All bodybuilders know: protein products are better the more essential amino acids they contain. Glutamine is not an essential amino acid. Then why do bodybuilders need it?
The fact is that glutamine does not fit into the strict framework of scientific definitions. It has several truly irreplaceable properties. We will dwell on one of them in more detail. Glutamine plays the first role in the biosynthesis process, i.e. formation of new protein in muscles. The relationship between the growth of “mass” and glutamine is direct here: the less this amino acid is in the blood plasma and muscle tissue, the worse the muscles grow. It would seem, why worry? The body produces glutamine itself, but the whole problem is that various kinds of stress inhibit its synthesis, and the muscles end up on a starvation diet. And then you can load yourself with high-quality protein even in buckets – you still won’t gain muscle. So it turns out that a non-essential amino acid has to be taken as an essential one – in the form of food supplements.
Surprises of glutamine.
The key role of glutamine in muscle growth was discovered only recently, and since then this amino acid has managed to present many other surprises. It turns out that glutamine is the “fuel” for the rapid division of antibodies. You know, there are special little bodies in the blood that “eat” the infection that enters our body. Until you get sick, there are few of them in the blood, but with the first signs of the appearance of pathogenic bacteria or viruses in the blood, antibodies begin to divide intensively in order to overcome the infection in quantity. And so, it turned out that if glutamine is deficient, antibodies simply do not divide! It turns out that our immunity directly depends on glutamine!
Here’s another discovery: glutamine helps you lose weight! And this was found out with the help of our smaller brothers, rodents. Four groups of mice were put on a diet. The diet of the first group was low in fat and low in sugar, just like the diet of serious bodybuilders.
The second group could eat as much fat as they wanted, but they didn’t get enough sugar. The third also consumed a killer amount of fat, little sugar, but in addition her diet included glutamine. The “menu” of the fourth group differed only in that instead of glutamine, the mice received the amino acid alanine. In general, the total caloric intake per unit of body weight was the same in all experimental rats.
It will be easier to lose weight!
As you would expect, the first group did not experience any weight gain – really, why? As soon as any person limits the intake of dietary fats and sweets, his weight also stabilizes. But the rest of the mice surprised scientists. As you remember, the other three groups ate mostly fat. In theory, this should have caused the rats to become obese. This is what happened, but not among those of them who additionally took glutamine. Moreover, glutamine led to a stable decrease in insulin levels in the blood of mice, because it is known that it is high insulin levels that determine obesity in both rats and humans! Those who are naturally overweight find consistently high levels of insulin in their blood!
