Suberic Acid, Adipate, and Ethylmalonate elevations can indicate that you may need additional carnitine and/or vitamin B2 to assist your cells in converting fats into energy efficiently.

What is carnitine?

Carnitine is a nutrient necessary for moving fatty acids into the mitochondria where they are converted to energy using vitamin B2. When insufficient levels of carnitine or vitamin B2 slow down this process, other parts of the cellular machinery take over and make adipate and suberate.

A similar block in another pathway may cause high ethylmalonate. Since much of your body’s energy is produced from the burning of fatty acids, your muscles and brain suffer when this cellular energy pathway is blocked. Vitamin B2 insufficiency can underlie impaired carbohydrate metabolism, migraines and dementia. Research has shown carnitine supplementation may improve Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline.

Anything that interferes with the normal fatty acid oxidation may reveal high levels of these metabolites. Rule out environmental toxin exposure, excessive aspirin use.