The effects of oral L-carnitine treatment on blood lipid metabolism and the body fat content in the diabetic patient.

L-carnitine plays an important role as a factor necessary for the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria. A random double blind study was designed to investigate the effects of L-carnitine treatment (12 weeks, 3 g/d) on lipid metabolism and the fat content of the body in the patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The study details 46 patients, randomly assigned into L-carnitine and placebo groups (23 patients in each group). Patients received either L-carnitine or placebo for 12 weeks. The results revealed that L-carnitine had significant effects on reducing the waist to hip ratio (0.99 ± 0.18 vs 0.95 ± 0.16, P < 0.01), and percentage of body fat (35.4 ± 7.1% vs 32.9 ± 6.9%, p<0.01). It also lowered plasma triglyceride (4.0 ± 1.6 mmol/L vs 2.6 ± 1.2 mmol/L, p<0.05), but there were no significant changes in body weight, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein A or apolipoprotein B. These findings suggest that L-carnitine treatment may promote body fat utilization and result in reduced percentage of body fat and in lower serum triglyceride.