Amino Acid Supports Heart Health

by CP Staff

According to a new study, the amino acid L-carnitine may support the health of patients with diastolic heart failure. The American Academy of Family Physicians states that approximately 40 percent of congestive heart failure is due to diastolic dysfunction, which means the heart dysfunction occurs while the heart muscle is relaxed and the heart is filling with blood. Risk factors for diastolic heart failure include high blood pressure, high salt diet, increased blood volume, decreased blood to the heart muscle itself, and heart arrhythmias. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that approximately 5.8 million people in the United States have heart failure, and one in five of those with heart failure die within the first year of diagnosis.

In this new study, researchers evaluated the effect of supplementing L-carnitine to subjects with a history of diastolic-dysfunction-related heart failure. In this study, subjects received either 1,500 mg of L-carnitine per day or placebo for 3 months. The subjects were evaluated using echocardiograms at the beginning of the study and again after 3 months of treatment.

The results of the study indicate that there were improvements in several measurements of diastolic heart function in the group receiving L-carnitine supplementation, such as relaxation time and left atrial size, which is a chamber that often enlarges due to heart failure. Additionally, the subjects supplemented with L-carnitine also showed significant improvement in difficulty breathing (dyspnea), which is a common symptom of heart failure.

The study authors stated, “In patients with a history of diastolic heart failure, important indices of diastolic function and symptoms appear to improve with L-carnitine treatment.”

Reference:

Serati AR, Motamedi MR, Emami S, Varedi P, Movahed MR. L-Carnitine Treatment in Patients with Mild Diastolic Heart Failure Is Associated with Improvement in Diastolic Function and Symptoms. Cardiology. 2010 Jul 16;116(3):178-182.