Effect of L-carnitine intake upon reduction of hunger feeling in young healthy females

The present study was designed to verify the effect of L-carnitine intake on postprandial hunger feeling in young healthy females. With double-blind, crossover design (1 wk washout), 12 females (21.3+-0.3 y) consumed a placebo or L-carnitine containing (300 mg per meal) formula diet as breakfast after overnight fasting. Satiety scores (visual analog scales; VASs), salivary cortisol, serum carnitine concentrations, blood glucose, and autonomic nervous system activity by means of heart rate variability power spectral analysis were measured before and after feeding for 6 h at intervals. Our data suggest that hunger feeling tended to be reduced by L-carnitine intake, involving the level of serum total-carnitine concentrations. Moreover, lower level of salivary cortisol concentrations was shown after L-carnitine containing meal (at 30 min and 2 h), however, the link between the salivary cortisol level and the reduction of hunger feeling was not fully understood.