Efficacy of l-carnitine in the treatment of osteoporosis in men

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of L-carnitine on osteoporosis in men. This was an unbalanced (2:1), double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial. Participants were 172 Chinese men with primary osteoporosis. L-carnitine at 4 g day-1 (n = 113) or placebo (n = 59) was administered. Lumbar spine (L2-L4), femoral neck and total hip Bone Mineral Density (BMD), Appendicular Skeletal Muscle (ASM) and biochemical bone markers were measured. Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups in the whole population (age, 63.61±23.79 years; lumbar spine BMD T-score, -3.0±0.9; femoral neck BMD T-score, -3.0±1.3). Men who received L-carnitine over 2 years had gained more substantially in lumbar spine BMD than those received placebo. The relative changes in femoral neck BMD total hip BMD and ASM were significantly different between 2 groups on 24 months which were 25.30±31.09, 10.67±21.35 and 21.58±19.47%. At the end of treatment, mean levels of serum cross-linked telopeptides of type I collagen, a marker of bone resorption, fell in both the L-carnitine group (12.24±36.18%; p = 0.004) and the placebo group (28.06±57.90%, p = 0.02). The corresponding mean changes of bone alkaline phosphatase, a marker of bone formation, were significantly different between L-carnitine group and placebo group on 12 months or 24 months. L-carnitine is efficacious on osteoporotic men, supporting its use in the treatment of osteoporosis in men.