Depression treatment with natural acetyl l carnitine?

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Quite a few clinical studies have found that acetyl l carnitine can improve mood and energy.
Acetyl l carnitine has been compared to placebo treatments. It's also been compared to standard antidepressants. Most of those studies lead to the conclusion that acetyl l carnitine works like an antidepressant -- at least for older adults.

One of the limitations of the existing data is that most of the studies have been done on people over 50 years old. Whether it can work equally well for younger people is a question that's not been really well-addressed in the studies done up to this point.

One point I make in this lecture is that even natural products can have risks. There have been reports of acetyl l carnitine causing mania or psychosis in people with bipolar disorder.
As always, these lectures are for informational purposes only.
As always, seek the advice of your personal health care provider before making decisions to take medications or supplements.

🎬
00:00 - Introducing a potential natural antidepressant option
00:38 - Why alternative antidepressant options are important
01:02 - Standard antidepressants often don’t work
01:17 - Side effects can create problems
01:42 - Standard antidepressants tend to have similar mechanisms of action
02:17 - Ideally, we could have antidepressants that work differently
02:38 - Many people prefer to avoid pharmaceutical treatments
03:07 - What is acetyl l carnitine?
04:42 - Structure and functions of acetylcarnitine
07:12 - Acetylcarnitine assists with energy metabolism
08:09 - Acetylcarnitine might boost neurotransmitter production
08:52 - Acetylcarnitine was studied as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease
09:55 - Studies found that acetylcarnitine improves mood and boost energy
10:19 - Clinical studies of acetylcarnitine for depression treatment
11:19 - Acetylcarnitine appears to be effective for depression
11:50 - Limitations of the clinical studies
12:05 - Side effects of acetylcarnitine are generally small
13:13 - Even natural products have risk though
13:20 - Acetylcarnitine might cause mania or psychosis in people with bipolar disorder
14:54 - Acetylcarnitine levels in the blood are low in depression
16:07 - Why haven’t more people heard about acetylcarnitine for depression?


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