How Much Carnosine Is in a Typical Diet?
Health-conscious people often limit their intake of meat. One downside to avoiding meat, however, is that meat is the most abundant source of dietary carnosine. A human study sought to determine carnosine concentrations in blood plasma after eating beef.30 Each 7.1-ounce serving of ground beef used in this study naturally contained 248 mg of carnosine. In the study’s first phase, meat foods were removed from the diet for 48 hours. When fasting blood levels were measured, no carnosine was present. After the subjects ate 7.1 ounces of ground beef, carnosine was detected in the blood within 15 minutes and continued to increase for several hours. After 5.5 hours, there was again no carnosine in the blood. This study clearly showed that 248 mg of carnosine does not provide the body with all-day protection against glycation reactions. The reason carnosine disappears so quickly from the blood is the presence of an enzyme (carnosinase) that naturally degrades carnosine in the body. This study
