In order to make the carnitine we need, we must have a building block called lysine, which is derived from protein in our diet. Though it takes many steps and requires several nutrients to make, the carnitine assembly line looks like this:

Now let’s get back to someone with joint pain or osteoarthritis.  Sugars have a love affair with lysine—they stick to it and hold on tight.  (This is the process of glycation described elsewhere on this site.) If dietary sugars are too high or if blood sugar gets too high, all that sugar starts cozying up to the lysine we need to make our carnitine.  The result; the carnitine assembly line peters out.

Once the carnitine levels start falling, we get worse and worse at shuttling our fats into the furnace to be burned.  In turn, our heart muscle and skeletal muscle gets worse at creating energy from the fats in our diet.  The result is poor energy, lethargy, and fatigue. 

The carnitine-fatty acid relationship is only one reason why we say people with joint pain must manage their blood sugar and must be careful about their dietary sugars (though there are many other reasons).  It can truly affect energy and fatigue.

Why Supplemental Nutrients Are Needed

These examples are helpful to understand why the Insulite Labs programs rely upon certain core nutrients.  Our careful analysis of metabolism and our assessment of the medical literature regarding nutrient metabolism related to specific conditions, has guided us in making decisions about which nutrients are likely to be supportive in supplemental amounts.