on this show, they contain good amounts of ALC and they contain high quality ALC. That's the key here. So acetyl L-carnitine, very, very good stuff. Something to take a look at and something you should, again, obviously think about in terms of your overall health status and health tool.