I stopped taking CARNOSINE supplements because I became aware of the possibility of hydrazine contamination.

[ElliotGreen]

I stopped taking CARNOSINE supplements because I became aware of the possibility of hydrazine contamination. Hydrazine is a toxic chemical that has been used in the synthesis of carnosine.

I previously was quite excited about the supplement carnosine. It is a small polypeptide which, if I recall correctly, was found to reduce alpha-synuclein clumping and improved functioning of people with Parkinson's. Additionally, it was noted as an antioxidant, and also as a chelator of some metals such as lead and potentially iron. It also is said to reduce the glycation of proteins.

Here are two health-unlocked threads which mention Carnosine:

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

healthunlocked.com/cure-par....

Hydrazine has been used in the chemical synthesis of carnosine. (Carnosine is found in meat and perhaps other biological sources, but extraction would be expensive, so for supplements chemical synthesis is used.)

If I understand correctly, hydrazine is itself a significant antioxidant. Studies which found carnosine to be an antioxidant may have been detecting the antioxidant actions of hydrazine instead. See for example this article:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/968...

Here is the Wikipedia page on hydrazine. Please note the section on Health Effects. Hydrazine is a potential carcinogen.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra...

I personally obtained carnosine from a company called APOrtha. I sent them an email inquiring about possible contamination of their carnosine with hydrazine. It is clear that they source carnosine from China, which adds to the concern a little bit. They tried to reassure me that they use quality providers, and they claimed that modern techniques for synthesizing carnosine no longer use hydrazine.

HOWEVER, it seems that they do not test their product for hydrazine. Also, they sent me an image of the synthesis pathway for carnosine (supposedly the modern method?) AND THE IMAGE INCLUDED HYDRAZINE AS A PART OF THE RECIPE.

This isn’t necessarily the last word. Perhaps there are safe sources of carnosine. I could potentially follow up with APOrtha. Maybe they sent the image to me by mistake and it actually doesn’t represent their current synthesis pathway. I haven’t exhaustively looked into the levels of hydrazine in carnosine. But if its presence is enough to mess up antioxidant tests, then I am personally concerned about the possibilities of toxicity, too.

[glenandgerry]

Did you ever find non-contaminated carnosine & start taking it again?I have been taking it for several years as the benefits seem very good and I generally don't eat meat.

I don't have Parkinson's, my husband does but he didn't want to add, yet another, supplement to his stack, so I've been taking it. Think it's maybe time to stop.