Thread: What is glutamine and the use for it?

It's used to lighten your wallet

Seriously though, what is it for?

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Once a task you first begun,
Never finished until it’s done,
Be the labor great or small,
Do it well or not at all!
- Big Mama

It's one thing that gopro and I agree on!

Glutamine is the most common amino acid found in your muscles - over 61% of skeletal muscle is Glutamine. Glutamine consists of 19% nitrogen, making it the primary transporter of nitrogen into your muscle cells.

During intense training, Glutamine level are greatly depleted in your body, which decreases strength, stamina and recovery. It could take up to 6 days for Glutamine levels to return to normal - and Glutamine plays a key role in protein synthesis. Studies have shown that L-Glutamine supplementation can minimize breakdown of muscle and improve protein metabolism.

Glutamine plays key roles in protein metabolism, cell volumizing, and anti-catabolism. Glutamine also increases your ability to secrete Human Growth Hormone, which helps metabolize body fat and support new muscle growth. Glutamine's anti-catabolism ability prevents the breakdown of your muscles. This is especially useful for people 'cutting down'. Especially during summer when you're trying to get rid of some body fat without losing any muscle.

Glutamine is needed throughout your body for optimal performance. Your small intestines requires the most Glutamine in your body, and your immune system also needs Glutamine Because Glutamine levels deplete during workouts, bodybuilders are more susceptible to illnesses - this is why L-Glutamine supplementation is so important, not necessarily to gain more muscle, but for the 'maintenance' effects of L-Glutamine.

Prince, as usual, another informative post.

Thanx Bro'

*************************************

Once a task you first begun,
Never finished until it’s done,
Be the labor great or small,
Do it well or not at all!
- Big Mama

prince invented glutamine lol jk ,very informative

Originally posted by Prince
During intense training, Glutamine level are greatly depleted in your body, which decreases strength, stamina and recovery. It could take up to 6 days for Glutamine levels to return to normal - and Glutamine plays a key role in protein synthesis.

Just so you know, plasma glutamine levels may decrease for about 2 hours after training. There some conference i was reading about this i need to look for again. The stress effects of a "sensible" 40-60 minute weight lifting session are nothing compared to a case of extreme burns or a marathon. Even John Berardi - someone i actually think is quite a moron - has rubbished glutamine on t-mag.

With the diet of the average bodybuilder, glutamine levels will not take 6 days to recovery. That is an educated opinion of mine by the way.

And also, glutamine alone does nothing for protein synthesis. It is a combination of the essential amino acids. You get much more bang for your buck from food like steak and eggs.

Most of these claims have been made by supplement companies many moons ago - when they read studies how they wanted to interpret them. Since then these claims have been fabricated as truth.

In calorie deficit - maybe.

When in calorie surplus - no, no, no.

I don't understand how someone can put some much faith in something like this. It's an expensive product that yields no real "visible" effect.

I'm tiring of these glutamine threads. I'm need to motivate myself to write an article on why glutamine is pointless most of the time so i can just cut and paste it into every glutamine thread i see.

Originally posted by The_Chicken_Daddy
Just so you know, plasma glutamine levels may decrease for about 2 hours after training.

So to be clear, this is from endurance, cardiovascular work (i.e aerobic).

Glutamine may be good for more endurance based activity because it is an ammonia buffer, which is created when lactate builds up in the muscle.

Anaerobic activity (weight lifting, sprints) is a bit different as far as metabolic pathways are involved. I have an abstract here that states that within 24 hours, plasma glutamine levels were above what they were before beginning the training (interval cycling), and the only really significant drop in plasma glutamine came 5 hours after exercise - which they attribute to the kidneys taking the majority of to deal with the ammonia build up.

Of course by this time, the average bodybuilder would have probably eaten about two meals anyway, replacing any energy deficit, glycogen used up and amino acids metabolised.

TCD - So even while cutting, you find glutamine to be useless? What about aiding in muscle recovery? I'm curious because I've cut with and without it and to be honest I don't know if it makes much of a difference. I been using it because I've heard over and over again the benefits and a big one for me is retaining LBM.

Maybe the last few weeks of cutting.

Realisticially, the only time the thought of purchasing glutamine would even creep into my head would be during dieting.

But for muscle retention, BCAA's are a much better (and cheaper) source in my opinion.

Yes, a few grams of glutamine on an empty stomach may elevate hGH concentrations in the blood, but trying to compare actually injecting synthetic hGH with "natural" or induced release is just dumb. The differences are miles apart, they really are. However, that said, during dieting, if you're having trouble getting rid of the stubborn fat deposits, then i imagine a bit of hGH elevation wouldn't harm.

But the majority of orally taken glutamine barely makes it past the epithelial cells of the small intestine and the liver. if someone invented some sort of carrier that increased the oral bioavailability very significantly, then i imagine glutamine would be a stellar supplement (depending on the cost of such a supplement of course). Everytime you read about glutamine being highly anabolic and all that jazz was done via intravenous administration. Everytime you read about glutamines high anti-catabolic ability, the majority of the research is done with extreme cases of stress like severe burns, or done in patients with terrible wasting disease like AIDS. Everytime you read about glutamine's pro-immunity ability, the majority of the research is done with marathon runners (another heavily stressful scenario).

