L-Carnitine L-Tartrate, 200g

Description

L-carnitine l-tartrate, 2 grams a serving, 200 grams in the tub, 100 servings at about 29 cents each. The tartrate salt is the form the exercise literature used, which is the reason it is stocked rather than acetyl-L-carnitine, a different compound bought for different purposes. A 2 gram serving of l-carnitine l-tartrate carries roughly 1.36 grams of carnitine itself, because the tartrate is part of the stated weight.

The numbers on the tub

Why l-carnitine l-tartrate rather than the plain amino

Carnitine on its own is a sticky, strongly hygroscopic material that is difficult to keep as a free flowing powder. Pairing it with tartaric acid produces a stable salt that can be weighed and scooped, which is why almost every powder on the market is the tartrate.

The cost is that about a third of the weight is tartrate. Our panel gives both figures, which is the same compound against active arithmetic the performance page applies to HMB as a calcium salt and to glycerol on a carrier. Any product quoting only the salt weight is quoting the larger number.

Tartrate, acetyl and propionyl are not interchangeable

Acetyl-L-carnitine carries an acetyl group and is sold for reasons drawn from a separate literature. Propionyl-L-carnitine is a third form with its own small body of work. They are different molecules at different prices and the research on one does not transfer to another.

A label that says only carnitine has therefore told you very little. This one names the salt, states the carnitine fraction and prints the cost per gram of the active, so comparison across the three forms is arithmetic rather than assumption.

What the exercise trials administered

Studies using l-carnitine l-tartrate have generally given 1 to 4 grams a day over one to eight weeks, measuring markers of muscle damage such as creatine kinase and myoglobin, perceived soreness scales and in some protocols markers of oxidative stress. That is a description of the doses administered and the endpoints recorded in the literature rather than a claim about this tub.

Why l-carnitine l-tartrate is cheap and the acetyl form is not

Carnitine is produced by fermentation at industrial scale and the tartrate is the simplest salt to make, handle and pack. Acetylating it adds a step and a cost, and the acetyl form is usually sold in capsules at a few hundred milligrams rather than in a tub by the gram.

So the price gap starts as a manufacturing fact. Whether the acetyl form does anything the tartrate does not is a separate question with its own literature, and not one a product page can settle.

Who buys l-carnitine l-tartrate

Mostly people following the muscle damage literature, and a smaller number of vegetarians, since dietary carnitine comes largely from red meat and meat free diets have measured lower plasma carnitine. One group is buying an ergogenic and the other a nutrient, and the same tub of l-carnitine l-tartrate serves both without the label pretending to know which you are.

The loading question

A separate line of research measured muscle carnitine content directly and found that raising it required carnitine taken alongside a substantial carbohydrate load, repeatedly, over weeks. Taking a scoop with water and expecting muscle carnitine to change is not what that literature describes. The reference material on the compound is on the NIH carnitine fact sheet.

Taste and mixing

Sharply sour from the tartrate, fully soluble, and best in a flavoured drink rather than water. It picks up moisture from the air quickly, so the lid matters and the scoop should go back dry.

Testing

Every lot is identity tested and assayed by an independent laboratory for carnitine content, with heavy metals and microbials screened alongside, and under specification lots are withdrawn with the failing certificate left published. Your lot report is linked above and archived on lab results.