Glutamine: Benefits, Uses, and Side Effects

Glutamine is a type of amino acid that is a popular building block of protein, found in your body. Your body can make Glutamine according to its needs. However, at times of distress such as after having an injury or a heavy exercise, the demand for glutamine in your body increases by many floods. This demand is more than your body is making. In such conditions, stored glutamine is used. Extra glutamine is stored in the muscles near your lungs, where it is prepared and sometime, Glutamine Supplements are used to meet the need. Glutamine is specified for its function of removing extra ammonia from your body. Ammonia is a kind of waste product in the body. It also supports your digestion process, brain function, and immune system.

Your body can fulfill its needs for Glutamine on its own. Therefore, usually, you don’t need any supplement to have glutamine. However, in certain health conditions, such as after surgery, infection, injury, or prolonged stress, your body demands more amount of glutamine than usual. In such cases, you need glutamine supplements to fulfill your body’s demand for glutamine. 

What is Glutamine?

Glutamine is the building block of protein, categorized as an amino acid. Amino acids are the special molecules that are essential for many body functions. Your body can independently produce glutamine amino acids. It is also found in many foods. So it is a matter of concern when you need extra glutamine in the form of supplements. Protein serves many functions in your body, including, fight with harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses and transportation of substances in your blood. It helps your body maintain good health of your digestive system and immune system.

This article reveals the realities about advantages, uses, side effects, and safety measures for taking glutamine supplements.

Forms and Occurrence of Glutamine

Amino acids are found in different types. Similarly, glutamine is also found in two different forms:

  • L-glutamine.
  • D-glutamine.

They are similar in most ways but a little difference is found in their molecular arrangement. L-glutamine is found in food and supplements. Therefore, most supplements use the term glutamine in their ingredients list while some are labeled with L-glutamine. L-glutamine is considered more important than D-glutamine because D-glutamine is not as important for living organisms as L-glutamine. Your body can produce enough L-glutamine according to your body’s requirements. It is found in large amounts in your body fluids and blood. 

However, sometimes your body fails to produce enough glutamine that can fulfill your body’s demand. When the demand is greater than your body’s glutamine production ability, you need to obtain it through your diet. It is required in large quantities under certain conditions, like illness or injury. Therefore it is considered as a conditionally essential amino acid. 

Dietary Sources for Glutamine

A variety of food items contain glutamine. Typically, a diet consists of 4 to 7 grams of glutamine per day. However, this amount can vary based on your diet type. Glutamine is found in large amounts in animal products due to their higher protein content. But some plant-based food is salsa rich in glutamine. Advanced lab techniques were used to determine how much Glutamine is present in various foods and the results show that:

  • 100 grams of corn contain 0.4 g of glutamine.
  • 100 grams of rice contain 0.3 g of glutamine.
  • 100 grams of eggs contain 0.6  g of glutamine.
  • 100 grams of milk contains 0.3 g of glutamine.
  • 100 grams of Tofu contain 0.6 g of glutamine.
  • 100 grams of beef contain 1.3 grams of glutamine.

Other dietary sources include pork, poultry, yogurt, cheese, cabbage, raw spinach, raw parsley, and ricotta. 

Although some plant sources like corn, cabbage, and spinach contain large amounts of glutamine they are now in overall protein content. Therefore, it is suggested to eat meat or other animal products to get high amounts of it. 

Due to insufficient studies to find the exact content of any specific foods, you may not be sure about the exact availability of glutamine in your food. However, in times of need, you can use supplements to get enough amounts of glutamine. Ensure your overall diet has enough protein so that you may potentially increase the amount of glutamine in your diet. 

Uses of Glutamine

Here are some common uses of glutamine:

Cancer Therapy

Studies show that cancer patients are diagnosed with deficiency glutamine, in most cases. That’s why the researchers speculate that glutamine might help treat cancer. It can be added to conventional cancer treatment procedures. It is a common practice for patients of cancer that when they undergo bone marrow transplant, radiation treatment, or chemotherapy as cancer therapy, they are given glutamine to aid the threat procedure. 

Studies explain that glutamate is associated with the reduction of stomatitis conditions that often happen after chemotherapy. Chemotherapy causes inflammation in the mouth which is known as stomatitis. Research supports the idea that taking glutamine orally can help reduce diarrhea caused due chemotherapy.

However, more medical research is required to confirm the effectiveness of glutamine as part of a cancer therapy regimen. 

Recovery from Illness and Wound Healing

Injuries, surgical procedures, infections, trauma, or burns cause stress in your body. Stress increases the release of cortisol hormone in your bloodstream. Higher levels of cortisol diminish the stirred glutamine in your body. 

Studies suggest that adding glutamine to the nutrition of ill people can help reduce the death rate by strengthening the immune system and reducing infections. The infections associated with surgery or injury need supplemental glutamine for fast recovery. 

Research supports that glutamine is an effective treatment for multiple organ dysfunction after an injury or shock. It also helps in the recovery of burns. 

For Athletes

Training for endurance events may reduce the levels of glutamine in the bodies of athletes. After an athletic competition, they often get a cold. This is because of the critical role of glutamine in their immune system. For the confirmation of these information, a study was made on a group of athletes and the findings showed that taking glutamine during and after endurance training or an athletic event resulted in a decrease in infections. However, it is important to talk to your doctor before taking glutamine as an athlete. 

AIDS/HIV

AIDS is often characterized by severe weight loss, especially in muscle mass. Studies suggest that taking glutamine along with other medications, including beta-carotene, N-acetylcysteine, and selenium can help in weight gain and help the better absorption in the intestine. 

