Nelson Montana- Glutamine

[Mike P.T.]

Fuck I'm going to continue taking my glutamine despite what others may think. It's so cheap anyway so it's not like you are wasting your money if it isn't effective. Even for it's immune boosting properties that's good enough for me but that last study posted convinced me enough. Back to glutamine for me.

 

[jboldman]

Nelson is correct here, when using young adults doing resistance training there seems to be no benefit to glutamine supplementation.

jb
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Eur J Appl Physiol 2001 Dec;86(2):142-9 Related Articles, Links


Effect of glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults.

Candow DG, Chilibeck PD, Burke DG, Davison KS, Smith-Palmer T.

College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of oral glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults. A group of 31 subjects, aged 18-24 years, were randomly allocated to groups (double blind) to receive either glutamine (0.9 g x kg lean tissue mass(-1) x day(-1); n = 17) or a placebo (0.9 g maltodextrin x kg lean tissue mass(-1) x day(-1); n = 14 during 6 weeks of total body resistance training. Exercises were performed for four to five sets of 6-12 repetitions at intensities ranging from 60% to 90% 1 repetition maximum (1 RM). Before and after training, measurements were taken of 1 RM squat and bench press strength, peak knee extension torque (using an isokinetic dynamometer), lean tissue mass (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) and muscle protein degradation (urinary 3-methylhistidine by high performance liquid chromatography). Repeated measures ANOVA showed that strength, torque, lean tissue mass and 3-methylhistidine increased with training (P < 0.05), with no significant difference between groups. Both groups increased their 1 RM squat by approximately 30% and 1 RM bench press by approximately 14%. The glutamine group showed increases of 6% for knee extension torque, 2% for lean tissue mass and 41% for urinary levels of 3-methylhistidine. The placebo group increased knee extension torque by 5%, lean tissue mass by 1.7% and 3-methylhistidine by 56%. We conclude that glutamine supplementation during resistance training has no significant effect on muscle performance, body composition or muscle protein degradation in young healthy adults.

That's a pretty vauge study. No mention of its application (IV?) and it refers to "injury patients," whatever that means.

There was a recent study by the University of Miami on oral glutamine among athletes. The conclusion: No effect.

 

[Shark01]

I agree with the post above. I've read the Candow study, and it confirms strength and lean mass gains. And several other studies (Castell; Bowtell; Welbourne) indicate that Glutamine can decrease catabolism under heavy training, and increase plasma growth hormone. Seems like a slam dunk to me.

 

[Golfer18--old]

I feel a lot better when I am supplementing with it. Even if it doesn't help it still is good to take for the immune system. I find sometimes I get sick easier when on certain drugs.

 

[Nelson Montana]

People believe a supplement works because they WANT to believe it works -- which is fine, especially in the case where using a supplement may have health benefits. But doesn't it piss you off that the supp companies have been telling you it builds muscle when it does no such thing?

I wonder if a study exists comparing glutamine to vitamin C in terms of immunity enhancement. As a matter of fact, the argument can be made that ANY nutrient aids the immunity system.

 

[nvr2shredded]

 

[beefybull]

What is Glutamine?
Glutamine is considered a "conditionally essential amino acid". It makes up roughly 61% of the amino acid pool in skeletal muscle.

What does Glutamine do?
- It is an acid/base balancer
- It is a nitrogen carrier
- It is a precursor to macromolecules (proteins & nucleic acids)
- Glutamine (not carbs or fat) is the preferred source of fuel for rapidly dividing cells, such as enterocytes (intestinal cells) and lymphocytes (immune system cells).
- It is a cell volumizer
- It aids in recovery
- It performs other functions as well

How much should I take & when?
Although glutamine is a popular supplement, this question pops up quite often. The amount of glutamine you should take depends on your bodyweight. Dosages at .57g/kg bodyweight have been shown to be safe in short term use. The body needs a minimum of .2g/kg to have a positive effect on nitrogen balance. Here is a chart of daily dosages by body weight (at .2g/kg):
140lbs - 12.7g
150lbs - 13.6g
160lbs - 14.5g
170lbs - 15.4g
180lbs - 16.3g
190lbs - 17.2g
200lbs - 18.1g
210lbs - 19.1g
220lbs - 20g
230lbs - 20.9g
240lbs - 21.9g
250lbs - 22.7g
260lbs - 23.6g
270lbs - 24.5g

Although you could probably take your full daily dosage at once, it may not be the most comfortable thing to do so. Glutamine should not be taken with food, as it will drastically decrease the amount of glutamine that is absorbed. It is best taken post-workout with carbs & protein, or before bed, since Glutamine is believed to cause an increase in growth hormone (and this is an ideal time for this). As Huckleberry Finnaplex suggested, you could also take it in the morning on an empty stomach.

