Do Diet Pills Work?

Should You Look for Carnitine in Your Diet Pills?

Next up is carnitine. If you aren’t sure what carnitine is, we’ll give you a quick lesson. Basically, it’s something your body already produces – it comes from the amino acids methionine and lysine. It’s a pretty big deal because it helps generate cellular energy.

Though there is some scientific research that shows carnitine supplements can help your muscles recover faster and better after a session at the gym, we want to know if it takes it a step further and helps with weight loss.

L-Carnitine is shown to increase fat oxidization and help your muscles recover faster.
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Well, here’s an interesting fact – it does help increase the rate of fat oxidation going on in the muscles.

We’ll simplify – basically, it’s going to increase the rate where muscle tissue burns fat for fuel, rather than glycogen. And, this might actually help add some weight losing properties while you’re exercising and looking to build muscle while losing fat.

But the actual research isn’t exactly solid.

While yes, there was evidence that carnitine can help cut back on fat mass and increase muscle mass (especially in the elderly), these promising results weren’t found in one specific type of group – and that would be overweight and pre-menopausal women, unfortunately.

And, for the animal studies, there wasn’t any kind of weight loss that showed, even when they mixed in diet that was restricted in calories.

Basically, scientists aren’t sure if carnitine’s metabolic benefits are good enough to actually speed up weight loss when exercise is mixed into the equation. All signs from animal research point to no. 

Our opinion: carnitine in diet pills won’t hurt you, but it’s going to help some people more than others.