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Glutamine is effective for the protection of the inner lining of the gastrointestinal tract called mucosa. Research suggests that people affected by inflammatory bowel disease may have lower levels of glutamine. However, some clinical trials showed that taking glutamine supplements has no effects on symptoms of Crohn’s disease ( a type of IBD). Therefore, more research is needed to prove the effectiveness of glutamine for IBD. In the meantime, ask your healthcare provider whether taking glutamine supplements is good for treating IBD.

Significance of Glutamine in Your Body

Here is a detailed description of the functions of glutamine in your body. This information may help you understand the significance of glutamine for your well-being and overall health.

Support Immune System

Glutamine plays an important role in supporting your immune system. It functions as fuel for your immune cells. Your immune system is composed of white blood cells and certain intestinal cells. However, blood levels in the body can be decreased due to surgery, burns, or injuries. If your body demands higher levels of glutamine than its natural production, your body starts to break down the proteins stored in your muscles. This activity releases more glutamine amino acids.

In addition, your immune system compromises its functions due to the lack of glutamine. Adding high-protein diets, high-glutamine supplements, or high-glutamine diets to your dietary routine can help increase glutamine levels in your body. Doctors often suggest taking high-protein foods after major surgeries or injuries.

According to modern studies, glutamine is effective in improving overall health and decreasing infection risks. It leads to shortening your stay at the hospital after surgery as well. That means it helps improve the survival rate and reduce costs of medical expenses for patients. However, we still need strong science-backed evidence for the advantages of glutamine in healthy adults.

Improve Intestinal Health

Glutamine has an excellent role in the improvement of your intestinal health. The intestines are the largest portion of the immune system in your body. Many intestinal cells are associated with your immune system and the trillions of bacteria reside in your intestines that directly affect your immunity. Glutamine provides energy to your immune cells and intestinal cells to maintain an Armstrong barrier between the inside of your intestine and the rest of your body. It also protects you against a leaky gut. This means glutamine helps prevent toxins and harmful bacteria from entering your body from your intestine. 

In addition, glutamine supports the maintenance and growth of intestinal cells. This information may conclude that glutamine has a major role in benefiting your overall immune health with supporting your intestinal health. 

Effects Your Muscle Gain Workouts

With the revelation of glutamine’s role as a building block of protein and support of the immune system, researchers strive to test the effectiveness of glutamine for improving muscle gain as a supplement. According to the study, 50 were involved in an experiment to check the role of glutamine in muscle gain. The people who took glutamine supplements showed improved muscle gain as compared to those who didn’t take it. 

However, some researchers do not agree with this and claim that glutamine has no effect on muscle gain with exercise. However, they still explain that glutamine supplements can help decrease muscle soreness and improve muscle recovery after an injury or intense workout. 

Another study found that a combination of glutamine and carbohydrates helps reduce a blood marker of fatigue during two hours of stereos exercise. This combination is also effective in boosting the immune function of athletes but more research concluded that it is not useful for the recovery of stored carbohydrates in muscles.

Lack of science-backed evidence for the effectiveness of glutamine supplements for muscle gain strength. However, you cannot ignore the fact that almost all athletes have a higher intake of protein than their regular diet. This confirms that they consume large amounts of glutamine even without supplements.

Precautionary Measures for Safe Glutamine Intake

Glutamine has potential side effects and interactions with medications. So it is advised to take glutamine supplements according to the prescription of your healthcare provider as dietary supplements. Take high doses only under the supervision of a certified physician. Common precautions include:

  • Don’t confuse glutamine with glutamic acid, gluten, or monosodium glutamate. These chemicals cause a burning sensation, facial pressure, tingling, and headaches while glutamine doesn’t. People having gluten sensitivity can use glutamine without any issues. But if you have glutamine sensitivity, you cannot use glutamine but gluten is suitable for you.
  • Avoid mixing glutamine powder in hot beverages because high temperature destroys glutamine molecular structure and makes it unsafe for you.
  • Keep glutamine supplements in dry cool places.
  • Glutamine is not fit for people who are affected by Reye syndrome (a fatal disease caused by the use of aspirin), liver disease, or kidney disease.
  • People with a history of seizures or who hate living with psychiatric disorders shouldn’t use glutamine supplements because studies claim that glutamine can worsen the conditions.

Conclusion

Glutamine is naturally found in your body. Its common firms are L-glutamine and D-glutamine. Although L-glutamine is used in your body most and produced naturally in your body. Your diet contains a maximum amount of glutamine. This means that in case of a drop of glutamine production in your bendy, you can fulfill your needs through your diet.

Glutamine is important for the proper functioning of your intestine and immune system. In certain conditions, such as after an injury, surgery, or depression attack, your body fails to produce enough glutamate to meet the need. Then you need to take glutamine supplements to support your immunity. Although scientific research doesn’t support it, people use it frequently as a sports supplement. 

Studies claim the short-term use of glutamine supplements is safe and may not cause any potential side effects. However, before taking the supplements, talk to a certified physician.

Hira Shabbir

Hey, I'm Hira shabbir. An experienced content writer who is providing quality SEO content to clients, from the past 2 years. I have been a biology and English teacher from the past 20 years, which gives me an edge in providing quality content.

Hira Shabbir
Hey, I'm Hira shabbir. An experienced content writer who is providing quality SEO content to clients, from the past 2 years. I have been a biology and English teacher from the past 20 years, which gives me an edge in providing quality content.