Research

Energy balance

Elevated plasma acylcarnitine levels, particularly long-chain species, are biomarkers of insulin resistance and incomplete fatty acid oxidation in Type 2 Diabetes, reflecting mitochondrial stress rather than directly causing insulin resistance.

High levels of acylcarnitines in the blood are a sign of how your body is processing fats and sugars, indicating mitochondrial stress in T2D. This helps doctors understand the severity of metabolic dysfunction.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
accumulation of acylcarnitines is therefore, plasma acylcarnitines have been proposed as biomarkers of insulin resistance... acylcarnitines may only, simply reflect the FAO flux and do not play a vital role in the induction of insulin resistance itself
Judit Bene et al. · Nutrition and Diabetes · 2018

Why this rating

Multiple studies using mass spectrometry consistently show altered acylcarnitine profiles in T2D patients.

Source

Role of carnitine and its derivatives in the development and management of type 2 diabetes

Judit Bene et al. · Nutrition and Diabetes · 2018

DOI 10.1038/s41387-018-0017-1

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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