I agree with you about creatine. Its a good thing to be taking. I wanted to clarify something about Carnitine vs acylcarnitine. - Acetyl-l-carnitine is quite different than plain carnitine.
let me see if I can find a good link on it.
This will bring up "everything" on pubmed about it
Too much..
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=acetyl-l-carnitineI like the series of old dogs new tricks papers on alcar and ALA..
I posted the most recent one up above.. there are a bunch of others you will find them on pubmed.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Vol. 95, pp. 9562–9566, August 1998
Medical Sciences
Acetyl- L -carnitine fed to old rats partially restores mitochondrial function and ambulatory activity
TORY M. HAGEN * †, RUSSELL T. INGERSOLL *, CAROL M. W EHR *, JENS LYKKESFELDT ‡ , VLADIMIR VINARSKY *,
JAMES C. BARTHOLOMEW § , M I -HYE SONG *, AND BRUCE N. AMES *
*Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and § Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720
Contributed by Bruce N. Ames, June 3, 1998
ABSTRACT
Mitochondrial function and ambulatory ac-
tivity were monitored after feeding old rats acetyl- L -carnitine
(ALCAR). Young (3–5 mo) and old (22–28 mo) rats were given
a 1.5% (wtyvol) solution of ALCAR in their drinking water for
1 mo, were sacrificed, and their liver parenchymal cells were
isolated. ALCAR supplementation significantly reverses the
age-associated decline of mitochondrial membrane potential,
as assessed by rhodamine 123 staining. Cardiolipin, which
declines significantly with age, is also restored. ALCAR
increases cellular oxygen consumption, which declines with
age, to the level of young rats. However, the oxidant production
per oxygen consumed, as measured by 2*,7*-dichlorof luores-
cin f luorescence levels, is '30% higher than in untreated old
rats. Cellular glutathione and ascorbate levels were nearly
30% and 50% lower, respectively, in cells from ALCAR-
supplemented old rats than in untreated old rats, further
indicating that ALCAR supplementation might increase oxi-
dative stress. Ambulatory activity in young and old rats was
quantified as a general measure of metabolic activity. Ambu-
latory activity, defined as mean total distance traveled, in old
rats is almost 3-fold lower than in young animals. ALCAR
supplementation increases ambulatory activity significantly
in both young and old rats, with the increase being larger in
old rats. Thus, ALCAR supplementation to old rats markedly
reverses the age-associated decline in many indices of mito-
chondrial function and general metabolic activity, but may
increase oxidative stress.
So it should be combined with antioxidants like NAC or ALA. (Lipoic acid or its old name is "thioctic acid" Both are thiols.. they contain sulfur)
IMHO NAC is preferable.
Deficient synthesis of glutathione underlies oxidative stress in aging and can be corrected by dietary cysteine and glycine supplementation
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/94/3/847.fullGlycine will also improve the quality of your sleep.