Acetyl-L-carnitine, or ALC, is a chemical compound derived from the amino acid carnitine. The human body produces it naturally, with the greatest concentrations appearing in the muscles, the brain and the testicles. ALC is sold as a dietary supplement, and research suggests that ALC may help alleviate alcohol withdrawal symptoms as well as reduce organ damage from alcohol. For this reason, it may hold promise as a treatment for alcoholics.
Withdrawal
Alcohol is a physically addictive drug. Repeated alcohol consumption leads the body to adapt to its presence, to the point in which the body becomes dependent on the presence of alcohol to function properly. When no alcohol is in the system, the body shows physical effects--withdrawal symptoms. Depending on the level of alcohol dependence, withdrawal symptoms may be mild, such as agitation, irritability or anxiety, or they may be more serious, including nausea, vomiting, sweating, tremors and rapid heartbeat. In severe cases, withdrawal can cause hallucinations or seizures.
Treatment
Acute alcohol detoxification, or "detox," can last a week. Most active alcoholics are familiar enough with withdrawal symptoms to know that they don't want to go through them. And alcohol counselors, such as those at SouthCoast Recovery in San Clemente, Calif., say the fear of a painful withdrawal can keep alcoholics from seeking treatment.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
In laboratory experiments using rats, researchers at the University of Catania Medical School in Italy found evidence that acetyl-L-carnitine may be an effective treatment for withdrawal. The researchers induced alcohol dependence in rats by regularly giving them a solution of 20 percent alcohol over four days. Eight hours after the last shot of alcohol, before any withdrawal symptoms began to appear, one group of rats received doses of ALC, while another did not. The researchers concluded that the ALC "significantly reduced the onset of tremors" in the treated rats.
Compulsion
The same researchers also tested the effects of ALC on rats that had been bred for "innate ethanol preference"--in other words, rats that were born alcoholics. They found that, given a choice between pure water and and water with 10 percent alcohol mixed in, the "alcoholic" rats that were treated with ALC ingested less of the alcohol solution than those that went untreated.
Organ Damage
The same researchers, working with colleagues from London and Rome, also examined ALC's ability to control fatty acid ethyl esters, or FAEEs. These are chemicals that form in the body with alcohol consumption and are believed to play a major role in alcohol-induced organ damage, particularly in the brain and heart. Their research found that rats treated with ALC before receiving alcohol "greatly reduced" the harm done by FAEEs.
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