13 replies to this topic

[nancyd]

Since it's water soluble I thought it would be best to take it without food. However, My bottle from NOW says to take it with a meal.

[niner]

Since it's water soluble I thought it would be best to take it without food. However, My bottle from NOW says to take it with a meal.

I don't understand why you should take it with food. Seems to me like you would want to blast it in in order to overwhelm the circulating carnosinases. I don't know the particulars of its absorption, but I would expect peptide/AA transporters to be involved, so it seems like you wouldn't want other proteins around competing for space. Anyone know what's really up with this? I've always tried to take it on an empty stomach, though sometimes I eat pretty soon after I take it.

[tunt01]

MR takes it away from meals. your hunch might be right, niner.

[mwestbro]

Not to hijack the thread, but I haven't looked into carnosine for a long time. The last time I considered it, there was a lot of speculation floating around that the existence of the carnosinases indicated some potential toxicity, usually assumed to be neurotoxicity. The idea was that the body tightly regulated concentrations, so there might be a hazard in going beyond the regulated levels. Has this idea been disproven? I see people talking about a competitive relationship with taurine, but there doesn't seem to be any more concern about inherent neurotoxicity. Why not? What did I miss?

[NDM]

Shouldn't we take the very lack of a clear answer as a clue that it doesn't make much of a difference whether one takes it with food or on an empty stomach?

[niner]

Not to hijack the thread, but I haven't looked into carnosine for a long time. The last time I considered it, there was a lot of speculation floating around that the existence of the carnosinases indicated some potential toxicity, usually assumed to be neurotoxicity. The idea was that the body tightly regulated concentrations, so there might be a hazard in going beyond the regulated levels. Has this idea been disproven? I see people talking about a competitive relationship with taurine, but there doesn't seem to be any more concern about inherent neurotoxicity. Why not? What did I miss?

This post explains why I am not concerned about the putative taurine depletion. The idea that carnosine levels are tightly regulated, therefore it's dangerous was just a speculation. It is "disproven" (such that lack of harm can be proven) to some extent by the tens of thousands of people who have taken carnosine without incident. There's always the possibility that something horrible will happen to all of us a few years down the line, but you could say that about most any supplement. Humans have been eating eat for a long time, and meat contains carnosine.

[niner]

Shouldn't we take the very lack of a clear answer as a clue that it doesn't make much of a difference whether one takes it with food or on an empty stomach?

Certainly not. It's more likely that someone is wrong about it. I can at least provide a rationale for taking it on an empty stomach. NOW gives no rationale for their recommendation, so we can only guess what they were thinking. Maybe some people reported stomach upset with it? Remember, NOW is the company that isn't sure whether their K2 is MK-4 or MK-7, so I'm not sure how much weight to give their advice. I'm going to keep taking it on an empty stomach unless I can find a reason not to.

[Marios Kyriazis]

Shouldn't we take the very lack of a clear answer as a clue that it doesn't make much of a difference whether one takes it with food or on an empty stomach?

Certainly not. It's more likely that someone is wrong about it. I can at least provide a rationale for taking it on an empty stomach. NOW gives no rationale for their recommendation, so we can only guess what they were thinking. Maybe some people reported stomach upset with it? Remember, NOW is the company that isn't sure whether their K2 is MK-4 or MK-7, so I'm not sure how much weight to give their advice. I'm going to keep taking it on an empty stomach unless I can find a reason not to.

Many of my patients take it on an empty stomach and this makes sense. Others have been taking it with or after food for years and still notice benefits. I am not aware of any research that proves this one way or another. As for the carnosinase argument, this is not relevant to helahty people taking carnosine. It is relevant to those who have a genetic disorder, and this makes quite a lot of difference. Those who have the disorder would know about it by now.

[tintinet]

Shouldn't we take the very lack of a clear answer as a clue that it doesn't make much of a difference whether one takes it with food or on an empty stomach?

Certainly not. It's more likely that someone is wrong about it. I can at least provide a rationale for taking it on an empty stomach. NOW gives no rationale for their recommendation, so we can only guess what they were thinking. Maybe some people reported stomach upset with it? Remember, NOW is the company that isn't sure whether their K2 is MK-4 or MK-7, so I'm not sure how much weight to give their advice. I'm going to keep taking it on an empty stomach unless I can find a reason not to.

Many of my patients take it on an empty stomach and this makes sense. Others have been taking it with or after food for years and still notice benefits. I am not aware of any research that proves this one way or another. As for the carnosinase argument, this is not relevant to helahty people taking carnosine. It is relevant to those who have a genetic disorder, and this makes quite a lot of difference. Those who have the disorder would know about it by now.

What benefits do your patients notice?

What type of genetic defect, and how would they know?

[stephen_b]

On the other hand, in our diet carnosine comes with, well, food. Maybe it needs to be timed to coincide with dietary AGE intake.

[Nate-2004]

I've been wondering this same thing, this thread helps. Though the bigger question is whether I should be taking it on a keto diet, since its mechanism of action may be chelation. On keto you lose some magnesium (and other electrolytes).

[Skyguy2005]

It's best to not eat meat and not be a moron who thinks eating meat isnt bad for you.

 

By the way, if you disagree with me, you're wrong.

Edited by Skyguy2005, 06 January 2018 - 04:09 AM.

[RWhigham]

It's best to not eat meat and not be a moron who thinks eating meat isnt bad for you.

 

By the way, if you disagree with me, you're wrong. 

This pronouncement is a bit too absolutist. The dose makes the poison. The stomach digests protein. Using your stomach for only vegetable protein is ok I guess. However, after the Egyptians developed an agrarian society their degenerative diseases increased as shown by mummy necropsies. So modern vegetarians need to be a lot smarter than the Egyptians or suffer the consequences.

 

People vary. The number of possible gene combinations in people greatly exceeds the number of molecules in the entire universe. (Assuming 2 or more variations for 100,000 or so genes gives at least 2^100,000 combinations = 10^(log2 x 100,000) = 10^30,100, whereas the number of molecules in the universe is estimated to be only 10^82  ref)

 

In evolutionary theory humans grew big brains after we started eating meat (because the concentrated nutrition from meat made a big brain affordable back when scarcity of food prevailed).

 

With my intermittent fasting (one meal a day), a bit of meat helps me last 24 hrs  (Intermittent fasting substitutes for CRAN (calorie restriction with adequate nutrition).

 

 During my vegan days in the past, I developed tooth decay for the first time.

Edited by RWhigham, 10 January 2018 - 08:56 PM.

[Daniel Cooper]

It's best to not eat meat and not be a moron who thinks eating meat isnt bad for you.

 

By the way, if you disagree with me, you're wrong.

 

 

Humans are evolved to be omnivoires.  But, in all things moderation.