"Glutamine is responsible for increased protein synthesis , unfortunatley , glutamine is a very unstable amino acid. ALL glutamine whether ingested as a protein or free amino acid, is metabolised by the stomach and never enters th bloodstream. This creates the glutamine paradox . More glutamine puts our muscles in anabolic overdrive, but we cant effectively use supplements due to the instability of glutamine."

Glucoseamine has been used to treat arthritus in dogs and other animals with sucess. this suggests that it can be absorbed. Obviously i can't be certain, the GMC (general medical council) or for that matter anyone else hasn't said dick on the matter publically at least. Is this doctor guy famous. ONE doctor said that MSM stopped him ever getting a cold for like over 10 years! and thats bollocks!

Would substances that have the same site of action in the body and brain (i.e. GABA's) still be susceptible to the metabolisation that occurs in the stomach. My knowledge of digestion is only that of a first year student, but enzymes have a very high degree of specificity.

They can catalyse other reactions but genereally they have a very specific site of action. metabolism constists of catabolism and anabolism (breaking down a substance and then synthesisng from it). Why would glutamine (an amino acid, therefore in it's most basic form) be broken down? breaking it down anyfurther would be leaving carboxyll groups and nitrogen containing organic groups. Enzymes generally break down big things into absorbable things (i.e. polypeptides-->peptides-->amino acids). If glutamine is an amino acid why would this happen? If temperature is what degrades it, how does it remain in the human body, its a very common amino acids in people. I cannot thinik of many other things that might cause its degradation, other than pH (amino acids are zwitter ions so would act as a buffer-whilst useless against the stomachs pH wouldn't they stay in their ionised form?) and some other chemical present in human stomachs that degrades the amino acid (can't think of any!)

Also as the article is writen in 1994, that leaves over 6 years for a doctor (or current affairs program ) to get some research done into the matter and to get a definitive answer.

There are immunoglobulins lining the gastrointestinal tract. The function of these Ig's is to prevent rapid transfer of protein structures from entering the bloodstream. The reason for this is quite convenient: if we could absorb high levels of proteins into our bloodstream readily, then we would die very early in life from massive septicemia. Bacteria and some viruses are nothing but complex forms of proteins...and these things can kill a person if they invade too quickly. The immunoglobulins prevent rapid uptake of proteins to keep us from becoming septic. The only physical way to bypass this is either by injecting protein into the bloodstream (not a good idea!) or by physically forcing the protein into the bloodstream via the GI tract. Injecting it raises the risk of renal shutdown or infection/autoimmune response from unaltered protenemia. Forcing protein from the GI into the bloodstream has been done before with the addition of a substance called Lysophosphatidylcholine. The problem with it is that it creates microscopic holes to develop in the GI tract, thereby allowing a portal of entry into the bloodstream. This can create ulceration, which can lead to the passage of unwanted proteins into the body or GI bleeding...both of which may have a fatal outcome.

I am a firm believer in glutamine supplementation...however, not for bodybuilding purposes. Let me tell you my brief story of why I now use glutamine:

2 years ago I was diagnosed with a rare and sometimes fatal form of cancer. I underwent multiple surgeries and 8 months of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. The side effects were quite bad. However, the worst side effect came about as a result of taking 4500 rads of radiation to the abdominal area (nearly the lifetime maximum dose to the abdominal area). About 3 months after the end of my radiation treatments, I began to have excruciating abdominal pain that would be equivalent to getting kicked in the stomach as hard as someone could. The pain caused muscle spasms so hard that after a long episode, my abdomen would be bruised from the contractions of my abs. I tried every drug my doctors could prescribe without any reduction in pain. They told me it was the result of radiation induced muscle spasms of the small arterioles in my intestines that were causing a reduction of oxygen to reach my intestines. I dealt with the pain as best I could but was quickly losing my objectivity as I could not do very much activity for fear of the pain. A colleague of mine recommended taking glutamine since it is used by the intestinal lining for growth. Within 2 days of taking glutamine my stomach pain disappeared. I've taken glutamine every day since.

That's just my story that I hope will be food for thought.

The amino acid glutamine appears to play a role in muscle function and and in the immune system.104 Intense exercise lowers blood levels of glutamine, which can remain indefinitely low with overtraining.105 Glutamine supplementation raises levels of growth hormone at an intake of 2 grams per day,106 and intravenous glutamine is better than other amino acids at helping replenish muscle glycogen after exercise.107 However, glutamine supplementation (30 mg per 2.2 pounds body weight) has not improved performance of short-term, high-intensity exercise by trained athletes,108 and no studies on endurance performance have been done. Although the effects of glutamine supplementation on immune function after exercise have been inconsistent,109 110 a double blind study giving athletes glutamine (2.5 grams after exercise and again two hours later) reported 81% without subsequent infection compared with 49% in the placebo group.111