The Effect of L-Carnitine and Heparin Supplementation on Plasma Glucose and Lactate Concentration During Exercise

It has been reported that the increase of Free Fatty Acid (FFA) availability increases fat oxidation and decreases carbohydrate use in the skeletal muscles. This study was performed to determine the effect of L-carnitine supplementation plus heparin infusion on carbohydrate metabolism during aerobic exercise. In this clinical trail study, 30 healthy untrained male students from Islamic Azad University of Saveh, in two groups of experimental and control, cycled according to Astrand protocol on two separate occasions in a week in two steps: 1) Exercise protocol without heparin infusion or L-carnitine ingestion for the experimental group and without lactose (placebo) for the control group. Step 2) Exercise protocol after heparin infusion and L-carnitine ingestion among the experimental group and infusion and ingestion of lactose (placebo) among the control group. Blood samples were drawn immediately following the two step exercises for the purpose of plasma glucose and L-carnitine concentration calculations. The data was analysed using T-test. The findings showed that heparin infusion and L-carnitine ingestion had no influence on plasma glucose concentrations (91±6 versus 91±7 mg/dL) in the experimental group. In addition, Lactate concentration did not change significantly in the experimental group (5.1±0.61 versus 4.47±0.59 mg/dL). Also the lactose use did not change the dependant variables in the control group. Results indicated that increased FFA availability does not affect carbohydrate metabolism or endurance performance. Further studies are necessary to determine the effect of these supplementations on fat-carbohydrate metabolism or endurance exercise.