Supplements - Does Glutamine Work?

Glutamine is 1 of 11 nonessential amino acids. Just
because it's nonessential doesn't mean it's not necessary.
Simply put, the body can produce what it needs. 60% of all
free form amino acids come in the form of glutamine. During
times of stress (stress not defined), glutamine reserves
are depleted.

Glutamine: The Benefits

* Boosts immune system functions
* Maintain muscle mass (preservation)
* Prevents muscle breakdown (catabolism)
* Enhances glycogen storage
* Aids recovery from exercise
* Promotes healing
* Increases growth hormone levels

Many studies have already proven that despite all the hype
about how glutamine supplementation might help increase
muscle mass, strength and prevent the dreaded OT
(overtraining) syndrome, research articles that can be
found today (2006) that examine glutamine supplementation
benefits on performance, body composition and protein
degradation have shown that it offers no noticeable,
scientifically proven benefit to the weight lifter.

[There goes that popular theory that glutamine helps
preserver your precious muscle after workouts or in
general.]

Face it... nobody makes any money proving a supplement
doesn't work.

Obviously when I received the original article about
glutamine's super muscle building benefits, I was curious
myself. After finding the research done by David Barr, I
was so excited I couldn't wait to tell you. I'm not going
to provide a full reference list - they're all right at the
end of David Barr's article which will be included here for
your reference.

[Thank you, David Barr, for doing all the leg work so I can
pass along your research.]

To summarize some of the key points that David Barr found
in his original research:

* A high protein diet or that of a well-fed bodybuilder who
is following the standards for protein consumption, will be
adequately supplied with all the dietary glutamine they
need. About 10% of your total dietary protein intake is
comprised of glutamine (3-10% from milk proteins; 15% from
mean sources). In my case, given my stats and dietary
intake, I'm getting around 29g of glutamine a day from my
diet. More than most supplement companies would ever
recommend I supplement with anyway.

* A lot of theories hold onto the belief that because
glutamine helps with clinical stress, it will help with
exercise induced stress. But keep in mind that exercise
has nothing on real clinical stress. Nitrogen loss in real
clinical stress is vastly more prevalent than the leg
workout you just did.

* In a 2001 study by Candow et al, they concluded that
0.9g of supplemental glutamine/kg/day during resistance
training had no significant effect on muscle performance,
body composition or muscle protein degradation in healthy
adults. At my current weight, that is 75g of glutamine a
day!

[Re-read this: Candow et al (2001) just blows the
presumption that glutamine is somehow an anti-catabolic
agent for the bodybuilder and going to preserve all that
muscle you are working so hard to keep.]

* Most of the studies on endurance athletes have shown
little to no significant benefits in terms of immune system
enhancements or functions.

[Dang it! There goes the other popular belief that
glutamine is going to enhance your immune system and keep
you healthy or recover faster from those stressful
workouts.]

"More importantly, there are several studies showing that
glutamine supplementation doesn't alter exercise-induced
suppression of the immune system! The bottom line is that
blood glutamine levels, whether they drop or not following
exercise, don’t seem to affect immunity to any great
extent, which precludes the use of glutamine for this
reason." - Hiscock N, Pedersen BK. Exercise-induced
immunodepression- plasma glutamine is not the link. J Appl
Physiol 2002 Sep;93(3):813-22

* In regards to glutamine's ability to increase the
hydration state of cells, Dr. John M Berardi, Ph.D. did
some preliminary testing and found that glutamine
supplementation has no effect on total body water,
intracellular fluid volumes, or extracellular fluid
volumes. - Dr. John M Berardi, Ph.D., Appetite For
Construction, JohnBerardi.com 2002 Nov 8

* The jury is still out on glutamine enhancing glycogen
stores following resistance exercise. Most bodybuilders
have a post-workout plan of high glycemic carbs anyway
which replace any glycogen lost making further supplement
unnecessary.

