L-glutamine is an inexpensive, single amino acid supplement that stimulates HGH. Glutamine also has a positive immune system function.
Glutamine is highly in demand throughout the body. It is used in the gut and immune system extensively to maintain optimal performance. 60% of free-form amino acids floating in skeletal muscles is L-glutamine.
L-glutamine plays a very important role in protein metabolism, and it appears to be a very important nutrient for body builders. When supplemented, it may help body builders reduce the amount of muscle deterioration that occurs because other tissues that need glutamine will not rob the glutamine stored in the muscle cells.
In Growth Hormone: Reversing Human Aging Naturally, author and pharmacologist James Jamieson cites research showing a 15 percent increase in HGH from glutamine supplementation. Jamieson’s book provides an excellent survey of medical research regarding human growth hormone and an effective viewpoint of increasing HGH from a secretagogue release strategy.
High-intensity fitness training can drop normal glutamine levels in the blood system by as much as 50 percent. This makes glutamine supplementation a wise pre-training strategy for athletes.
Glutamine does not produce a temperature-increasing “thermogenic boost” (like caffeine from a cup of coffee, or the ephedrine boost from the herbs ma hung and guarana).
In one study, researchers report that after running a marathon, glutamine levels drop significantly and this is the reason so many that complete in marathons get a common cold after the event, (Some aspects of the acute phase response after a marathon race, and the effects of glutamine supplementation, 1997, Castell).
NOTE: Glutamine has drug interactions with the chemotherapy drugs Taxol and Paclitaxel. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions.
The National Library of Medicine has an excellent Web site at www.medlineplus.gov that you may find helpful for checking drug and supplement interactions.
Click on the “Drug Information” link. This site has over 11 million citations from worldwide medical journals and is visited over 28 million times a month.