Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) and exercise performance
What 2 graded rows on carnitine (l-carnitine, l-carnitine l-tartrate, acetyl-l-carnitine) agree on for exercise performance, and where they differ. Counted side by side, never averaged.
Consensus finder Rows from the Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) page, reviewed Oct 21, 2026 How it decides
What the rows agree on
Each block and row is one graded row from the Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) page, with its PubMed record.
Your question
Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) and exercise performance
2 rows · 38 peopleSplit. 1 row found an improvement and 1 found no difference.
- DGrade D× 2
- Rows
- 2
- Trials
- 2
- People
- 38
Where they differ
From the rowsThe best-graded row, grade D, is an open-label trial of 24 people (2016) and found no difference.
The row that found an improvement ran longer (6 months) than the row that found no difference (3 months).
The row that found no difference is newer (2016) than the row that found an improvement (2011).
The rows
1 improved · 1 no difference- DGrade DMuscle carnitine and high-intensity exercise performance · Improved
RCT · n 14 · 2011 · Healthy young men
2 g L-carnitine L-tartrate with 80 g carbohydrate twice daily · 24 weeks
Muscle carnitine rose 21% with carnitine and was unchanged in controls; muscle glycogen use at low intensity was 55% lower, and work output in the performance trial rose 11% from baseline with no change in controls.
Row on the Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) page · PubMed 21224234 (opens PubMed)
- DGrade DPerformance and muscle energy stores in vegetarians and omnivores · No difference
Open-label trial · n 24 · 2016 · Male vegetarians (16) and omnivores (8)
2 g/day · 12 weeks
L-carnitine raised plasma carnitine in both groups and muscle carnitine in vegetarians (13%), but maximal oxygen uptake, peak workload and muscle energy stores did not change.
Row on the Carnitine (L-carnitine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, acetyl-L-carnitine) page · PubMed 25612929 (opens PubMed)