The supplement for which you will probably be spending your next five minutes reading is one of the most consumed supplements by bodybuilders and athletes all over the globe. No doubt, I’m talking about – Glutamine. Glutamine supplement has been popularly consumed for several reasons including weight-loss and muscle growth. So, before we learn more about glutamine benefits, let’s see few quick basics about glutamine. Here you go –
Handy basics about Glutamine
Glutamine or often called L-Glutamine is one of the twenty amino acids that our body needs in order to function properly.
As a matter of fact, L-Glutamine is the most abundant amino acids found in human blood. It makes up a little more than half of the total amino acid stores in our body.
Glutamine falls under the ‘conditional’ category of amino acids which means that your body may temporarily stop the production of such amino acids under certain health conditions such as chronic stress or severe illness.
Major benefits of Glutamine –
Glutamine supports Bodybuilding and Athletic Goals
Talk about muscle growth or speedy recovery, science backs glutamine as one of the most important supplement for athletes. Here’s how – during a strenuous training session, your body gradually loses up to fifty percent of cellular glutamine levels. This, in turn, forces your body to use up your own hard-earned muscle as fuel instead of glycogen.
However, supplementing with glutamine may ease up this situation and can possibly prevent your body from turning to a catabolic state.
Apart from this, research by the American Physiological Society with an aim to study the effect of oral glutamine on whole body carbohydrate storage during recovery from exhaustive exercise showed that glutamine supplement benefits the subject with prompt recovery by improving the muscle hydration process.
One thing you should bear in mind that because refueling glutamine levels back to normal levels can take about three to five days, it is recommended to consume it regularly after a training session.
Glutamine enhances Sports Performance
Benefits of glutamine supplements are not just limited to bodybuilding, but athletes from other sports as well have a lot to gain. Take for instance this research which demonstrated the benefit of Glutamine supplementation for long-distance athletes by increasing the T-helper cells (a type of T cell known to play an important role in the immune system) and counteracting the stress produced due to overtraining.
Reduction of glutamine in your body may disturb your body’s normal immune function which may ultimately lead to poor performance in strength training. Even worse, you may end up suffering from overtraining syndrome.
Glutamine aids Fat-Loss
Yes, supplementing with Glutamine does help in achieving fat-loss goals by increasing secretion of growth hormones.
Studies have shown glutamine supplementation to increase HGH levels by almost four-hundred percent. And you should be well aware of the fact that increase in growth hormone may lead to elevated metabolic rates and potentially improve EPOC post training. EPOC or otherwise known as the after-burn effect is critical for obtaining desired weight loss goals.
Besides being effective for the hormonal response, glutamine powder benefits diabetic patients by suppressing their insulin levels and stabilizing blood glucose.
Glutamine improves Immunity
Besides being an important supplement for achieving all sorts of fitness goals, glutamine benefits overall health as well, specifically for its role in enhancing immunity. L-Glutamine acts as an important fuel source for the immune system.
When you fall ill, there is a subsequent reduction in the production of glutamine which ultimately results in a decrease of glutamine concentration in muscles. And since glutamine acts as a fuel for the immune system, its lower levels can certainly be worrisome.
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