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Carnitine status of pregnant women: effect of carnitine supplementation and correlation between iron status and plasma carnitine concentration

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 63, pages 1098–1105 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

It has been shown that plasma carnitine concentrations markedly decline during gestation in women. The reason for this, however, is unknown. One objective of this study was to investigate the effect of carnitine supplementation on plasma carnitine concentrations in pregnant women. The second objective was to investigate the hypothesis that reduced plasma carnitine concentrations during gestation are caused by a reduced carnitine synthesis because of a diminished iron status.

Subjects/Methods:

Healthy pregnant women (n=26) were randomly assigned in two groups receiving either a L-carnitine supplement (500 mg L-carnitine per day as L-carnitine L-tartrate) (n=13) or placebo (n=13) from the 13th week of gestation to term.

Results:

In the control group, there was a marked reduction of plasma carnitine concentration from the 12th week of gestation to term. This reduction was prevented by the supplementation of carnitine. In the control group, there was a positive relationship between the parameters of iron status (mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and ferritin) and plasma concentration of carnitine (P<0.05). Moreover, there were inverse correlations between the concentrations of ferritin and the carnitine precursor γ-butyrobetaine in plasma, and between γ-butyrobetaine and carnitine in plasma (P<0.05).

Conclusions:

This study confirms that plasma carnitine concentrations decline in the course of pregnancy, an effect that can be prevented by the supplementation of carnitine. Data of this study, moreover, suggest that the decline of plasma carnitine concentration during pregnancy could be caused by a reduced rate of carnitine biosynthesis, possibly because of an inadequate iron status.

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Acknowledgements

This study was in part supported by Lonza (Basel, Switzerland). We thank all the women who took part in the study, the midwives and medical practitioners of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Ewald Seliger and members of hormone laboratory of the University Hospital. We also thank Frank Hirche for measuring the carnitine compounds with HPLC-MS/MS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    U Keller & K Eder

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    C van der Wal, C Scheler & F Röpke

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St Elisabeth Hospital, Halle, Germany

    G Seliger

Authors
  1. U Keller
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  2. C van der Wal
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  3. G Seliger
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  4. C Scheler
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  5. F Röpke
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  6. K Eder
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K Eder.

Additional information

Contributors: UK and KE designed the study concept and GS and FR provided significant advice on this concept. CW, GS and CS were responsible for the study coordination, proband care and the sample collection. UK was responsible for the analyses. UK and KE led the writing. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Keller, U., van der Wal, C., Seliger, G. et al. Carnitine status of pregnant women: effect of carnitine supplementation and correlation between iron status and plasma carnitine concentration. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 1098–1105 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2009.36

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