L-glutamine

[manny78]

You should just bring it back to your store and ask for a refund. cause unless you take that for your immune system, then forget about it. Glutamine is effective at high dosage (100-150 g) and given IV. Yes IV ! Cause this way most of it will make it through (was once told by a doc a good 90% instead of 10% for oral). Oral glutamine is a waste. Period.

 

[JJFigure]

I thought glutamine supplementation was primarily for recovery and for strengthening your immune system?

 

[JJFigure]

Immune System Benefits


1. Immune response to heavy exertion.
Nieman DC
Department of Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina 28608, USA.


Epidemiological data suggest that endurance athletes are at increased risk for upper respiratory tract infection during periods of heavy training and the 1- to 2-wk period following race events. There is growing evidence that, for several hours subsequent to heavy exertion, several components of both the innate (e.g., natural killer cell activity and neutrophil oxidative burst activity) and adaptive (e.g., T and B cell function) immune system exhibit suppressed function. At the same time, plasma pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines are elevated, in particular interleukin-6- and interleukin-1-receptor antagonist. Various mechanisms explaining the altered immunity have been explored, including hormone-induced trafficking of immune cells and the direct influence of stress hormones, prostaglandin-E2, cytokines, and other factors. The immune response to heavy exertion is transient, and further research on the mechanisms underlying the immune response to prolonged and intensive endurance exercise is necessary before meaningful clinical applications can be drawn. Some attempts have been made through chemical or nutritional means (e.g., indomethacin, glutamine, vitamin C, and carbohydrate supplementation) to attenuate immune changes following intensive exercise.



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2. Does glutamine have a role in reducing infections in athletes?
Castell LM, Poortmans JR, Newsholme EA
University Department of Biochemistry, Oxford, UK.


There is an increased risk of infections in athletes undertaking prolonged, strenuous exercise. There is also some evidence that cells of the immune system are less able to mount a defence against infections after such exercise. The level of plasma glutamine, an important fuel for cells of the immune system, is decreased in athletes after endurance exercise; this may be partly responsible for the apparent immunosuppression which occurs in these individuals. We monitored levels of infection in more than 200 runners and rowers. The levels of infection were lowest in middle-distance runners, and highest in runners after a full or ultramarathon and in elite rowers after intensive training. In the present study, athletes participating in different types of exercise consumed two drinks, containing either glutamine (Group G) or placebo (Group P) immediately after and 2 h after exercise. They subsequently completed questionnaires (n = 151) about the incidence of infections during the 7 days following the exercise. The percentage of athletes reporting no infections was considerably higher in Group G (81%, n = 72) than in Group P (49%, n = 79, p < 0.001). i.e. Less athletes, supplementing with glutamine, became infected after extreme exertion than in the placebo group.



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3. The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged, exhaustive exercise.
Castell LM, Newsholme EA; Nutrition 1997 Jul-Aug;13(7-8):738-42 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
University Department of Biochemistry, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Athletes undergoing intense, prolonged training or participating in endurance races suffer an increased risk of infection due to apparent immunosuppression. Glutamine is an important fuel for some cells of the immune system and may have specific immunostimulatory effects. The plasma glutamine concentration is lower after prolonged, exhaustive exercise: this may contribute to impairment of the immune system at a time when the athlete may be exposed to opportunistic infections. The effects of feeding glutamine was investigated both at rest in sedentary controls and after exhaustive exercise in middle-distance, marathon and ultra-marathon runners, and elite rowers, in training and competition. Questionnaires established the incidence of infection for 7 d after exercise: infection levels were highest in marathon and ultra-marathon runners, and in elite male rowers after intensive training. Plasma glutamine levels were decreased by approximately 20% 1 h after marathon running. A marked increase in numbers of white blood cells occurred immediately after exhaustive exercise, followed by a decrease in the numbers of lymphocytes. The provision of oral glutamine after exercise appeared to have a beneficial effect on the level of subsequent infections. In addition, the ratio of T-helper/T-suppressor cells appeared to be increased in samples from those who received glutamine, compared with placebo.






Performance benefits




1. Increased plasma bicarbonate and growth hormone after an oral glutamine load.
Welbourne TC; Am J Clin Nutr 1995 May;61(5):1058-61
Department of Physiology, Louisiana State University College of Medicine, Shreveport 71130, USA.

An oral glutamine load was administered to nine healthy subjects to determine the effect on plasma glutamine, bicarbonate, and circulating growth hormone concentrations. Two grams glutamine were dissolved in a cola drink and ingested over a 20-min period 45 min after a light breakfast. Forearm venous blood samples were obtained at zero time and at 30-min intervals for 90 min and compared with time controls obtained 1 wk earlier. Eight of nine subjects responded to the oral glutamine load with an increase in plasma glutamine at 30 and 60 min before returning to the control value at 90 min. Ninety minutes after the glutamine administration load both plasma bicarbonate concentration and circulating plasma growth hormone concentration were elevated (by a mean of 430%). These findings demonstrate that a surprisingly small oral glutamine load is capable of elevating alkaline reserves as well as plasma growth hormone.

