Why take Glutamine

[blackass]

Ok, so it helps in muscle recovery... But doesn't everyone know its in PROTEIN POWDER?!? Maybe I'm missing something, but most experts recommend taking 5-10 gs a day of glutamine (half pre half post workout).

I currently weigh 230 (trying to get to 220 to make cut to 205) and get about 180-240gs of protein a day. About a 100g comes from two protien shakes I take post workout and post training. Heres the thing: Each serving of my protein powder has 2.85 g of glutamine/glutamic acid. Meaning I am getting 12 gs a day from my shakes, plus a lot more in the chicken, beef, eggs etc... I eat.

So why take glutamine when you can take protien powder (many more aminos any way and they are intact, meaning easier facilitation). IF you need more glutamine, take another scoop or two of protein powder before bed.

Maybe I am really missing something... feel free to embarass me.... I just don't understand the glutamine hype

[Reaper Man]

It doesn't help msucle recovery. That is a myth and unsupported by research.

[blackass]

No offense but try to :google: something first before you make untrue claims

In a study presented at the 2004 American College of Sports Medicine national conference, male subjects underwent an exhaustive training session and then took either glutamine or a placebo for six days. After six days, each subject had his power measured and then performed the same exhaustive training session. Subjects who received the glutamine supplements experienced no drop-off in power from the first to the sixth day. The placebo group was found to have a decrease in power after six days, indicating their muscles were not fully recovered. Additionally, the glutamine group was able to train longer before becoming exhausted on the last day compared to the first, but the placebo group showed no improvement.

[Reaper Man]

link?

[Reaper Man]

I don't google things I pubmed them. I should have rephrased my statement to say: glutamine supplimentation is not strongly supported in the scientific community and that, while there are reasonable hypotheses to believe that glutamine is beneficial, it is not established.

Title: Glutamine supplementation in vitro and in vivo, in exercise and in immunodepression.
Source: Sports medicine [0112-1642] Castell yr:2003 vol:33 iss:5 pg:323 -45

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=12696982&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_docsum

The terms ‘volumisation’ and ‘anti-catabolic’ are popular parlance in the supplementation industry. Welbourne[161] observed an increase in the plasma concentration of growth hormone, bicarbonate and deglutamine in humans after 2g glutamine was ingested orally. Nevertheless, despite its popularity in body building,[162,163] there is little published evidence to show that glutamine is effective in this sport.

....

Thus, it seems unlikely that glutamine supplementation per se would have a direct effect on bodybuilding in terms of muscle mass increase. It seems much more likely that exogenous glutamine would only have a direct effect on muscle glutamine in conditions of severe muscle wasting, such as in critically ill patients. High doses of intravenous glutamine in dipepetide form, given to markedly catabolic patients, have been effective in preventing the substantial decreases in muscle glutamine that occur due to severe muscle wasting.[167,168]

[Reaper Man]

The abstract link to that article is not very helpful. If you want to pm me your email I can email you the whole article.

The evidence is equivocal--I think it may be reasonable to believe that glutamine supplimentation may be beneficial, but it is certainly not established.

[SolitaryIndividual]

"Each serving of my protein powder has 2.85 g of glutamine/glutamic acid"


i had the same question as you, so i went to talk to the guy that owns a gym/supplement store in my area. He knows his stuff really well, he actually has his own line of supplements including everything from porhormones to kre alkalyn ... but anyways .... he said that glutamic acid is NOT the same thing as l-glutamine and that it will not have the same effects as l-glutamine

[Radar]

No offense but try to :google: something first before you make untrue claims

In a study presented at the 2004 American College of Sports Medicine national conference, male subjects underwent an exhaustive training session and then took either glutamine or a placebo for six days. After six days, each subject had his power measured and then performed the same exhaustive training session. Subjects who received the glutamine supplements experienced no drop-off in power from the first to the sixth day. The placebo group was found to have a decrease in power after six days, indicating their muscles were not fully recovered. Additionally, the glutamine group was able to train longer before becoming exhausted on the last day compared to the first, but the placebo group showed no improvement.

Were they allowed to eat and drink as much as they wanted..?

Were they allowed to use their own protein powders on their own time..?

Those studies only prove that protein supplementation works, but not necessarily Glutamine supps.

[blackass]

READ THIS
Glutamine is a component of the building blocks for proteins and nucleotides (these are the structural units of RNA and DNA). It regulates the ammonia levels in tissues and contains anti-depressive properties. Later, I will touch upon some of the other functions of Glutamine.

Of all the amino acids Glutamine is the most abundant in our body. It is stored mainly in the muscles but can be found as well in the lungs, liver, brain and blood (plasma). It comprises approximately 50-60% of the free amino acids in muscle(1). This accounts for most of the body's Glutamine reserves.

It has taken over 20 years to establish that exercise causes muscle tissue to release large quantities of the amino acid Glutamine(1,2). Intense exercise has been found to deplete Glutamine levels by as much as 34-50% (3). During heightened exercise periods, fasting or trauma (surgery) Glutamine, along with other amino acids, are released from the muscle--Glutamine more than any of the others (1,2). As a result, body tissue gives up more than is supplied by our natural diet as well as more than the body can synthesize (4).

