Effects of carnosine supplementation on glucose metabolism: Pilot clinical trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Carnosine in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Carnosine is a naturally present dipeptide in humans and an over-the counter food additive.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 15 individuals were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and pilot study.

The individuals were allocated by chance, so the Carnosine group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Carnosine study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Carnosine could be set against what happens without it.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Carnosine study would be practical.

Insulin sensitivity and secretion, glucose tolerance (oral glucose tolerance test), blood pressure, plasma lipid profile, skeletal muscle ((1) H-MRS), and urinary carnosine levels were measured.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Blood Glucose, Carnosine, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Dietary Supplements, Fasting, Glucose and Glucose Intolerance.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Carnosine in 15 individuals.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2016 (Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Carnosine compound page, all human trials.