Most all major medical organizations all agree that the best way to get the vitamins and minerals you need is through a nutritionally balanced diet. However, we all do not live in a perfect world and sometimes it is beneficial to add vitamin supplemenation to your diet.

Other reasons due to genetic and environmental influences cause us to be deficient in certain vitamins so a supplement may be appropriate.

L Carnitine
When carnitine is deficient, overweight people have difficulty getting into lipolysis and the secondary process of ketosis. L-carnitine is a product of two of the essential amino acids that the body cannot produce on its own: lysine and methionine. L-carnitine is often referred to as a vitamin-like molecule because it is synthesized in the liver and kidneys from the amino acid lysine and other nutrients.

At a basic cellular level, L-carnitine plays a critical role in the metabolism of fat, contributing to the oxidation of fatty acids and transporting long-chain fatty acids to the place in the cells (mitochondria) where they are processed to help provide energy, among other things. For weight loss, a typical dose is 1,500 mg.