L-Glutamine has for a long time been an underestimated supplement in healing a leaky gut. However, the L-Glutamine benefits do not end there. In fact, along with its gut healing abilities, it also has a number of other interesting benefits. So lets find our what these are and how they can improve your health.

Contents:

What is L-Glutamine? 9 Science-Backed L-Glutamine Benefits

1. L-Glutamine Helps Heal Leaky Gut
2. L-Glutamine Can Help Repair Ulcers
3. L-Glutamine Improves Your Brain Health
4. L-Glutamine Encourages Healthy Muscle Growth
5. L-Glutamine Decreases Exercise Recovery Times
6. L-Glutamine Increases Your Immune System's Health
7. L-Glutamine Can Help to Reduce Inflammation
8. L-Glutamine Can Protect Against Stress
9. L-Glutamine Promotes Heart Health

L-Glutamine Safety, Side Effects and Interactions Final Thoughts on TheL-Glutamine Benefits

What is L-Glutamine?

What is L-Glutamine? People typically use Glutamine and L-Glutamine interchangeably, and they're referring to one of the 20 amino acids in your body. Amino acids are the body's building blocks, and they perform dozens of functions for your various systems. L-Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid present in your system. It makes up between 30% and 35% of the amino acid nitrogen you find in your bloodstream. This abundance earned L-Glutamine the title of a conditionally essential amino acid. It becomes an essential component when you fight muscle wasting or diseases. You can find L-Glutamine in both plant and animal proteins, and you get also get it as a supplement. It's popular in protein powders that athletes use. There are two types of L-Glutamine available. The free-form is available in supplement form, and you want to eat when you take it. Eating can help your body absorb higher amounts of the free form L-Glutamine supplement. The second form is Trans-Alanyl-Glutamine (TAG). Two amino acids attach to each other to form this type of L-Glutamine, and you can take it on an empty stomach without any problems. L-Glutamine supports your metabolism as well as your muscular system. It helps you build and maintain your muscles, and this is especially important for people who work out regularly or athletes. It's also great for repairing damage due to oxidative stress, trauma or injuries, and returning your muscles to their peak performance levels.

9 Science-Backed L-Glutamine Benefits

There are several other health benefits associated with taking L-Glutamine, and we've rounded up the top nine science-backed L-Glutamine benefits. This will help you decide if this supplement is the correct choice for your lifestyle.

1. L-Glutamine Helps Heal Leaky Gut

Millions of people around the word have Leaky Gut Syndrome. In a healthy gut, the inside of your intestinal lining forms a barrier that prevents bacteria and other particles from passing through into your body. Leaky Gut Syndrome refers to cracks or holes forming in this intestinal lining. When this happens, toxins and other particles make their way through into your body. This can cause system-wide inflammation as your body tries to fight these foreign bodies off. It comes with several different symptoms including diarrhoea, abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, weight loss, joint pain, mood swings, and much more. Your symptoms may come and go, and they may range in severity. Over the years, dozens of different trials have shown L-Glutamine's effectiveness when it comes to healing leaky gut. One study took 20 participants with Leaky Gut Syndrome and split them into two groups. One control group didn't get anything extra throughout the treatment, and the other group got a dose of L-Glutamine. At the end of the trial, the group that got the daily dosage of L-Glutamine showed significant improvement in their inflammation levels. They also had less discomfort and fewer symptoms than the control group. The control group reported no significant changes in their discomfort levels.

2. L-Glutamine Can Help Repair Ulcers

An ulcer is an open sore that slowly develops on the inside of your stomach lining or in the lining of your upper small intestine. There are a few different types of ulcers including peptic ulcers, gastric ulcers, and duodenal ulcers. If you have an ulcer on the inside of your stomach in the lining, you have a gastric ulcer. An ulcer on the inner lining of your upper small intestine is a duodenal ulcer. An H. Pylori bacterial infection is one cause of these ulcers, as is the continued use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and aspirin. When you have an ulcer, you can experience several symptoms. Some of the more common symptoms include a burning pain in your stomach that gets worse when it's empty, burping, bloating, vomiting, weight loss, and a loss of your normal appetite. Taking L-Glutamine can help to repair the damage to your stomach and intestinal lining. To study this, researchers divided 105 mice into two groups. One group got their regular diet, and the other group got the same diet with an L-Glutamine supplement. After two weeks, they divided the mice again and followed them for an additional 20 weeks. The groups that got the L-Glutamine supplement showed reduced inflammation levels along with decreased intestinal permeability. It also acted as a natural treatment for the ulcers instead of a traditional antibiotic.

