What is the difference between L-carnitine and L-fumarate?!
Question: What is the difference between L-carnitine and L-fumarate?
The product I am currently using under ingredients says 2 teaspoons.. and that much contains approx 1000mg l-carnitine (hypothetical amount).
Whereas this other product is like half a teaspoon and you receive 600mg l-carnitine AND 400mg l-fumarate.
Whats the difference? is it an inferior product? The prices are drastically different.
Can anyone clear this up for me? thanks.
Answers:
Actually, they are two different forms of L-Carnitine. L-Carnitine Fumarate is simply L-Carnitine bonded with Fumaric Acid and is the form of L-Carnitine that is most concentrated in the heart tissues. What that means is that taking L-Carnitine Fumarate will benefit the heart more directly than other forms while the free-form L-Carnitine (the regular stuff) will help with all the muscles in the body as well as helping to convert fat into energy.
They are both L-Carnitine, technically... just different forms of it. They're simply for different purposes.
They are both completely stable forms (meaning they won't spoil in the bottle for quite some time) so that has nothing to do with it, but some people do misunderstand that part. I hope I helped!
[edit]: Casey is right that the L-Carnitine Fumarate is less Hygroscopic, but that isn't because it's more stable, it's just the nature of the beast... that's why many people misunderstand that because free-form L-Carnitine readily absorbs moisture from the air that can make it expand and fall apart. The other forms of L-Carnitine (basically when other nutrients are bonded with it) don't fall apart quite so easily.
Health/nutrition classes and personal research in my role as a Product Specialist for a vitamin company
L-Carnitine Fumarate is the stable form of L-Carnitine. It is less-hygroscopic and is stable at ambient conditions. It comes as a white powder or crystalline powder. It is highly soluble in water.