What is Carnosine (L-Carnosine)?
Carnosine is also called L-Carnosine. It is a non-essential amino acid in the body meaning body can form it. As you age it can diminish in the body.
It is formed from the combination of the two amino acids beta-alanine and L-histidine. The acid group of beta-alanine reacts with the amino group of L-Histidine to form L-Carnosine.
What Does Carnosine Do For You?
It is that mighty power of the small Folks!
Here are several functions in your body that have important health benefits from Carnosine.
Highlight:
Surprised! Carnosine is worthy of mention for a healthier you. Let’s see what this small nutrient does for your body.
L- Carnosine empowers your body with youthfulness-it is anti-aging, enhances muscle power, improves brain functions, and helps improve many other body functions.
- antiglycation agent – offers more than improved Skin health
- Helps vision– delays cataracts in the eyes
- Digestion and smoothes Leaky gut– Zinc-Carnosine improves GI (gastrointestinal) health and leaky gut
- Weight loss
- It betters athletic performance
- Make heart health better
- Sleep helper– improving sleep cycle duration
- May be involved in Autism disorder reduction
- Prevent nerve damage in Type-2 diabetes neuropathy
Let’s see in a little detail some of its functions.
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L-carnosine anti glycate the skin to keep the skin younger, and supple and help not form wrinkles.
A consequence of excess sugar on the skin-
In Glycation, the surface sugar of the skin reacts with elastin and collagen proteins. These proteins keep the skin young and strong. However, in glycation, they react with sugar that forms cross-hair-like wrinkles on your face and chin. Once formed, they can not reverse.
You can distinguish them from normal wrinkles which are parallel lines. Glycation generates wrinkles where wrinkling lines cross each other.
- As an antioxidant: It is a naturally occurring anti-oxidant. It reacts with free radicals, reactive oxygen species harmful to the body. The harmful effects are not limited to DNA cleavage, sequestering transition metal ions
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It can chelate with metal ions. E,g. forms Zn- L-carnosine
- Anti-aging-
Carnosine is a natural anti-aging constituent in your body. Carnosine fights such age-inducing processes as oxidation, glycation, protein cross-linking, mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere shortening, and transition metal accumulation
It can delay aging and rejuvenate senescent cultured human fibroblasts.
What does senescent mean?
( the state of being old: the process of becoming old. : the growth phase in a plant or plant part (such as a leaf) from full maturity to death. Other Words from senescence)
It is antioxidant, free radical, and metal ion scavenging- all these do not adequately explain these effects.
Powerful exercise supplement for athletes:
carnosine improves muscle elasticity and delays or prevents muscle fatigue. Less fatigue is more gain for exercisers. It buffers the pH drop during exercise.
It reduces lactic acid build-up and improves athletic performance.
- It helps diabetes neuropathy: In diabetic rodents, Carnosine shows a significant reduction in Neuropathic risk, Carnosine. Carnosine has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-glycation properties. Improvement of all these properties is a diabetes helper. First intervention studies in (pre-) diabetic patients have yielded promising results.
- l-Carnosine supplementation attenuated fasting glucose (*), triglycerides, advanced glycation end products, and tumor necrosis factor-α levels in patients with type 2 diabetes: a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial (*).
- Helps cardiovascular problems
- Helps weight loss by converting white fat to energy-burning brown fat reducing body fat overall.
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Brain Health: Studies have suggested that an elevation of carnosine levels (or related dipeptides) in the brain may improve cognitive function, mental fatigue, and memory, as well as make the symptoms related to neurodegenerative diseases better.
- Carnosine has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. In human studies, it is shown that it can be a promising therapeutic target (*).
- Carnosine supplementation has been also shown to have a beneficial role in Alzheimer’s dementia and ischaemic vascular dementia.
- Daily Carnosine and Anserine Supplementation Alters Verbal Episodic Memory and Resting State Network Connectivity in Healthy Elderly Adults (*)
- A preliminary, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of L-carnosine to improve cognition in schizophrenia (*).
- l-carnosine improves sleep quality in the sleep cycle to wake up.
A study with (autistic spectrum disorder * ) ASD using L-carnosine supplementation could improve sleep disturbances. ASD is a complex neurodevelopmental condition.
While not much is known about sleeping disorders, difficulty in falling asleep, excessive daytime naps, night wakings, anxiety, and abnormal movements during sleep are some of the signs and symptoms of sleep disorders.
How do you know if you are deficient in Carnosine (Carnosinemia) and how to improve it?
It is a rare inherited condition. It shows an increased level of Carnosine in the urine and decreased or no carnosine in your blood.
Increasing beta-alanine beta-alanine supplementation increases carnosine levels. Daily supplementation with beta-alanine has proven to be more effective than ingesting carnosine directly.
Vegetarians and vegans have about 50% less carnosine in their muscles compared to omnivores. Soybeans are a good source of beta-alanine. It is better for vegans and vegetarians to supplement with beta-alanine.
Fish, meat, and poultry are excellent sources of beta-alanine.
Summary
Knowledge helps us to live healthily in our day-to-day life. It is encouraging to see the power of carnosine influencing our health in the long and short term.
The availability of this simple, inexpensive, and helpful nutrient can really help people to manage their possible health burdens.
Disclaimer! Always take the advice of your health care professional before you decide to change your nutrition and/ or nutritional supplements.