3. L-Glutamine Improves Your Brain Health

As you age, changes in your brain are a common occurrence. Did you know that certain parts of your brain shrink with age? Your blood flow to the brain can also decrease, inflammation can increase, and the communication barriers between your neurons can break down. This is why older people can struggle to learn new things, search for words, or have trouble multi-tasking. A reduction of the glutamate and glutamine cycle in your brain is one key point to all of these problems. Having a healthy lifestyle and diet can help to lower the chances of this key cycle disruption, and taking L-Glutamine can also help. The New York University School of Medicine ran a study with 22 patients that had mild traumatic brain injuries. They measured the participants' grey and white matter in their brains with an MRI before and after the study to get pinpoint results. They split the participants into two groups. One group was the control group, and the other group got an L-Glutamine supplement every day. The study ran for 365 days from start to finish, and the researchers monitored the participant's brain atrophy rates. At the conclusion of the study, they found that the group who got the L-Glutamine supplement had less brain atrophy than the control group.

4. L-Glutamine Encourages Healthy Muscle Growth

It's essential that you have healthy muscle growth that continues into your later years. Muscle growth refers to the development of function, density, shape, and mass of your muscle cells. Having good muscle growth can help you meet exercise challenges and have your muscles stand up to function-induced stress. Your muscles are made up of bundles of fibres that grow and expand as you build muscle mass. Your diet and activity level play a large role in your muscle mass, and you'll start to lose it if you don't use it. This is why athletes tend to eat high-protein diets, take nutritional supplements, and exercise regularly to grow and maintain their muscles. One study showed how L-Glutamine impacted muscle growth and recovery times after exhaustive exercise routines. They split the participants into three groups. Group A got an 18.5% glucose polymer solution. Group B got 8g L-Glutamine in a 330ml glucose polymer solution, and group C got a placebo. They monitored the group's muscle recovery times one, two, and three hours after the exercise routine. The results showed that the group who got the oral supplement of L-Glutamine had improved recovery times with an increased storage of Glycogen in their muscles as compared to the control group.

5. L-Glutamine Decreases Exercise Recovery Times

You want to support healthy muscle growth throughout your life. This is especially true for people who do long workouts or athletes who put a lot of stress on their muscles. Eating a balanced diet can help you achieve great recovery times, and it can also boost your metabolism. As you age, you tend to lose muscle mass as a natural part of the aging process. This process typically starts when you reach your mid-30s. If you're inactive, you can lose between 3% and 5% of your muscle mass each year. When you start to lose your muscle mass, or if you overwork your muscles, it can lead to various problems. L-Glutamine can help repair damage to your muscles, and it can also help to slow the loss of muscle mass as you age. One double-blind study took 16 participants and split them into two groups to measure how well L-Glutamine worked to reduce the amount of soreness and recovery time of their muscles after an intense exercise routine. One group got a placebo, and one group got an L-Glutamine supplement each day for three days. The researchers monitored the participants and found that the group that got the supplement each day had a faster recovery times. They also reported decreased soreness following the exercise routine.

6. L-Glutamine Increases Your Immune System's Health

Your immune system is your body's first line of defence against infections. This includes bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, as well as trauma or injuries. Your immune system knows what cells are supposed to be in your body, and it'll attack and get rid of any unfamiliar cells. It's made up of a complex network of tissues, cells, and organs. Young children, older adults and people with certain diseases can experience a weakened immune system. If this happens, you'll be more prone to infections and illnesses. Certain conditions like arthritis and Lupus can cause the immune system to attack your own body, and it can lead to system-wide inflammation. One study showcased L-Glutamine's effectiveness at preventing infections. The study took 22 patients who had weakened immune systems due to having just undergone colorectal surgery. One group of 11 participants received 2g of nitrogen, and the other group received 0.18g of L-Glutamine for six days after surgery. The researchers measured the levels of T lymphocytes present in the patients after the sixth day. They found that the group who got the L-Glutamine supplement had increased levels of T lymphocytes present. Their immune systems were better equipped to deal with bacterial infections and inflammation, even directly after surgery.

