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Your Cat May Need Supplemental Carnitine
• A new study shows that the amount of L-carnitine in commercial cat food is insufficient to protect the liver. Researchers gave obese cats approximately 150 mg of L-carnitine per quarter pound of food versus the approximate 5 mg approved for commercial cat food. The higher amount approaches what cats would get from a natural diet. The added carnitine had significant effects on liver function, specifically the utilization of fatty acids. For obese cats, supplemental carnitine is essential. They are prone to developing anorexia, which leads to the life-threatening condition, hepatic lipidosis, where fat builds up in the liver. Cats with this condition have drastic alterations in fatty acids, with liver triglycerides off the chart. Cats given adequate amounts of L-carnitine have a much better ability to weather this metabolic crisis. Supplement L-carnitine suppresses these drastic alterations in lipids.
• L-carnitine also maintains good metabolic function during obesity. When cats become obese on a commercial diet, carnitine levels shoot up drastically in the liver. This is apparently because the amino acid is not being utilized: normally it carries fat for fuel. But cats maintained on natural high levels of L-carnitine everyday in their diet don't have drastic increases of unused carnitine in their liver when they become obese. Their carnitine levels remain steady, indicating less stress on the system, and better metabolism.
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/...t_dhea_01.html
This sounds very interesting, now I am wondering if its worth to seek out the foods with 150mg or more of carnitine.
What are your opinions?
• A new study shows that the amount of L-carnitine in commercial cat food is insufficient to protect the liver. Researchers gave obese cats approximately 150 mg of L-carnitine per quarter pound of food versus the approximate 5 mg approved for commercial cat food. The higher amount approaches what cats would get from a natural diet. The added carnitine had significant effects on liver function, specifically the utilization of fatty acids. For obese cats, supplemental carnitine is essential. They are prone to developing anorexia, which leads to the life-threatening condition, hepatic lipidosis, where fat builds up in the liver. Cats with this condition have drastic alterations in fatty acids, with liver triglycerides off the chart. Cats given adequate amounts of L-carnitine have a much better ability to weather this metabolic crisis. Supplement L-carnitine suppresses these drastic alterations in lipids.
• L-carnitine also maintains good metabolic function during obesity. When cats become obese on a commercial diet, carnitine levels shoot up drastically in the liver. This is apparently because the amino acid is not being utilized: normally it carries fat for fuel. But cats maintained on natural high levels of L-carnitine everyday in their diet don't have drastic increases of unused carnitine in their liver when they become obese. Their carnitine levels remain steady, indicating less stress on the system, and better metabolism.
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/...t_dhea_01.html
This sounds very interesting, now I am wondering if its worth to seek out the foods with 150mg or more of carnitine.
What are your opinions?