LearnIngredient 02
Zinc L-carnosine, explained
A complex of zinc and the dipeptide L-carnosine. What it is, the two small human crossover trials that measured gut permeability under challenge, and the zinc arithmetic that comes with it.
Zinc L-carnosine is a chelate: a zinc ion bound to L-carnosine, a dipeptide made from the amino acids beta-alanine and L-histidine. The two parts are held together in a structure that is only weakly soluble in water at neutral pH, which is thought to slow how quickly the complex dissociates in the digestive tract.
It is the second ingredient selected for Formula 01, chosen as a complement to tributyrin because the published human research on it looks at the lining of the digestive tract from a different angle: not fuel for the cells, but the barrier they form.
What the two human trials measured
Both published human studies used a challenge design. Healthy volunteers were exposed to something known to make the gut lining temporarily more permeable, and researchers measured whether zinc L-carnosine changed that response. Permeability was measured with a lactulose-to-rhamnose ratio: participants drink two sugars of different sizes, and the ratio of the two recovered in urine indicates how leaky the small intestine was during the test.
In the 2007 trial, ten healthy volunteers took a medication known to irritate the gut lining, with or without 37.5 mg of zinc L-carnosine twice daily, in a crossover design. The medication alone roughly tripled the permeability ratio. When zinc L-carnosine was taken alongside it, the authors reported no significant increase.
In the 2016 trial, eight healthy volunteers performed standardized exercise hard enough to raise core temperature by two degrees Celsius, after two and fourteen days of treatment, in a placebo-controlled crossover. Exercise roughly tripled the permeability ratio. Zinc L-carnosine taken for fourteen days reduced that rise by about 70 percent. The study also tested bovine colostrum, alone and combined.
What those results are, and are not
These are small, carefully run studies with a clear physiological endpoint, and they are the reason zinc L-carnosine has a place in Formula 01. They are also challenge studies in a total of eighteen people. They measure a sugar ratio under provocation, not how anyone felt, not day-to-day comfort, and not what happens over months of ordinary use.
Neither trial tested zinc L-carnosine together with tributyrin, and neither tested a finished Open Origin product. Any effect a person might notice from the combination is a hypothesis, and it is one of the things a tolerance panel will look at before launch.
The zinc arithmetic
Zinc L-carnosine is roughly 23 percent zinc by weight. A 75 mg amount, the level used in most published research and the working amount for Formula 01, contains about 17 mg of elemental zinc, which is well above the daily value on a nutrition label. That is not unusual for a targeted ingredient, but it does mean the zinc counts.
Anyone already taking a multivitamin or a separate zinc supplement should add it up. Long-term zinc intake above the tolerable upper level can interfere with copper absorption. The Formula 01 label will state the elemental zinc amount and carry the appropriate cautions, and the question belongs with a clinician or pharmacist if there is any doubt.
The branded form selected for development
PepZinGI® is the branded zinc L-carnosine from Hamari Chemicals, the ingredient used in the trials above and selected for Formula 01 development. Its selection is conditional on supplier documentation that is still being reviewed; if that review changes the decision, this page will say so.
The studies, one at a time
What was done, what was found, what it can’t tell you.
Medication-challenge crossover, 2007
- Design
- Randomized crossover in healthy volunteers, with supporting cell and animal experiments.
- Who
- Ten healthy adults.
- Amount and duration
- 37.5 mg zinc L-carnosine twice daily alongside a five-day course of a gut-irritating medication.
- What was measured
- Small-intestinal permeability by urinary lactulose-to-rhamnose ratio.
- What was found
- The medication alone raised the permeability ratio about threefold. With zinc L-carnosine, the authors reported no significant increase.
- Limits
- Ten participants. A short, acute challenge. Permeability ratio only; no symptom or comfort measures.
Exercise-challenge crossover, 2016
- Design
- Double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover with four arms: placebo, zinc L-carnosine, bovine colostrum, and both.
- Who
- Eight healthy adults.
- Amount and duration
- Fourteen days of treatment; exercise tests after two and fourteen days.
- What was measured
- Permeability by five-hour urinary lactulose-to-rhamnose ratio after exercise that raised core temperature by two degrees Celsius.
- What was found
- Exercise roughly tripled the permeability ratio. Zinc L-carnosine alone reduced that rise by about 70 percent after fourteen days; the combination with colostrum acted sooner.
- Limits
- Eight participants. Heavy exercise in heat is not everyday life. Permeability ratio only. Part of the reported effect involved colostrum, which is not in Formula 01.
Read this part too
What this doesn’t show.
- Neither trial measured how participants felt. Comfort, digestion, or any symptom was not an endpoint.
- Neither trial tested zinc L-carnosine combined with tributyrin, or any finished product.
References
Sources, labeled.
A published study reports its own data. A review summarizes other people’s. A supplier description is marketing, and we link it so you can see the difference.
- 1Published study
Mahmood A, FitzGerald AJ, Marchbank T, Ntatsaki E, Murray D, Ghosh S, Playford RJ. Zinc carnosine, a health food supplement that stabilises small bowel integrity and stimulates gut repair processes. Gut. 2007;56(2):168-175.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - 2Published study
Davison G, Marchbank T, March DS, Thatcher R, Playford RJ. Zinc carnosine works with bovine colostrum in truncating heavy exercise-induced increase in gut permeability in healthy volunteers. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2016;104(2):526-536.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - 3
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Content on this page is general education about ingredients, not advice about you. Ask a qualified clinician about your own situation.