7. L-Glutamine Can Help to Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation is your body's way of protecting itself from a perceived threat. You can have chronic inflammation or acute inflammation. Acute inflammation occurs when you injure yourself or experience trauma or illness somewhere in your body. Chronic inflammation is ongoing inflammation, and you see it in arthritis or with excess fat cells. There are several symptoms that can show up when you have inflammation. It's common to have redness, swelling, warmth, and mild tenderness at the inflammation site. If it's acute inflammation, these symptoms should fade in a few days. However, if it's chronic inflammation, you may have these symptoms on a constant basis. Eating a healthy diet can help to manage inflammation and its various symptoms. An L-Glutamine supplement can increase the levels of B and T lymphocytes in your body that reduces inflammation. One study took 30 patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and split them into two groups. One group of 15 patients was the control group, and the other group of 15 participants got 4g of L-Glutamine each day for a week. The group who got the L-Glutamine supplement each day had reduced inflammation levels at the end of the study. They also had heightened B and T lymphocytes in their blood compared to the control group. In turn, this supplement can help to boost your immune system and control the inflammatory response.

8. L-Glutamine Can Protect Against Stress

Working in a high-stress job or leading a high-stress life can have negative impacts on your well-being. It has both mental and physical impacts on you. Additionally, prolonged stress can have long-lasting effects. You may not even realise the level of damage that stress causes because you've lived with it for so long. Common symptoms of stress include headaches, fatigue, upset stomach, problems falling asleep and staying asleep, anxiety, restlessness, depression, social withdrawal, and much more. Stress can reduce how responsive your immune system is to infections, and this is why people who are constantly stressed seem to get sick more often than people with low stress levels. However, L-Glutamine can help. When you feel stressed out, your body releases heat shock proteins (HSPs). These HSPs help to protect your cells from oxidative stress, and they also work to restore any damaged proteins. One study divided 24 rats into three groups. One group was the control group, one group was the LPS shock group, and one group was the alanyl-Gln dipeptide+LPS shock group. They monitored these groups for inflammation and cell damage due to increased stress levels. At the end of the study, they found promising results. The group of rats who received the L-Glutamine supplement had lower inflammation levels and less cell damage with higher HSPs than the control group of rats.

9. L-Glutamine Promotes Heart Health

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for people around the world. In 2015, the Center for Disease Control estimated that roughly 17.7 million people died from a cardiac-related incident, and this represents 31% of the global deaths. Genetics play a role in your cardiovascular health as well as your lifestyle choices and diet choices. If you're unhealthy, you're at an increased risk for a cardiovascular event. Injuries to your heart muscles can also put you at an increased risk for health problems. Additionally, having heart surgery can actually result in injuries to your heart muscles called Ischemia. These injuries are due to lower oxygen levels in your body and blood during heart surgery. Taking L-Glutamine can help to improve your cardiovascular health, and it can also help prevent injuries to your heart muscles during open heart surgery. Researchers performed a study with 14 participants that underwent cardiac surgery. They split the patients into two groups. One group acted as the control group, and the other group got 25mg of L-Glutamine every day for three days leading up to the surgery. They found that the group who got the L-Glutamine supplement had fewer complications during and after surgery, and they also had fewer heart injuries during surgery.

L-Glutamine Safety, Side Effects, and Interactions

L-Glutamine is widely considered to be a safe supplement to add to your daily routine. However, you do want to mention it to your primary care physician before you start taking it. They'll be able to tell you if they recommend it or not and why. This is especially important if you're breastfeeding or pregnant, or if you have liver or kidney disease. This supplement's side effects are rare and mild. However, the common side effects you can experience include nausea, headache, stomach pain, bloating, mild skin rash, dry mouth, and swelling in your feet or hands. More severe side effects include chest pain or allergic reactions. You should be able to take L-Glutamine with both prescription and over-the-counter medications without an interaction issue. Again, you want to talk to your doctor before you start taking it because they'll be able to tell you whether or not this supplement will interact with your current medications. The dosage amounts will vary depending on how large a dose you take a once, whether you take it one, two, or three times a day, and your weight. Always follow the dosage instructions and don't take more than the specific supplement recommends.

Final Thoughts on TheL-Glutamine Benefits

L-Glutamine has several powerful health benefits that work on a variety of systems. Perhaps you could benefit from adding it to your diet. Talk to your doctor and consider adding L-Glutamine to your diet so you can experience the benefits today!