Effects of Three Weeks of Carnitine Supplementation and High-intensity Interval Training on Endurance Performance
Kuei-Hui Chan, Shao-Zeng Hu, Kang-Hao Lu, Chun-Yi Shih. National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2012 44(5S): p 309
Carnitine has been presented to have the benefits on anti-oxidative and endurance capacity. High-intensity interval training (HIT) was demonstrated to increase the endurance capacity and
oxidative stress.
PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of three weeks of carnitine supplementation and HIT combination on aerobic capacity and oxidative stress.
METHODS: Ten untrained healthy males were recruited and randomly assigned into carnitine group (25.0+4.4 yr, 80.3+8.5 kg, 170.2+4.3 kg) or placebo group (22.4+3.3 yr, 69.1+11.2 kg,
172.2+6.3 kg). Subjects received carnitine or placebo supplementation 2 g per day for 3 weeks. All subjects also performed the HIT three per week. The HIT protocol contains 10 bouts of
cycling trail at 90%VO2max, with each bout lasting 2 min and separated by 1 min of rest. The increment running tests and high-intensity interval exercise tests were conducted before and after
supplementation. The VO2max and time to fatigue were measured by the increment running test. Blood samples were drawn before test, immediately after test, 1 h and 3 h after test of highintensity
interval exercise test to determine the activities or concentrations of creatine kinase (CK) and uric acid.
RESULTS: After 3 week of supplementation, VO2max (43.0+2.4 vs. 37.6+5.0 mL/min/kg) and time to fatigue (1563.0+221.0 vs. 1496.0+207.6 sec) significantly increased (p<0.05) in
carnitine group. However, there were no differences in placebo group. In carnitine group, the values of blood CK and uric acid in high-intensity interval exercise test before supplementation
still elevated at 3 h after test (170.0+44.6 vs. 160.8+32.8 U/L for CK and 8.88+2.16 vs. 7.88+2.0 mg/dL for uric acid, p<0.05). But the values returned to baseline after 3 weeks of
supplementation (184.8+48.7 vs. 174.6+43.5 U/L for CK and 7.82+1.98 vs. 7.74+1.95 mg/dL for uric acid).
CONCLUSION: Carnitine supplementation during HIT is benefit to aerobic capacity and recovery of high-intensity interval exercise.