Can Carnitine Benefit Hyperthyroid Sufferers?
At this point it would seem natural to wonder if supplementing with carnitine would make sense for patients with hyperthyroidism. That question was not taken up seriously until the new millennium, when it began to fascinate a new generation of researchers, led by Dr. Benvenga. In 2004, Dr. Benvenga noted his surprise that promising earlier studies had not been pursued further, since ideal methods of modulating thyroid hormone activity in hyperthyroid conditions had still not yet been developed.21 Intrigued by the earlier work and the lack of progress in the interim, Dr. Benvenga and colleagues searched out what was already known about the interactions of carnitine and thyroid hormone, and then designed their own series of investigations. Studies of carnitine supplementation as treatment for hyperthyroidism were scanty, to say the least. One report in 1981 had shown that adding carnitine to tissue cultures under hyperthyroid conditions helped cells process free fatty acids into useful e