Of course, the latter is probably glutamines real "strength" if it was to have one. I recall reading somewhere that glutamine can boost gluthione (sp?) levels, which is all fine and dandy. of course NAC does this too, much better and a lot cheaper.

A much more cost effective approach to go about glutamine would be the ensure your choice of protein sources is good (whey, casein, cottage cheese, eggs, steak, chicken, fish etc...) and not worry about it.

If you have the cash to spare and think it's gonna make a difference when dieting, then go for it. I've said over and over that it's not "pointless" as much as it is "overrated" - and very much "overpriced".

However, during dietary phases of calorie surplus, i very much consider supplementary glutamine a waste of money.

Thanks TCD!

I have about 200G left of it. I think I'll stop using it now and save the rest for the last few weeks. It will be a good test as well to see if glutamine really does work for me or not.

Now I have to read about BCAA's I know, but supps are a new thing for me, never bothered with them until recently and theres alot to learn.

Anyone have suggestions on the amount to use? I have been using 5G twice a day.

Originally posted by Prince

Glutamine is the most common amino acid found in your muscles - over 61% of skeletal muscle is Glutamine.

While i'm still thinking about this, may as well say that probably the main reason glutamine is so abundant in the body is because it is a major carrier of ammonia (from muscle or wherever) to the kidneys where it (ammonia) can be converted into urea and pissed out.

So whenever someone claims it's so abundant and important in relation to muscle, it's because it helps prevent intoxicating you, not cause it helps muscles grow (not directly on it's own anyway).

Originally posted by Jodi
Now I have to read about BCAA's I know, but supps are a new thing for me, never bothered with them until recently and theres alot to learn.

Well, there's only three of them - leucine, isoleucine and valine - so there's not too much problem.

If ever there was amino that was "the best" for stimulating protein synthesis and muscle growth, it's leucine. Maybe it's a manufacturing cost thing, but i have no idea why no one sells leucine alone.

Obviously there's not "one" marker responsible for hypertrophy, but leucine would be a good addition to any supplement arsenal.

Originally posted by The_Chicken_Daddy
While i'm still thinking about this, may as well say that probably the main reason glutamine is so abundant in the body is because it is a major carrier of ammonia (from muscle or wherever) to the kidneys where it (ammonia) can be converted into urea and pissed out.

So whenever someone claims it's so abundant and important in relation to muscle, it's because it helps prevent intoxicating you, not cause it helps muscles grow (not directly on it's own anyway).

Also, this is the reason most people feel glutamine helps them "recover". Lactic acid can be one of the many variables responsible for muscle soreness from training, so if they're used to using glutamine regularly, coming off for a short time may give the feeling of more soreness than usual. A lot of muppets also equate this to "less recovery" or whatever.

Originally posted by Jodi
Thanks TCD!

I have about 200G left of it. I think I'll stop using it now and save the rest for the last few weeks. It will be a good test as well to see if glutamine really does work for me or not.

Actually, another benefit (albeit a bit of a crappy one) of glutamine is that it may help with sugar cravings. Not sure how it manages this though. You may wanna keep it on hand if you feel any progesterone induced urges.

Hope, I am not inappropriately resurrecting a sleeping thread here. I suspect most would rather let dead dogs lie – but I am interested in this subject and am new to the boards and trying to catch up. My research and various readings have compelled me to take L-glutamine 3 times daily (5 gm portions, immediately after waking, immediately post workout and at evening before sleeping) as a catabolic/anabolic precautionary “on/off switch” to “turn off” any possible cortisol’s induced catabolic hormonal signals. It sounded like a reasonably inexpensive thing to do. Anyone have an opinion on using l-glutamine for this purpose only? Seems like it’s worth the benefit of the doubt for the small cost and I know of no down side from a health perspective.

Cortisol (or any hormonal signal for that matter) isn't going to affected to any *significant* degree by glutamine levels.

Chicken_Daddy's dead on in his thoughts.

Hey Prince...I think we agree on more than just glutamine

Anyway, since Prince covered most of the glutamine basics and a few others voiced their opinions on glutamine as well, I will not bother to add too much more, except my personal experiences with glutamine....

Glutamine is more than useful YEAR AROUND. It is great while looking for mass AND when dieting. When I upped my glutamine to levels as high as 35-50 g per day I broke through a major plateau and gained almost 20 lbs over a 2 year period. When I take glutamine I feel stronger, recover better, stave off illness, have a fuller look to my physique, and make better overall gains.
As a personal trainer to hundreds of clients over the years I have had the opportunity to watch and document the same type of improved progress with them as well...simply meaning that the effects of glutamine are not unique to myself.

Although there are some that believe that glutamine is useless, save for certain situations, I respect their opinion but believe totally differently! I would not train without supplementing my dietary glutamine levels by about 20-40 g per day (preferably peptides), and suggest that if you are in intense training, that you do the same.

There are a lot of informative posts in this thread, but I want to add two things:

BCAAs, in my opinion, are far too expensive for the benefits they provide. Any good protein powder will supply adequate amounts.

Glutamine clearly has helped my recovery after workouts. I take 20 g. in a high-carb post-workout drink, along with minerals, ALA and Vit. C., followed 30 minutes later by a high protein drink.

In one year I gained more than 20 lb. following this regimen (I'm 5'6", 248 lb., 12% bf).