We are so busy with life these days we often overlook the most basic of things in favour of the advanced or complex options. For athletes focused on muscle growth, they might think about macros in their diet, body adaptation phases, & optimising the recovery cycle. Often we forget about the very thing that makes up the majority of our muscles.

Glutamine.

With significant gut health benefits, this supplement is much more than just a supplement for strength athletes. As a result of reading this post, you will know what is glutamine, what are the benefits of glutamine and what are the side effects.

What is Glutamine?

Did you know that it is the most common amino acid found in your muscles and blood? According to scientists, our skeletal muscles (the muscles that make the body move) is made up of 61% Glutamine. Amazing, right?

When you do intense training, the Glutamine levels in your body drop. This means your body literally loses stamina, strength and endurance fast. Although it makes up a large percentage of our muscles, our body can’t produce Glutamine quickly. A normal person would take up to 6 days to recover the lost Glutamine from intense training.

It is a bit like your phone battery – drains fast but slow to recharge.

This means that although our body has lots of Glutamine, it also gets used up easily. That’s why L-Glutamine supplementation is important if you train more than once every 6 days.

What are the Benefits of Glutamine?

Glutamine has a lot of reported benefits but not all are supported by the science.  So we are only going to list the benefits of glutamine that are.

1. Can Help Improve Athleticism and Overall Energy – Our Glutamine stores are busy doing a number of jobs in the body. One of these is to detoxifying and cleansing the body of high levels of ammonia. Glutamine acts as some sort of a buffer that helps convert extra ammonia in your body into urea, amino sugars, and amino acids.  When you supplement with Glutamine you can reduce the losses to improve endurance and work better during your training sessions.
2. Can help address Leaky Gut Syndrome – Leaky Gut Syndrome is a condition that has a funny name but is actually quite scary. In a nutshell, a person who has leaky gut has very permeable linings in their digestive tract. The linings serve as a barrier to keep larger and unwanted particles from contaminating the rest of your body. Leaky Gut is one of the causes of Auto Immune Diseases. Glutamine supplements can help heal leaky guts according to clinical trials. There are also a number of studies published worldwide that shows L-Glutamine supplements as a means to alleviate different kinds of gut digestive issues.
3. Helps Burn Fat and Can Boost Your Metabolism – Research has shown that after taking supplementary L-Glutamine, there’s a 400-percent rise in the person’s HGH levels. HGH or Human Growth Hormone aids in metabolising fat while supporting the growth of new muscles. This rise is said to lead to an increase in metabolism even while resting and improves the after burn effect. In turn, the increase in metabolism and after burn is essential in burning fat and building lean muscle mass.

What are the Side Effects of Glutamine?

Here’s the part where most vendors don’t dare talk about. What are the side effects of Glutamine?

Well, if you are pretty “normal” and don’t suffer from any kind of condition then it is pretty safe to use. However, this is not true for all people.

There are cases wherein Glutamine supplements worsen cases of liver disease or cirrhosis. There are also records showing how it can negatively affect people with seizure or psychiatric disorders. If by any chance you are sensitive to monosodium glutamate or MSG, a common and natural flavour enhancer added or found on all kinds of food, then you should stay away from Glutamine supplements. Lastly, it may also have adverse effects when taken alongside certain medications.

For best results, talk to a health professional before taking in Glutamine supplements.

If you have any questions regarding Glutamine and would want to find out if you need it or not, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to answer your questions for you.

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References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7733028

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9778582

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7627502

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736(93)90939-E/abstract