Effect of L-carnitine intake before combined training on body composition and health-related physiological factors in overweight young-adult women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of L-carnitine supplement intake before combined aerobic and resistance exercises on body composition, physical fitness, and metabolic risk factors. The subjects of this study were 18 overweight young-adult women with no exercise experience, and they were randomly divided into two groups; combined training+placebo intake group(PLA, n=9), and combined training+L-carnitine intake group(CAR, n=9). Combined training which consists of aerobic and resistance exercises was performed 3 times a week for 8 weeks. To investigate the effect, body composition, grip strength, back strength, power, muscular endurance, cardiopulmonary endurance, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, blood lipid concentration, and waist-hip ratio were analyzed before and 8 weeks after combined training. Significant differences between group and period were determined with two-way repeated ANOVA. To summarize the results of this study, the oral intake of 2g of L-carnitine supplement with combined training significantly decreased percent body fat and significantly increased fat-free mass, but did not effect on physical fitness and metabolic risk factors. Therefore, our findings suggest scientific evidence that L-carnitine intake and combined training might be used as an ergogenic supplement to improve body composition in overweight young-adult women.