Glutamine: The Most Overlooked Nutrient In Your Diet

June 16, 2022 2 min read

Undervalued and overlooked by many, glutamine is a powerful anti-catabolic agent. This means it's essential for combatting muscle loss. Here's how this most underrated of nutrients can boost your health, longevity, and physique!

What is glutamine?

Glutamine is an amino acid that is naturally produced by the body. It is found in the blood, muscle tissue and other cells. The body can use glutamine as a source of energy, or it can be converted into glucose (sugar), used as fuel by the brain. Glutamine also helps to maintain the average nitrogen balance in the body.

When you exercise, your body needs more glutamine than normal to protect your muscles from damage and help them rebuild after exercise. By supplementing with glutamine, you can increase your muscle mass and improve your recovery time after training to train harder and more often.

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Benefits:

Improves gut health

Glutamine helps the body heal n this condition, the intestinal lining becomes damaged and allows bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles to enter the bloodstream resulting in chronic inflammation and immune system dysfunction. Glutamine also helps reduce bloating by stopping water retention in cells.

Lowers cholesterol levels

Studies have shown that taking glutamine supplements may lower cholesterol levels. This is because glutamine helps prevent fat storage in the body by preventing muscle loss during exercise and reducing insulin resistance, which encourages fat storage.

Reduces brain fog

Glutamine supplementation has improved mental clarity and focus due to its role as an energy source for your brain cells (neurons). In addition, glutamine helps boost serotonin levels, improving mood, memory recall, and concentration abilities.

Potential risks

Glutamine supplements can cause adverse effects in some people. These side effects include diarrhea and nausea due to overstimulation of the GI tract from high doses.

In addition to these GI disturbances, some studiessuggest that supplementing with glutamine could increase your risk of kidney stones or other kidney-related problems. Always consult a physician prior to any intake of supplements.

How to increase glutamine intake

The best way to increase glutamine intake is by eating foods high in nutrients.

Here are some of the best sources of glutamine:

Beef (steak)
Chicken breast
Pork tenderloin
Fish such as tuna, salmon, cod and halibut
Beans like black beans, kidney beans and chickpeas

One should take 3-6 grams daily. For others, this may not be feasible, which makes supplementation needed.

Glutamine is a naturally occurring amino acid that can be taken in supplement form. In the end, consider both pros and cons of taking glutamine to ensure your results are as positive as possible with minimal risk of side effects.

April Lloren

April is a fun-loving mother of three beautiful children. She is one of a few people who enjoy public speaking and loves motivating others. April is a registered nurse by profession but always had a passion for writing, thanks to Carrie Bradshaw. She has written over two thousand blogs and counting. She is also a link-building expert and works as the SEO Specialist for VPA Australia.