Carnosine

Carnosine is a dipeptide (beta-alanine plus L-histidine), concentrated in your skeletal muscle and nerve tissue. It works through four mechanisms. It buffers pH inside cells during intense exercise. It scavenges reactive carbonyls (trapping aldehydes before they crosslink proteins). It chelates redox-active metals like copper and zinc. And it quenches reactive oxygen species. In geroscience, its anti-glycation action is especially relevant. Carnosine blocks the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), the sugar-protein adducts that pile up in aged tissue and damage blood vessels and nerves. Muscle carnosine falls by about 47 to 63% between early adulthood and your 70s, with the steeper losses in fast-twitch (type II) fibers. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (Houjeghani 2018; 54 adults with type 2 diabetes) found that 12 weeks of oral L-carnosine (1 g/day) significantly cut serum AGEs and TNF-α versus placebo. Long trials in healthy older adults are still missing; most human data come from short trials in metabolically unhealthy people. And one open question is how much oral carnosine even raises tissue levels, given that an enzyme (serum carnosinase) breaks it down fast.

Last reviewed: June 22, 2026

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