Glutamine is easily one of the top 5 OTC supplements that a bodybuilder should use. In fact, it could be #1 or maybe a close #2 (behind Creatine). It is currently more expensive than creatine, but the price has drastically dropped over the past 18 months. Hope this helps!

BeefyBull

 

[jboldman]

if you are concerned about your immune system, just supplement with a carbohydrate drink during or prior to exercise, cheaper than glutamine and effective!

jb
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Clin Nutr 2002 Oct;21(5):423-9 Related Articles, Links


Carbohydrate supplementation during intense exercise and the immune response of cyclists.

Bacurau RF, Bassit RA, Sawada L, Navarro F, Martins E Jr, Costa Rosa LF.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of carbohydrate supplementation upon some aspects of the immune function in athletes during intense indoor cycling. METHODS: Twelve male athletes cycled for 20 min at a velocity corresponding to 90% of that obtained at the anaerobic threshold and rested for 20 min. This protocol was repeated six times. The athletes received, during the trial, water ad libitum, or a solution of carbohydrate (95% glucose polymers and 5% fructose) at 10% (w/v), 1 g kg h every 20 min, starting at the 10th minute of the first exercise period, plus extra water ad libitum. RESULTS: Exercise induced a reduction in peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation (37%) as well as in the production of cytokines by cultured cells (interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), by 37%, 35%, 26% and 16%, respectively). All of these changes were prevented by the ingestion of a carbohydrate drink by the athletes, except that in IFN-gamma production, which was equally decreased (17%) after the second trial. The concentration of plasma glutamine, an important fuel for immune cells, was decreased in the placebo group but maintained in the group that received carbohydrate. CONCLUSION: Carbohydrate supplementation affects positively the immune response of cyclists by avoiding or minimizing changes in plasma glutamine concentration.

 

[jboldman]

Not only can you maintain glutamine levels by carbohydrate supplementaion, it turns out not to be necessary in any case since plasma glutamine levels lowered by exercise seem not to be linked with reduced immune function.

jb
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J Appl Physiol 2002 Sep;93(3):813-22 Related Articles, Links


Exercise-induced immunodepression- plasma glutamine is not the link.

Hiscock N, Pedersen BK.

Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre and Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.

The amino acid glutamine is known to be important for the function of some immune cells in vitro. It has been proposed that the decrease in plasma glutamine concentration in relation to catabolic conditions, including prolonged, exhaustive exercise, results in a lack of glutamine for these cells and may be responsible for the transient immunodepression commonly observed after acute, exhaustive exercise. It has been unclear, however, whether the magnitude of the observed decrease in plasma glutamine concentration would be great enough to compromise the function of immune cells. In fact, intracellular glutamine concentration may not be compromised when plasma levels are decreased postexercise. In addition, a number of recent intervention studies with glutamine feeding demonstrate that, although the plasma concentration of glutamine is kept constant during and after acute, strenuous exercise, glutamine supplementation does not abolish the postexercise decrease in in vitro cellular immunity, including low lymphocyte number, impaired lymphocyte proliferation, impaired natural killer and lymphokine-activated killer cell activity, as well as low production rate and concentration of salivary IgA. It is concluded that, although the glutamine hypothesis may explain immunodepression related to other stressful conditions such as trauma and burn, plasma glutamine concentration is not likely to play a mechanistic role in exercise-induced immunodepression.

 

[Nelson Montana]

BeeyBull's post is a perfect example as to why people have been hoodwinked into buying glutamine.

The fact that muscle is comprised largely of glutamine has nothing to do with oral glutamine growing more muscle. Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid. It was remamed an "essential" non-essential amino acid (pretty idiotic) by supplement companies.

The body converts glutamine from branch chain aminio acids. If you eat foods high in BCAA'a such as eggs, you'll have more glutimine in your system than if you take a glutamine supplement which is destroyed to a large part by stomach acids.

Face the facts. A lot of guys read these "ad-icals" in the magazines and in turn feel "informed." But wrong information is worse than no information.

I've gotten a lot of shit for this over the years. You'd think I get rich from telling people not to waste their money.