Glutamine from food makes up roughly 4-8% of food protein and can be found in milk, meat and some nuts. Because of low blood levels your muscles release Glutamine into the blood stream. Here Glutamine is transferred to other tissues to be used as fuel. Unfortunately the end result of the process leaves the individual with their intracellular stores depleted. Studies show that that after such a session glutamine levels in the muscles will have been depleted within 4-6 hours and it can take more than 24 hours to recover to pre-exercise levels.

As one can see, if an individual were to train in an intensely day in and day out their Glutamine stores wouldn't have the opportunity to replenish themselves and could lead an individual to falling into a catabolic state. This can be described as overtraining.

Overtraining is a state incurred as a result of increased training volumes and intensities combined with a failure to balance the two variables out with adequate recovery periods. Furthermore the outcome of the increased training intensity and volume coupled with low Glutamine stores wreak havoc on the individual's immune system. Not only do the muscles use Glutamine as a means to preserve muscle but the immune system uses large amounts as well(5).

This is one reason why scientists have been become aware of weakened immune systems in athletes. With low levels, both the muscle and the immune system receive inadequate supplies, and this is what leads to a loss of muscle, strength and a weakened immune system(6,7). Therein lies the problem.

On the brighter side evidence seems to indicate that Glutamine can possibly favor recovery in these ways:


Glutamine spares myosin heavy chain proteins (they determine a muscle's contractile properties and capabilities).
Glutamine promotes glycogen formation (8).
Glutamine protects the immune system (9,10).
Glutamine promotes protein synthesis (11).
Glutamine appears to be anti-catabolic (13).
Glutamine elevates growth hormone levels (12)

References


Roth E, et al. Glutamine: Anabolic effector? J Parent Ent Nutr 1990;14:1305-1365.
Felig P, Wahren J. Amino acid metabolism in exercising man. J Clin Invest 1971;50:2703.
Roth, E et al. " Metabolic Disorders in Severe Abdominal Sepsis, Glutamine Deficiency in Skeletal Muscle." Clin Nutr 1 (1982):25-41.
Miller, A. L. 1999. Therapeutic considerations of l-glutamine: a review of the literature. Alternative Medicine Review 4:239-248; Antonio, J, et al. 1999. Glutamine: a potentially useful supplement for athletes. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology 24: 1-14.
Griffiths M, Keast D. The effect of glutamine on murine splenic leucocyte responses to T- and B- cell mitogens. Cell Biology 1990;68:405-408.
Newsholme EA. Psychoimmunology and cellular nutrition: an alternative hypothesis. Biol Psychiat 1990;27:1-3.
Parry-Billings M, et al. A communicational link between skeletal muscle, brain, and cells of the immune system. Int J Sports Med 1990;11:Suppl, 1-7.
Varnier, M, et al. 1995. Stimulatory effect of glutamine on glycogen accumulation in human skeletal muscle. American Journal of Phsiology 269; E309-E315.
Tuttle, D. 1997. Glutamine: athletic benefits times three. Let's Live, September, 71-73.
Effect of glutamine supplementation on exercise-induced changes in lymphocyte function. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2001 Oct;281(4):C1259-65.
Dorup I, Clausen T. Effects of potassium deficiency on growth and protein synthesis in skeletal muscle and the heart. Brit J Nutr 1970;24:205-212.
Welbourne,T. 1995. Increased plasma bicarbonate and growth hormone after an oral glutamine load. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61: 1058-1061.
MacLennan PA, Smith K, Weryk B, Watt PW Rennie MJ. Inhibition of protien breakdown by glutamine in perfused rat skeletal muscle. FEBS Lett. 1988 Sep 12;237 (1-2) :133-

[blackass]

Were they allowed to eat and drink as much as they wanted..?

Were they allowed to use their own protein powders on their own time..?

Those studies only prove that protein supplementation works, but not necessarily Glutamine supps.


What are you talking about?!? It says those that took GLUTAMINE FOR SIX DAYS DIDNT EXPERINCE FATIGUE................. THE PLACEBO GROUP DID.................... PRETTY SIMPLE

[blackass]

"Each serving of my protein powder has 2.85 g of glutamine/glutamic acid"


i had the same question as you, so i went to talk to the guy that owns a gym/supplement store in my area. He knows his stuff really well, he actually has his own line of supplements including everything from porhormones to kre alkalyn ... but anyways .... he said that glutamic acid is NOT the same thing as l-glutamine and that it will not have the same effects as l-glutamine

Thats correct.... but the point is I'm wondering why people take it unstead of just using more protien powder. I think my brand says its 50% glutamine of that 2.85 gluatamine/glutamic acid. Also glutamic acid plays a role in the recovery of CNS

[Titanium]

Glutamine, while not considered an essential amino acid because it can be formed by the body from other amino acids (glutamic acid, valine and isoleucine) is very important to the body. It is particularly important for the immune system, gallbladder, pancreas and liver. While the body can produce glutamine from the other amino acids, at times of high stress the demand may be so high that the body cannot keep up with the demand. High stress activities such as weight lifting and martial arts training demand more glutamine than the body can provide. I'm no scientist but I can tell you this, when I take glutamine after training my recovery time is shorter and my soreness is less intense.

[faukemonster]

Good info. Nice posts.