Thread: Increasing glutamine dosage while cutting?

Waste of money. BCAAs might be helpful, extra whey protein perhaps (plenty of glutamine and BCAAs in whey btw), but glutamine won't help you much unless you're in a burn unit and getting in more then 40g a day through an IV drip.

I thought I recall you once saying you use glutamine? You use creatine, right? Why is creatine an accepted supplement but glutamine isn't? It gets good reviews, and seems to have more positive studies than negative.

I used glutamine about eight or nine years ago when I still believed the hype. I bought it for friends, used it for myself religiously. Then... I ran out. And... nothing happened.

Then I read this: John Berardi - Appetite For Construction, Nov 8 2002 - Berardi reviewing Dave Barr: Glutamine — Destroying the Dogma Part I and Part II:

...despite all the conjecture about how glutamine supplementation may help increase muscle mass, muscle strength, and prevent overtraining, each and every research investigation examining the effects of glutamine supplementation on exercise performance, body composition, and protein degradation has shown that it offers no benefit. Because of the great job that Dave did in his literature review, I certainly don't have to provide a reference list — they're all right there at the end of his article.

To reiterate a few of the key points that Dave brought up in his article and that I brought up at the SWIS seminar:

• A high protein diet provides a big whack of glutamine as it is. In fact, if you follow standard bodybuilding protein recommendations, about 10% of your total dietary protein intake is composed of glutamine (milk proteins are composed of somewhere between 3 — 10% glutamine while meat is composed of about 15% glutamine). This means that a high protein diet (400g/day) already provides me with about 40g of glutamine.

• While the theorists still cling to the idea that since glutamine helps clinical stress, it might help with exercise stress, it’s important to note that exercise stress has got nothin’ on surgery, cancer, sepsis, burns, etc. For example, when compared with downhill running or weight lifting, urinary nitrogen loss is 15x (1400%) greater in minor surgery, 25x (2400%) greater in major surgery, and 33x (3200%) greater in sepsis. When it comes to the immune response, it’s about 9x (800%) greater with surgery. When it comes to metabolic increase, it’s 7x (600%) greater with burn injury, and when it comes to creatine kinase release; it’s about 2x (100%) greater with surgery. As I said, exercise has got nothin’ on real, clinical stress. It’s like trying to compare the damage inflicted by a peashooter and that inflicted by a rocket launcher.

• The major studies examining glutamine supplementation in otherwise healthy weightlifters have shown no effect. In the study by Candow et al (2001), 0.9g of supplemental glutamine/kg/day had no impact on muscle performance, body composition, and protein degradation. Folks, that's 90g per day for some lifters.

• The majority of the studies using glutamine supplementation in endurance athletes have shown little to no measurable benefit on performance or immune function.

• And with respect to glycogen replenishment in endurance athletes, it's interesting to note that the first study that looked at glycogen resynthesis using glutamine missed a couple of things. Basically, the study showed that after a few glycogen depleting hours of cycling at a high percentage of VO2 max interspersed with very intense cycle sprints that were supramaximal, a drink containing 8g of glutamine replenished glycogen to the same extent as a drink containing 61g of carbohydrate.

Well, hot damn! Smack my ass and call me Judy.

Well, you just saved me $30/month, lol. God damn supplement marketing. Last year I fell for ZMA when I was newer. I thought glutamine was one of the widely-accepted supplements.

Case closed. Built once again saves the day!

Hey, I'm more than open to the idea I may be wrong on this one. Post up something that shows it's worth the bucks, and I'll reconsider. It may be useful for some types of activities, perhaps endurance stuff? Not sure. Just not about to spend any more cash on it, personally. Not at the moment anyway.

Originally Posted by Built

Hey, I'm more than open to the idea I may be wrong on this one. Post up something that shows it's worth the bucks, and I'll reconsider. It may be useful for some types of activities, perhaps endurance stuff? Not sure. Just not about to spend any more cash on it, personally. Not at the moment anyway.

I wasn't arguing what you said, lol. No, I trust you very much on this. It's like when I bought ZMA a year ago because the bottle promised more muscle. Then I found out it only brings you to normal levels if you're deficient. God damn marketing scoundrels.

Oh, thanks for that but I knew you weren't arguing. I just like to give myself an out in case better research gets posted up. I've been wrong. Lately, not as often.

Originally Posted by Built

I used glutamine about eight or nine years ago when I still believed the hype. I bought it for friends, used it for myself religiously. Then... I ran out. And... nothing happened.

Then I read this: John Berardi - Appetite For Construction, Nov 8 2002 - Berardi reviewing Dave Barr: Glutamine — Destroying the Dogma Part I and Part II:

so the debate rages on . . some people swear by it, but I am convinced the Placebo effect is playing a part. . .

BCAAs Ive always sweared by, as I used to do a lot of early AM fasted lifting and/or cardio . . . sipping BCAAs makes a noticable difference in endurance and strength

Has anyone used or read any reviews on the new ON ProComplex Natural Whey? It contains 60g protein per 2 scoops with a higher amount of both BCAAs and Glutamine. I bought it last month and love the taste and find that I no longer have to keep dropping a scoop of both BCAA and Glutamine in every shake I make.

as far as i know the bcaa's and glutamine are not free form and do not compare to aminos as such.