I mentioned in a recent post I have started taking L-Carnosine because my meat consumption is low and may become lower. Since I haven’t discussed L-Carnosine in other posts, I realized I needed to present my reasoning and some info on what I know about this supplement. I am mostly going to focus on the anti-aging/life extension related benefits as opposed to the benefits discussed in the bodybuilding community.

A Brief Intro on L-Carnosine
Carnosine is actually a combination of two amino acids, beta-alanine and histidine, and is highly concentrated in brain and muscle tissues (hint: people get carnosine in their diet from meat). Carnosine can inhibit glycation (think AGEs) and is a potent copper-zinc chelating agent (helps prevent plaque formation in Alzheimer’s disease).  Carnosine also has antioxidant properties. I am going to highlight a few research abstracts (due to limited availability), so you are aware of some of the research backing these claims.

Oxidation and glycation are part of cellular aging, and carnosine is often found in high concentrations in long lived mammalian tissues. The authors explore carnosine’s reactivity and discovered that it inhibited cross-linking between altered proteins (specifically products of glycation) and unaltered proteins by reacting with the altered protein. The authors conclude that carnosine’s anti-aging reputation may in part be due to reactions such as the one observed in this experiment.

In this experiment, carnosine was observed to undergo glycosylation with the sugars glucose, galactose, deoxyribose, and the triose dihydroxyacetone. Carnosine was also observed to prevent the glycosylation and cross-liking of proteins. The authors notes these properties could indicate therapeutic properties of carnosine.   

In this experiment, carnosine’s protective nature was tested under two conditions leading to molecular and cellular damage from free radicals. Carnosine (and anserine and homocarnosine) was observed to reduce the activity of an enzyme activated by free radicals, decreased the recovery time of rats under experimental hypobaric hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), and was found to neutralize free radicals.

But Why Are *You* Supplementing?
The first reason for deciding to supplement is I want to lower my exposure to AGEs by limiting my meat consumption, but I do not want to miss out on the protective effects of carnosine. I’m aiming for the best of both worlds. On the surface I am taking a more vegan approach, but I am taking careful consideration of the beneficial aspects of meat (a lot of vegans believe there is nothing in meat we need or want). If I can get the positive effects of meat consumption without actually eating meat and exposing myself to a lot of AGEs (as well as more leucine and methionine), I see no reason not to continue with my supplement decision. I’ll freely admit I am trying to game the system, but isn’t that what being a life extensionist is all about? :-p 

Also, as we age, our carnosine levels decrease. I’m still fairly young now, but I want to slow down any age related declines as much as possible. I tried to find studies measuring carnosine levels in vegetarians, but came up dry. However, I did find a paper hypothesizing that a carnivorous diet could provide anti-aging benefits because of it’s carnosine consumption. Just putting that out there for what it’s worth….

Also, studies have found that carnosine has a rejuvenating effect on aging cells, and carnosine was found to slow aging in senescence accelerated mice. Carnosine just keeps getting attention in the anti-aging department. Interesting. Just to mention the bodybuilding side, bodybuilders are interested in supplementation as a performance improver.

In light of this information on carnosine, 2-3 days ago I started taking 500mg L-Carnosine as a part of my daily supplement routine. Expect a lot less meat consumption in the future. Ha. I am very amused that I have come almost full circle with my practice of eating (or not eating) meat. If for some reason evidence shows meat to have amazing life extending properties that cannot be obtained in any way other than it’s consumption, I’ll learn how to hunt if I have to… O.o  But, in the mean time, I’m trudging forward with my raw vegan-ish diet in hopes of reaching longevity escape velocity.

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As a last note, I am observing a growing gap between what I consider a ‘normal’ healthy diet and an (or my) ideal longevity diet (excluding the obvious calorie difference). I wonder at what point other CRONies have made this observation. Hum….