Carnosine in wai food

[Kasper]

I'm wondering how much carnosine is present in wai food.
I've read a little bit about carnosine and is quite interesting.

Carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) has recently attracted much attention as a naturally occurring antioxidant and transition-metal ion sequestering agent. It has also been shown to act as an anti-glycating agent, inhibiting the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Through its distinctive combination of antioxidant and antiglycating properties, carnosine is able to attenuate cellular oxidative stress and can inhibit the intracellular formation of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species. By controlling oxidative stress, suppressing glycation, and chelating metal ions, carnosine is able to reduce harmful sequelae such as DNA damage. AGEs are known contributors to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and carnosine therefore merits serious attention as a possible therapeutic agent.

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2012/jun ... une%202012

Carnosine slows the aging of human cells in culture dishes.10,11 Scientists added carnosine to cultures of young cells. While the control cells developed the typical “old” appearance, those grown in high carnosine concentrations retained their youthful appearance.5 When these youthful-appearing cells were transferred to culture dishes lacking extra carnosine, they quickly developed the “old” appearance of control cells of the same age. Yet, when scientists took old cells, approaching the limits of their life span, and transferred them into culture dishes containing high carnosine concentrations, they found that the cells rapidly became rejuvenated to resemble young cells.10
Carnosine extends the life span of rotifers, a microscopic aquatic organism now being used as a model of aging in many laboratories.12 In this experiment, scientists tested many different antioxidant compounds, identifying carnosine as one of just four that had significant effects on the organisms’ longevity.
Carnosine extends the life span of fruit flies, another organism commonly used to study aging, up to 20% in males.13,14 Normally, male fruit flies die much sooner than do females, but when fed a steady diet including a carnosine supplement, the males attained the same age as the females.
Carnosine extends the life span of laboratory mice, complex, warm-blooded mammals with many of the aging features common to humans.15,16

[dime]

Too much of it is not particularly amazing in any case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnosinemia
In vitro sure, it may help some particular cells, but in the body obviously high carnosine concentrations are devastating.
I'm sure there is enough of it in wai food, and adding extra is just going to end up in the urine.

[Kasper]

In vitro sure, it may help some particular cells, but in the body obviously high carnosine concentrations are devastating.

Yes, but you will only get such high carnosine concentrations from such disorders.
Carnosine is splitted to beta-alanine and histidine by digestion.
And beta-alanine is the rate limiting molecule for carnosine synthesis.

I'm sure there is enough of it in wai food, and adding extra is just going to end up in the urine.

Well, how do you know what is "enough"... And how do you know which wai food has carnosine and which amount ?
I'm not talking about adding extra-carnosine... if you want to increase carnosine by supplementation, it may be more effective to supplement beta-alanine.

[dime]

In vitro sure, it may help some particular cells, but in the body obviously high carnosine concentrations are devastating.

Yes, but you will only get such high carnosine concentrations from such disorders.
Carnosine is splitted to beta-alanine and histidine by digestion.
And beta-alanine is the rate limiting molecule for carnosine synthesis.

I think you misunderstood me. The quote you posted says that cells grown in high carnosine concentrations don't age, they retain their youth. But carnosinemia demonstrates that this doesn't work well in the human body.

[Kasper]

I think you misunderstood me. The quote you posted says that cells grown in high carnosine concentrations don't age, they retain their youth. But carnosinemia demonstrates that this doesn't work well in the human body.

Yeah, well, it is kind of impossible to have such high carnosine for healthy humans, even if you supplement with beta-alanine or carnosine. So that is not really what interested me.
I'm more interested in that dietary carnosine increase blood levels of carnosine, and muscle tissues concentration of carnosine, and if this may be beneficial as carnosine is a anti-glycating agent.

[dime]

From what I read, beta-alanine is a 'booster' supplement for athletes.
Carnosine is basically only present in muscle cells as it seems, as elsewhere in the body there is carnosinase enzyme which breaks it down.
If you 'load' on beta-alanine for several weeks you reach around 30-40% increase of carnosine in the muscles, and then in the course of 9 weeks it slowly returns back to baseline: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19131472

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24762421

Conclusions: There appears to be some evidence from this review that supplementation with BA may increase athletic performance. However, there is insufficient evidence examining the safety of BA supplementation and its side effects. It is therefore recommended to err on the side of caution in using BA as an ergogenic aid until there is sufficient evidence confirming its safety.

[Kasper]

Carnosine is basically only present in muscle cells as it seems.

Also in brain and heart.

Carnosine’s multi-targeted effects are most prominent in the heart and blood vessels. Carnosine has been shown to decrease mortality from strokes as well as mitigate the damaging effects of stroke on the brain itself.17-19 Studies in experimental animals show that carnosine, administered before or after a stroke is induced, protects brain cells from the so-called ischemia-reperfusion injury that occurs when tissue is first deprived of oxygen and is then subjected to high oxygen levels when blood flow is restored.17,18