Increased plasma carnitine in severe alcohol dependence

Carnitine plays a central role in lipid metabolism. There have been several suggestions that carnitine metabolism is affected in alcoholism. In the present study plasma carnitine levels in severely dependent alcoholic patients were investigated. The results show that total and free plasma carnitine in 11 out of 14 patients were raised above those found in normal control subjects. This may be indicative of changes central to the disease process. We suggest that plasma free carnitine represents a useful test which can be added to those currently used to assess alcohol dependence.