 

[Fyre]

I myself, find that glutamine helps with my recovery big time. I'm going to continue to do my glutamine four times a day as usual because it really does work for me.

 

[MS]

JJ, those papers are all well and fine if you are an elite endurance athlete participationg in repeated prolonged, exhaustive exercise. It is well documented that decreased immune function is a hazard for this type of athlete. As yet I have never met a serious bodybuilder who trains even close to that level repeated exhaustive exercise (60 minute bouts of interval weight training 3-4 days per week doesn't really rate). If you're a bodybuilder and are 'overtraining' to the point of immune system failure, which is what we're really talking about here, then it makes more sense to decrease training and increase food and rest rather than take glutamine. For instance check out: Effects of exercise intensity, duration and recovery on in vitro neutrophil function in male athletes.

Robson, et al, 1999
Effects of exercise intensity, duration and recovery on in vitro neutrophil function in male athletes.

It shows that high intensity, shorter duration exercise has less impact on immune function than longer, lower intensity exercise (yet another reason why weight training is superior to low intensity cardio!). Other researchers have shown that low plasma glutamine levels should actually be considered a symptom of overtraining/underadaptation rather than a cause, and that reducing workload is a more appropriate treatment instead of propping the athletes up with supps.

The last paper you cited did not show any performance benefit.

Given that most bodybuilders eat plenty of protein and calories (unlike most endurance athletes), and also hopefully get plenty of rest, I agree that there is nada evidence that glutamine supps are of any benefit to most bodybuilders most of the time.

 

[JJFigure]

Yeah, I know - however, the challenge W6 offered up was to show any benefit to oral supplementation of glutamine. As we all know (or should), you can find a study for just about any side of an argument.

In my wanderings, I did find a lot of general "we think this may be beneficial for resistance trained athletes, but more study is warranted" BS. I found zero studies on resistance trained athletes - a lot of studies on a lot of different facets of life, including warding off parasites in sheep, but no studies on resistance trained athletes. Nice to know we're loved too.

I have been evaluating my supplement regimen, and being forced to research things like this are a real eye opener. It's nice to have MS and W6 out there challenging the anecdotal evidence and forcing us to research and think for ourselves instead of just going with the flow.

I keep coming back to the fact glutamine is so heavily used to boost the immunity of HIV patients, cancer patients, diabetics, etc. Although it's a stretch to compare a BB to a terminally ill patient, anything we can do to boost our immune system to prevent illness, I believe we should.

 

[manny78]

I keep coming back to the fact glutamine is so heavily used to boost the immunity of HIV patients, cancer patients, diabetics, etc. Although it's a stretch to compare a BB to a terminally ill patient, anything we can do to boost our immune system to prevent illness, I believe we should.

Once again you forgot my point: Glutamine is given to these people IV not oral. So at least a good 90% of it will be absorbed. And they get sometimes over 100 g ED. Now imagine 100 g ED for a month... damn expensive....

 

[wilson6]

The more recent evidence with glutamine argues against a positive effect. Regarding performance, just because GH is increased and/or there is blood buffering doesn't mean enhanced performance, they didn't measure performance.

Remember all the early studies that showed that AAS didn't work?

Lastly,

Almost all the protein powders out there are glutamine enriched. I'd bet if the runners in the two studies mentioned earlier were consuming the quantity of glutamine in their diets that most of you do simply because of the large protein intake, I don't think they might have observed what they did.

JJ, do you know what the dose of glutamine was in the Castell studies you posted?

W6

 

[JJFigure]

I don't have access to the full study, and the abstract didn't give the amounts - here's the medline info in case you have access:

Medline Identifier
97408760
Authors
Castell LM. Newsholme EA.
Institution
University Department of Biochemistry, Oxford, United Kingdom. Title
The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged, exhaustive exercise. Source
Nutrition. 13(7-8):738-42, 1997 Jul-Aug.

 

[MS]

Yeah, good to know we're so well loved

Wilson6 is, as always, correct. There will not likely ever be studies done on otherwise healthy and already quite muscular bodybuilders to see if adding supplement X to their regime makes them even MORE healthy and MORE muscular. It's just not a priority in this era of medical research focused on fixing sick people instead of making and keeping healthy people healthy.

"I'd bet if the runners in the two studies mentioned earlier were consuming the quantity of glutamine in their diets that most of you do simply because of the large protein intake, I don't think they might have observed what they did."................For me this is the bottom line. In fact, how would the results of that study differed if they had given the athletes a big proteinaceous breakfast instead of a 'light breakfast', and skipped the glutamine all together?? Anyway, I have reason to believe that chronic high intake of glutamine, just like almost any other nutrient or drug, will eventually lead to an increased dependence on that nutrient/drug, or down regulation of it's absorption, upregualtion of it's degradation and excretion and generally less efficient use of it. Seems better to me to only use stuff like glutamine when you know or suspect your immune system is faultering. For me this is during the last few weeks of a precomp diet. The rest of the time I generally keep very healthy without it. This is accomplished by attention to that triad of rest, food and exercise plus an attitude of minimizing chronic mental stress.

I think the only take home message from the studies of decreased immune function in endurance athletes is to avoid competitive endurance events if you value your health!