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Question answered:13/05/08
We found no robust evidence for the use of oral carnitine in the situation you describe.
We began by searching for articles on carnitine and polio and found just one 2002 article in medline [1], the abstract reports:
“In-vivo proton MR spectroscopy carried out on post polio residual paralysis (PPRP) patients indicate that the presence or absence of intra-myocellular lipids (IMCL) is related to the severity of the paralysis. It is observed that mildly paralyzed patients are comparable (p > 0.05) with the control subjects in relation to the presence of IMCL, while moderate and severely paralysed patients are comparable (p > 0.05) in relation to the absence of IMCL. In addition, there is reduction or complete absence of creatine, carnitine and choline metabolites in severely paralyzed patients. The ability to detect noninvasively the subtle differences in in vivo, the lipid compartments of muscle may prove to be a valuable tool in understanding the pathogenesis of muscle diseases. This could open up the possibilities in designing effective rehabilitative exercise programs or development of new drug therapies.”
By broadening the search to look for carnitine and muscle aches (not mentioning polio) found some articles, but none look specific to your question. Therefore, we’ll simply report the titles below and you can link out to any abstracts that look interesting via the URLs in the reference section.
- Acetyl L-carnitine (ALC) treatment in elderly patients with fatigue [2]
- Responses of criterion variables to different supplemental doses of L-carnitine L-tartrate [3]
- Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (MCC) deficiency associated with severe muscle pain and physical disability in an adult [4]
- Effects of L-carnitine supplementation on muscular symptoms in hemodialyzed patients [5]
- Effects of prolonged L-carnitine administration on delayed muscle pain and CK release after eccentric effort [6]
- L-Carnitine L-tartrate supplementation favorably affects markers of recovery from exercise stress [7]
References
1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11973036
2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17658628
3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17313301
4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16435208
5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9708610
6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8858401
7) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11788381
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