If you work out, odds are you’ve heard about glutamine supplements more times than you can shake a stick at. You’ve been told glutamine is safe, glutamine works and you’ve even wondered if glutamine supplements help recovery after exercise. They even charge you extra for a scoop of glutamine at your health club juice bar! If you have heard me lecture, you know passionate and animated I get when it comes to glutamine supplements. I actually get mad because I know what they are not telling you. There are facts about glutamine they don’t want you to know. This is what I call the “dirty little secret” of glutamine.
Keep reading and you too will soon know this secret. Then you will wonder why all the others “experts” are not telling you these glutamine facts.
What’s Glutamine?
Glutamine is an amino acid. Proteins are made of amino acids. Amino acids in turn can be divided into:
1. Essential amino acids, which we cannot make and must get from the diet.
and
2. Non- essential amino acids, which our bodies can make.
Glutamine, is a non-essential amino acid. We make glutamine every day. If you were stranded on a desert island, glutamine would be the last thing you would have to be thinking about if you needed to survive.
Glutamine is also called a Conditionally Essential amino acid. In other words, under some conditions, our ability to make glutamine may not be enough to suit our needs. When this happens, glutamine temporarily goes from being non-essential to essential.
It’s this part about glutamine being conditionally essential that has people buzzing about this amino acid. The claims for glutamine supplements are numerous but the most prevalent claims is that glutamine helps you recover faster from exercise and improve your exercise performance.
Glutamine. Do you need it?
The interest in glutamine supplements helping people recover faster from exercise is actually based on clinical research. But fitness websites or magazines never tell us who the glutamine research is conducted on. Here is the fact they never tell you:
The majority of glutamine research is on sick people who have severe burns or serious illnesses like cancer or HIV.
When glutamine is given to these people, their immune systems improve, they gain weight and recover faster from surgery. Because glutamine appears to work on these individuals, those in the supplement biz started to market it to people who exercise – because exercise is a stress too. 
Forget the fact that there are major differences between a healthy exerciser and a cancer patient, another issue that is never mentioned is that in many of the clinical studies, glutamine was injected into the body.
Another fact is that many studies use more glutamine than is typically found in supplements.
What little evidence exists in support of glutamine supplements is in triathletes and other highly conditioned individuals. In these people, glutamine supplements might help improve immune function. Does glutamine help weight lifters? Does glutamine help bodybuilders? Good questions. Guess what? Nobody really knows. Glutamine won’t hurt but does it help?
So why all the hype about glutamine?
What about us healthy people who will never run a marathon? The evidence for glutamine is severally lacking. In fact, I am unaware of any published peer-reviewed glutamine study in healthy, non-athletes that shows it has any beneficial exercise effect.
None of this is really a “secret”. People in the supplement industry always knew these facts. They are not dumb. They read the glutamine research the same way I do. They just leave this this stuff out when they tell you how great glutamine is. I want you to know these facts. I get angry because so few people had the guts to tell the truth.
Most of the other people on the web who blog about glutamine benefits just recite what others have said – and this propagates the myth about glutamine benefits.
Heres the scoop. People are always looking for the next creatine - the next all star supplement. There are some really good supplements out there, and in its own context, glutamine might even be a contender for that title. Unfortunately, glutamine is going to have to go a few more rounds before I raise its hand in victory.
What do you think?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello, I have a question about Pyruvate as a weight loss catalyst. Does it promote weight loss?
Hi Johnny. I was one of the first people in America to review the research on pyruvate in the 1990s. I even helped out Dateline NBC with a segment they did on it. There is research on pyruvate but most of it used a lot of pyruvate (more than is in supplements) and was conducted under strict laboratory conditions (not real life). The research is good and shows some weight loss effect may occur but I am skeptical of how much weight people would lose in the “real world”. I tried it myself as an experiment for a month and didn’t lose any weight. I reviewed all of pyruvates claims in my book Nutritional Supplements What Works and Why. I will also be posting a review on pyruvate in the near future.
On glutamine supplementation-
It’s no secret that when we push ourselves through rigorous workouts, specifically resistance training, we put our bodies in a weakened state, repeatedly, and cyclically. So to be able to add something supplementally that can help to bolster an otherwise compromised immune system, would be an easy choice to make.
This very notion of immuno-boosting is enough to make you want to at least try glutamine. My current training cycle is now about a year old; I started supplementing in the second month. I don’t know if I can say that it helps me recuperate faster, but I don’t tend to feel worn down for the day after working out. In fact, quite the opposite; I normally feel amazingly fresh and “electric”. And I know that I haven’t had even one inkling of a cold. I only take it on workout days, before and after at 500mg each. So for a conditionally essential amino acid, I don’t mind spending the $15 or so for the capsules; they seem to have an affect as advertised.
Daniel,
for people who really do push themselves as hard as you do, I don’t have a problem with glutamine supplements because they are pretty cheap (as you said) and because there is some glutamine research on hard core athletes (primarily aerobic athletes). I wanted people to know the facts about glutamine because I rarely anyone telling people who the glutamine research was done on. When people know the real facts about glutamine then they can make a more informed decision. And that’s the important thing.
Hi Joe: Very good article. I took Glutamine while training for my figure competition. It could have been the vitamins, and other natural supplements that I took while training, but personally, I think Glutamine really helped with my energy and just overall well being. It could have been because I have Lupus, and during my training for my show, taking the supplements that I did…I never felt better and Glutamine was one of them. So I’m not disputing your article at all. I think Glutamine helped me because my immune system is shot…having Lupus…and could have similar effects as if it was Cancer or HIV.
