Plasma carnitine levels in adult males in India: effects of high cereal, low fat diet, fat supplementation, and nutrition status.

Effects of diet and nutrition status on plasma carnitine levels was examined in adult Indian men. Apparently healthy subjects from middle and low income groups, consuming predominantly cereal-based diets had normal levels of plasma carnitine and albumin. Subjects with clear-cut evidence of malnutrition as judged by anthropometry, who, however, had normal plasma albumin, tended to have higher concentrations of plasma carnitine. Conversely, subjects with nutritional edema had markedly reduced plasma carnitine which improved with treatment. Among subjects with plasma albumin above 3.0 g/dl, plasma carnitine showed a weak but significant inverse correlation with anthropometric index (weight/height2 X 100). Increased intake of dietary fat reduced plasma free carnitine markedly and total carnitine marginally, but raised acyl carnitine. The results suggest that plasma carnitine levels in adults may be regulated by a balance between factors influencing its availability through the diet or its synthesis (availability of precursor amino acids, activity of synthetic enzymes), and utilization (body weight, quality and quantity of fat).