What is glutamine and why is glutamine supplementation useful for athletes?
Glutamine is one of the so-called non-essential amino acids, as the body can produce glutamine itself from other amino acids if required. Glutamine is the amino acid that is present in the body in the highest amount in free form. In the amino acid pool of blood plasma, glutamine accounts for 20% of the free amino acids and of the amino acids present in free form in the skeletal muscles, glutamine even accounts for 50 to 60%. These high amounts of free glutamine are related to the fact that the body requires large amounts of glutamine for many bodily functions, with the immune system and the digestive system being particularly dependent on glutamine. Glutamine also plays a very important role in the body's protein metabolism.
Even though the body can in principle produce glutamine itself when required, there are situations in which the body cannot produce enough glutamine to cover the increased demand. These situations include factors such as severe stress, illness and intensive training sessions (11). Scientific studies have also shown that glutamine levels in the body can be reduced by up to 50% after an intensive training session and that it can take several hours after training for glutamine levels to return to normal (8). For these reasons, glutamine is sometimes also referred to as a conditionally essential amino acid, which means that in certain situations glutamine becomes an essential amino acid that must be supplied externally.
But what exactly happens when the body needs more glutamine than it can produce itself? As the body urgently needs glutamine for important bodily functions such as the functioning of the immune system and the digestive tract, this can lead to reduced immune system function, among other things. Even worse for hard-training bodybuilders is that when the body needs more glutamine than it can produce, it begins to break down muscle protein in order to directly access the glutamine it contains and to obtain branched-chain amino acids for the synthesis of glutamine (9)! A glutamine deficiency can therefore result in catabolic muscle breakdown, which should be a nightmare scenario for any bodybuilder.
Fortunately, studies have shown that oral glutamine supplementation can meet the body's increased glutamine needs and prevent muscle protein breakdown while optimizing protein metabolism. When glutamine is also combined with glucose, studies have shown that this can result in an increase in plasma glutamine levels of up to 200% (4)
So it's up to you whether you want to fall into a catabolic hole after training due to a training-induced depletion of your glutamine reserves and lose muscle mass first, or whether you want to start building muscle mass right away.
What other benefits does glutamine have?
Glutamine and the immune system
The immune system, with its rapidly multiplying cells, is dependent on glutamine to function properly. A glutamine deficiency results in a reduced amount of protective T-cells and reduces the ability of phagocytes to destroy bacteria and viruses (12). In other words, the immune system cannot function optimally if there is a glutamine deficiency. This is particularly critical for athletes, as intensive training sessions can have a negative impact on the immune system, which can increase susceptibility to infectious diseases (10).
Fortunately, scientific studies have shown that glutamine supplementation after strenuous exercise can help to strengthen the immune system and significantly reduce the risk of infectious diseases (1, 2). Other studies show that glutamine supplementation can have a positive effect on the function of the immune system even in non-athletes. This is particularly interesting during the cold winter season, which brings with it an increased risk of colds.
If you are an intensively training athlete and cannot afford to miss training due to preventable infectious diseases, you should consider taking a portion of Pure Glutamine after training to fully restore the function of your immune system, which has been impaired by training.
Glutamine and the release of growth hormone
A scientific study was able to show that the isolated administration of glutamine on an empty stomach can increase the body's own growth hormone release by up to 400% (3). A dose of 2 grams of glutamine was sufficient for this. As an athlete, you will probably know that growth hormones stimulate protein synthesis and can therefore accelerate and increase muscle growth. In addition, growth hormones have a strong lipolytic effect, releasing fatty acids from adipose tissue to be burned by the body for energy.
So if you want to accelerate muscle building and burn fat at the same time, you should consider taking some Glutamine Polyhydrate directly before going to bed and directly after getting up on an empty stomach.
Glutamine, muscle cell volume and protein synthesis
Like creatine, glutamine has the ability to draw water into the muscle cells and thus increase the volume of the muscle cells (6). This increase in muscle cell volume makes the muscles appear plumper and fuller. What most athletes don't realize is that increased muscle cell volume not only has "cosmetic" effects, but also creates an anabolic environment in the muscles by stimulating the synthesis of protein and glycogen, ultimately accelerating the building of new muscle tissue (6).
Interestingly, glutamine and creatine appear to have a synergistic effect in this relationship, which in other words means that they increase each other's cell volumizing effects. This fact suggests a combination of Glutamine Polyhydrate with Creatine Polyhydrate, the most effective creatine available on the market. Don't miss out on the anabolic effects of this unbeatable combination!
In addition, studies have shown that glutamine levels in muscle cells have a regulatory function in body-wide protein synthesis and that glutamine levels within the muscles positively influence protein synthesis, nitrogen balance and ultimately muscle growth (7). Glutamine therefore has several direct anabolic effects that go beyond accelerated regeneration and the promotion of growth hormone release.
Glutamine and regeneration
It has already been mentioned above that glutamine supplementation after training helps to replenish the body's glutamine reserves used up by training and thus prevents muscle breakdown, while at the same time stimulating and optimizing protein metabolism for maximum muscle building. But glutamine can do even more. Scientific research has shown that glutamine improves glycogen synthesis after exercise, helping to replenish glycogen stores depleted by exercise more quickly (4, 5). All of this results in faster regeneration, which means that the body can start building muscle more quickly and also ensures that you are ready for the next training session more quickly. Glutamine Polyhydrate therefore helps you to train more often and to stimulate muscle growth more frequently, which ultimately results in faster muscle growth.
The benefits of our innovative Tera Caps
Glutamine TeraCaps® have a decisive advantage over other glutamine capsules, where you have to swallow significantly more capsules to get your daily dose of glutamine. We know how uncomfortable many people find having to swallow large quantities of capsules, which is why we use our innovative TeraCaps®.
With 1000 mg of pure glutamine per capsule, our TeraCaps contain significantly more glutamine than comparable products in capsule form, thanks to an advanced process for filling the capsules with the same capsule size. This means you need to swallow fewer capsules to get the optimum amount of glutamine.
The GN Laboratories quality guarantee
We use only the purest and highest quality ingredients on the market. In order to guarantee you the consistent, highest quality of all our products, each of our products is regularly tested in the laboratory for the purity and quality of all its ingredients.
