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1. What is carnosine?
Carnosine is a dipeptide made up of the amino acids beta-alanine and l-histidine. It occurs naturally in the brain, heart, muscles, and skin in high concentrations.
2. What does carnosine do?
Nobody knows exactly what this molecule do. However, numerous animal studies have demonstrated that it possesses strong and specific antioxidant properties, protects against radiation damage, improves the function of the heart, and promotes wound healing.
It's been suggested that it's a water-soluble counterpart to vitamin E in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Or it acts as (a) as a neurotransmitter (chemical messenger in the nervous system); (b) modulator of enzyme activities; (c) chelator of heavy metals (i.e., a substance that binds heavy metals, possibly reducing their toxicity)
3. What are carnosine's possible health benefits?
In Russia (which together with Japan is where most research in this area are conducted) there had been preliminary studies where it is claimed that carnosine can lower blood pressure, improve the functioning of the immune system, promote wound healing, and exert anticancer effects. Additional research is needed before these claims can be considered scientifically well documented.
The best documented application of carnosine is in peptic ulcers. Experimental animal studies have shown that a zinc salt of carnosine exerts significant protection against ulcer formation and promotes the healing of existing ulcers.
The molecule also has possible anti-ageing benefits.
4. Does carnosine have anti-ageing (longevity) benefits?
According to some proponents like Byron J. Richards and Mary Guignon Richards, co-founder of Wellness Resources in 1985, carnosine protects against and reverses damage to proteins that occur as part of the aging process. Minimally, carnosine slows the aging process. It is one of the first nutrients with scientific documentation of reversal of significant aspects of aging.
Take skin for example, as it ages, the inner skin layer called the dermis undergoes serious loss of structural integrity. Fibroblasts, the carpenter cells that build connective tissue, lose half their work force. Collagen fibers become damaged and the matrix that connects cells together undergoes widespread destruction. The broken down proteins that formerly comprised the structure of skin begin to link together in abnormal, inflexible, and irregular patterns. The body cannot repair the damage as fast as it is occurring. Frequently, these damaged proteins are ''glued together'' by sugar, causing excessive stiffness and inflexibility of formerly flexible structures. Progression of this process is apparent in wrinkles, dryness, inconsistent skin texture and coloring, poor wound healing, and sagging skin.
The molecule prevents and may even reverse all these issues, and these may apply as well on many if not all age-associated protein changes in body organs: the brain, eyes, heart, muscles.
Carnosine works as a fibroblasts rejuvenator and as a potent antioxidant but its most exciting quality is its ability to help prevent glycosylation - the cross linking of proteins (and DNA molecules) caused by sugar aldehydes reacting with the amino acids on the protein molecule and creating Advance Glycosylation End products, a hallmark of the aging process. If you want to see protein cross linking in action cut an apple in half and watch it turn yellow. At the cellular level, damaged proteins are caused by multiple factors including free radical damage, fragments of damaged proteins linking to other fragments of damaged proteins, and sugar hardening protein structures. Carnosine directly changes each of these processes at a cellular level by preventing them from happening. Equally important, it may have the ability to reverse the damage already done on the protein structures.
5. What are the benefits of carnosine on sport training?
The Russian scientist E. S. Severin showed as early as in 1953 that carnosine significantly contributes to the physicochemical buffering in skeletal muscles, which maintains acid base balance when a large quantity of H(+) is produced in association with lactic acid accumulation during high intensity exercise. In particular, carnosine supplementation keeps the pH in the muscle almost neutral. As muscle carnosine concentration reduces with age, so does muscular strength and enduranc. Supplementation with carnosine seems to restore the muscular carnosine concentration and thus increase the strength, endurance and speed up the recovery.
Studies point to carnosine preventing muscular injuries and speed up recovery times in sports. One of the explanations is that high intensity performance causes oxidative stress in the musculature, which in turn eats up the carnosine stores. The free radicals cause lipid peroxidation as well as carbonylation of proteins and phospholipids. As stated before, carnosine combats these reactions, provided, that there is enough of it in the muscles.
6. Is carnosine considered a doping substance?
No, it just seems to be an ideal physiologic supplement in sports. Carnosine helps the function of the calcium pump in the sarcoplasmic reticulum in the muscle cells and keeps the calcium channels open. In the lack of carnosine, the pump ceases to function and the channels close, as a result of acidity, lipid peroxidation and accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA).
7. Where do you get carnosine?
Dietary sources of preformed carnosine include meat and poultry and fish. In terms of supplementation for sport training, how much carnosine you get varies from brand to brand. Metabolic Diet's MVM contains carnosine along with taurine, glutamine peptides, etc. that are expensive and targeted for athletes for improving muscle mass, strength and performance and maximizing body composition.
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Personal Trainer Certification with the I.A.R.T.
Dr. Di Pasquale is a licensed physician in Ontario, Canada, focusing on Nutrition and Sports Medicine, as well as a world class athlete for over twenty years... 
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