Glutamine for body weight reduction?

Glutamine for body weight reduction?

What is glutamine? Glutamine is one of the supplements that you do not really know what it is for. It is definitely not the most popular supplement but it has got its place. Usually, people talk about Glutamine as a supplement with you cannot really tell if it really works. Other people say it is good for the immune system and increased performance. But where is the truth? Well, no matter what people say, you should always look at studies and dig deeper. In this article, we will look at a study that said there is no proof of improved immune system but there has been a significant change in weight reduction.

So what is Glutamine?

A conditionally essential amino acid which only appears to benefit the body as supplementation when otherwise deficient (vegans, vegetarians with low dairy intake) or during prolonged endurance exercise. Anecdotally reported to reduce sugar cravings.

This definition from examine.com clearly states that Glutamine is an essential amino acid. It also has positive effects on vegans and vegetarians as they do not have enough Glutamine from food.

They next say:

Glutamine is one of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids in a dietary protein, specifically it is a conditionally essential amino acid (being elevated to essential during periods of disease and muscle wasting typical of physical trauma). It is sold as an isolated amino acids as well as being found in high levels in dietary meats and eggs. It is found in very high levels in both whey and casein protein.

Now you understand why mainly vegans have not got enough intake of Glutamine in their nutrition.

What people say about Glutamine?

Many influencers and other “experts” say that Glutamine is not needed as a supplement and that it is not working at all etc. But remember, no supplement is working when taken incorrectly, not having good nutrition or getting brands that are not high quality (usually cheap ones).

You can also find many articles talking about how it helps with the immune system, helps to build muscle and other benefits. But are these benefits significant enough to spot a change? Nutrition First always wants to provide the most accurate information and therefore we are going to show you a recent study about Glutamine.

What study has found?

The study is available online but it is going to be officially released in June 2019 in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This is adding credibility to the post.

This systematic review and meta-analysis of available evidence were conducted to obtain a conclusive result on the effects of glutamine supplementation on athletes.

The reference is at the bottom so you can check it out but we will go through that here as well.

First of all, the literature review using different sources has been done to obtain critical information about the subject. Next, Clinical trials evaluating glutamine supplementation outcomes on athletes aged over 18 were included.

Results

A total of 47 studies were included in the systematic review. And 25 trials matched the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. According to the meta-analysis, this substance has a significant effect on weight reduction (WMD = −1.36 [95% CI: −2.55 to −0.16], p = 0.02). Moreover, neutrophil numbers were reduced following glutamine intake at doses greater than 200 mg/kg body weight (WMD = −605.77 [95% CI: −1200.0 to 52.1]; P = 0.03). Also, supplementation by glutamine dipeptide resulted in higher blood glucose after exercise (WMD = 0.51 [95% CI: 0.18, 0.83] mmol/l; P = 0.002). There was no association between glutamine ingestion and other outcomes investigated.

Conclusion

According to this meta-analysis, generally, glutamine supplementation has no effect on athletics immune system, aerobic performance, and body composition. However, the current study showed that this amino acid resulted in greater weight reduction. In addition, the present study suggests that the efficacy of glutamine supplementation on neutrophil numbers could be affected by supplement type and dose.

Thus, it is up to you whether to use glutamine or not. There can be a whole discussion about the subject. However, this study is not going to be overlooked. From now on, we can say that glutamine really helps with weight reduction.

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Source:

The effect of glutamine supplementation on athletic performance, body composition, and immune function: A systematic review and a meta-analysis of clinical trials

Authors: AmirhosseinRamezani Ahmadi^abElhamRayyani^cMehdiBahreini^bAnahitaMansoori^a

Show more: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2018.05.001