Linda thanks for the feedback. When it comes to figure competitions, bodybuilding etc, in theory there may be something to glutamine. Because in fitness competitions, victory can come down to the subjective view of some “judge”, I would never say “you dont need glutamine” because its such a strenuous event and it might make the difference.
In theory it does make some sense for athletes and low glutamine levels have been observed in those who have over training syndrome. You bring up an interesting point about lupus. Since its an autoimmune disorder and since glutamine impacts the immune system I would be interested in seeing glutamine levels in people who have lupus.
I wrote my glutamine review out of utter frustration with all those “experts” who dont have the guts (or knowledge) to share the truth about the glutamine research. I dont think I’ve ever been to a website that told the honest truth.
I wanted people to know both sides of the glutamine story.
Good article Joe. I completely agree with what you have to say. I train pretty aggressively in the gym and for sport, run two companies, have a wife and two kids. My training and lifestyle pushes me to the limit of being healthy/sick. I take glutamine to support my immune system which I believe evidence supports. The problem with supplement companies is that they don’t market this product in this way. They are targeting the boof head gym rats who really don’t know what they are doing who just want to get big and will take absolutely anything you tell them will put on size at a ridiculous price. We need to remember most supplement companies want to make an extra dollar and really don’t give a toss about the athlete.
Aaron thanks for your words and yes I know thats what they do. Its capitalism. Its not the type of capitalism I agree with. That’s why people have to be educated consumers. For what you do every day, I’d say glutamine was a safe bet.
One thing I can definitely say is glutamine helps keep your blood sugar level and reduces carb and sugar cravings. I started taking it years ago after reading Dr Perricone’s anti-inflammatory book and it has really helped me.
Debra, thats very interesting. Glutamine certainly does a lot of different things – probably the reason why we make it. I did a little digging into glutamine and blood sugar and while I did not find much I did locate a pilot study (“baby study”) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928340/?tool=pubmed These researchers didn’t find that it helped blood sugar but its just a starter study. I will keep my eyes open for other studies on glutamine and carb cravings/ blood sugar
I don’t claim to be a professional athlete but I am in the military and my job requires I stay in shape. In the last year I have begun cycling 2-5 times a week (depending on my work schedule). Most of my rides are 30-60 miles and I have done several centuries with a lot of climbing. I can say that I have noticed a big difference the following day with muscle soreness and stiffness when I forget to take my Recoverite by Hammer which has Glutamine and of course several other ingredients. While not scientific, it never fails that when I forget to take it I regret it.
Thanks for your work and your website, I just found it today and there is a lot of good info. Have you looked a shark cartilage in the pill form? I have used it in the past instead of motrin for joint pain and it seems to work.
Hey Bill, glad you found my website! I think for what you are doing that glutamine makes sense. While I have not seen any data on glutamine and muscle soreness, there is research on it helping aerobic exercise performance during long duration exercise events, such as what you are doing. I also would classify you as an “athlete” since you are in the military. regardless of biking 30-60 miles, I don’t think most people realize what it takes to do what you do and you have my thanks!
I heard you on doctor radio the other day and decided to check out your site. I have celiac disease and had a lot of small intestine damage from years of ingesting gluten, that I didn’t even know was a poisonous good to me! Since being diagnosed 18 months ago, I have been strictly gluten free but still have some GI issues.
I read about something called leaky gut in which the damage permeates your intestinal wall and small pieces of food can get in your bloodstream and your body thinks those food are toxins and you become intolerant to those foods, at least until you heal. I read that glutamine can help you heal so have been taking it for a couple months. Do you know much about this? Also, what supplements do you advise for a damaged celiac??? I know probiotics are supposed to be good but don’t take them regularly. Thanks!
Kristi, glad you heard me on Dr. Radio! It was a lot of fun to do. I hope I sounded ok; I didn’t get to hear myself
As for Ciliac damage, I did some checking for you today and didn’t see much in terms of supplements. I did see one study noting that the supplement L Carnitine might help fatigue that’s associated with Celiac. It was a small “pilot study” so it was just a beginner, trial run. Here is the link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17693145?dopt=Abstract
You might also want to get our vitamin D levels checked as some have noted that this vitamin may be lower in celiac. Here is a study of kids and celiac http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21439004 the same may be true for adults (best to get your D levels checked to be sure). Since vitamin D seems to have some anti-inflammatory properties, this may be an option. Do get your D levels checked. I didn’t mention it on Dr Radio but one study noted that vitamin D might increase inflammation when the vitamin D levels are above 21 ng per ml. Whether or not that might mean it makes celiac worse I just don’t know but its something to consider until other research confirms/denies it.
As for your question about glutamine and celiac, I’m honestly not sure if you need it or not. As I’ve pointed out on this site, that a lot of the research for glutamine helping people involves injected glutamine. I did some digging into this topic of glutamine and celiac for you today and I didn’t see any studies saying that glutamine supplements helped people with celiac disorder. I did notice some celiac forms where people said glutamine supplements made them feel worse. Have you asked a doctor about this? Have you ever asked registered dietitian who specialize in Celiac disorder about this? They may have a better answer for you than I do. The website to find an RD in your area is EatRight.org – you can enter your zip code and they will show you the RDs in your area and you can contact them and ask this question.
If you do find an answer to this, please let me know.
I just wanted to give my experience with glutamine. I work out 5x/week and do a variety of aerobic and weight training exercises. I use a level tsp full of glutamine before & after my workouts and notice a tremendous difference in muscle soreness. If I don’t take it and do a hard core workout I definitely suffer the next day. So it has definitely had positive effects for me. Hope this helps!
I enjoy persimmons.
Do they have glutamine in them?
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