Why Should I Take Glutamine Supplements

You may have heard the word Glutamine thrown round between trainers in a gym room, during your last visit to the doctor, or on multiple health adverts. At the time you thought it was just one of those craze words; a new bandwagon that fitness nuts rave about, and one that you think never in a million years thank you very much. However, Glutamine is actually one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body, and while non-essential, it serves in a variety of functions in supporting the immune, digestive and nervous systems and helps remove excess ammonia from the body. So why take a supplement for a non-essential amino acid? Just because it’s dispensable, doesn’t mean it’s insignificant; your body may be able to produce it, but stress, exercise, and illness can deplete it to right down to a point where you become more susceptible to colds and infections. Do you need some further convincing? Here is some of the many benefits Glutamine supplements have on your system.

Glutamine on the brain

Have you recently been lacking focus? Are you finding that you’re often forgetful? Or perhaps you have a case of the muddle brain? Glutamine will be able to enhance your brain function, relieving even the most bamboozled of minds due to its ability to fuel two of the brains most important neurotransmitters – glutamic acid and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA). Naturopaths often recommend glutamine supplements to provide energy to the brain and glutamine rich foods to reduce cravings for detrimental brain stimulants like sugar and alcohol. A brain that is rich in this amino acid are supposedly more alert, sharp witted and more erotically inclined. It is also said to eliminate toxic metabolic residue from the brain, which promotes neural function.

Improve Immune Function

A glutamine enriched body provides many health benefits to the immune system. In recent studies, scientists have examined the effects of glutamine supplements on endurance athletes and critically ill patients. As these people are the most likely to suffer from low glutamine levels due to the stressful demands on their bodies, their white blood cells can’t divide properly and their healing process starts to slow and eventually halts. The research found that by increasing their glutamine levels, they were able to fight infection, prompting a speedy recovery. They also noted that the use of glutamine on cancer patients resulted in the prevention of mouth ulcers, muscle and joint pain and the side effects consistent with chemotherapy.

Up the ante for athletes

Along with other amino acids like creatine, glutamine forms the proteins that help build the bodies tissues, including muscle. However, during intense exercise, you are likely to see the levels of glutamine in your blood and muscles diminish making it harder for you to recover if you don’t build them back up. To reverse the effect that exercise places on your body, you must feed the muscles protein so that it can be stimulated to build and strengthen muscle mass.

Using Glutamine

Glutamine is generally considered safe, and when taken under the right circumstances and the correct doses, it can be very beneficial. You can either consume glutamine supplements via a powder form that you can find at health stores of specialty athletic stores like 99 Bikes , or you can source it through foods like barley, beef, cabbage, corn, egg whites, poultry, parsley, spinach, and soy.

As with any supplement, make sure to check with your doctor before consuming it.