* In the study by Welbourne (1995) they demonstrated that a
small 2g oral dosage of glutamine is capable of
significantly elevating alkaline reserves as well as growth
hormone. But does this affect the bodybuilder in any
measurable way? According to the Cadow et al (2001) they
didn't find any lean body mass gains. It might raise your
growth hormone significantly but it begs the
question..."does it actually DO anything for me when I'm
trying to gain muscle?"

[More research is needed in this regard and how glutamine's
growth hormone increase affects your muscle.]

* Finally, in regards to protein synthesis (muscle
preservation and building) the most current research shows
no direct correlation that glutamine increases the rate of
protein synthesis at all. Even in some of the worst cases,
it has little measurable effect. There goes the muscle
building theory!

One study even went as far to test on people, the effects
of adding glutamine to an amino acid mixture. They
concluded that the original amino acid mixture increased
protein synthesis by 48% but adding glutamine to the
mixture had no additional protein synthesis effects.

At this point you're probably thinking that glutamine is a
worthless supplement.

Am I right?

Glutamine isn't a worthless supplement and my intention is
to only show you the other side of the coin so that you can
decide for yourself. Even David Barr points out there are
instances when glutamine supplementation might be
beneficial to the bodybuilder, certain trauma instances,
postoperative patient or for total parenteral nutrition
(TPN) during severe illness.

* Steroid users improperly coming off a cycle. At this
time, testosterone can be very low. There's a risk of
increased catabolism regardless of the diet of the
bodybuilder. At this point, glutamine supplementation
might be beneficial

* When on a cutting diet and trying to get very lean, some
bodybuilders will further increase a calorie deficit AND
increase exercise volume. This can lead to an increase
state of exercise induced stress and catabolism beyond that
of a normal bodybuilder on a fat loss regime. Competitive
bodybuilders come to mind in this instance. Glutamine may
help reduce the stress and exercise related catabolism
because it's beyond that of normal exercise induced stress.

* In elite endurance athletes or people who train under
extreme conditions several times a day. These are cases
where extreme stress (not clinical) but much more intense
then regular exercise comes into play and glutamine may be
beneficial.

* Under certain circumstances where catabolic waste is
extreme (Alcoholism, Chemotherapy side effects, Food
allergies, HIV/AIDS, Irritable bowel syndrome, Candida
yeast overgrowth, Post-exercise colds and flu, Severe burns
Ulcerative colitis). These are situations where a person
is injured and trying to prevent catabolic waste.

David Barr makes a final comment after all his research
that glutamine isn't a worthwhile supplement to the
resistance trainer who is on a proper bodybuilding diet
with post workout nutrition. Of course he doesn't call
glutamine a dramatic supplement with muscle building
benefits. He does show some instances where glutamine
might be beneficial in legitimate wasting conditions. It's
not exactly a black and white answer.

David said, "Since then I've had a while to let the results
sink in. I know that most believers in glutamine will also
have a hard time accepting the reality of the situation,
which is why I didn't just try to convincingly show that
glutamine wasn't as great as everyone thought; I tried to
overwhelmingly demonstrate it."

The bottom line?

Glutamine supplementation probably won't do anything for
you if you are a bodybuilder on a proper dietary plan.
Spend your money on more food if you are looking to build
muscle.

At this point, I would really encourage you to do your own
research. Granted, David has done a bang up job! Even I
believed in glutamine for bodybuilding until I was faced
tolook at real evidence and not a magazine ad or a myth
from a big guy at the gym.

"When someone wants to believe something you can’t convince
them otherwise." - David Barr

If you don't believe any of this, that's okay. But until
future research can shown that glutamine has dramatic
muscle building effects, the current literature available
doesn't support those theories.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. Barr, David J., CSCS, MSc. Candidate.

Glutamine Destroying the Dogma,
Part 1
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=461188

Part 2
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459884

2. Berardi, Dr. John M, Ph.D.

Appetite For Construction, JohnBerardi.com 2002 Nov 8
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/qa/afc/afc_nov082002.htm


About the Author:

To learn more about these supplements and where you need to
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