Glutamine

cecal valve or the valves of Houston causing constipation or diarrhea, then an Activator adjustment in the right direction will relieve the problem. However, if there is significant inflammation to the wall of either the intestines or the colon, then more complex protocols are required to repair the damage to these structures. One of the most potent interventions is the addition of the amino acid L-glutamine to the diet. Glutamine is used by the cells that make up the lining of the intestines and colon as fuel, much like other cells in the body use sugar or fat for fuel. These cells will take that glutamine from both the systemic blood flow or the contents of the food supply from the diet. Glutamine is a very common amino acid in protein foods and to a limited extent the body can make glutamine from other amino acids inside the body. It is considered a conditional essential amino acid. This means that under gentle conditions the body can manufacture what it needs, but in times of stress or injury, its needs to go beyond what it can make and it must get the glutamine from the diet. In times that don’t involve a lot of stress, a person needs about 15 grams of glutamine each day.

Glutamine does many different things in the body. Just as it provides energy for the cells that line the gut, it also is necessary for the production of our immune cells. It serves as the energy source for many of the primary functions of the immune system. It also serves as an energy source for kidney cells, liver cells, nerve cells, and pancreas cells. It balances nitrogen levels in the body and helps balance the acid/alkaline levels in the body. Glutamine is a precursor for muscle growth and about a dozen other things. The biggest role I am concerned with for glutamine is its ability to help heal leaky gut and form the protective mucosal layer over the gut to stop the travel of allergens, toxins, and pathogens, into the body. The gut processes over 60 tons of food over a lifetime, and every bite of that food is a potential threat to our body. None of that food is supposed to cross the gut lining and get into the body without being digested completely into amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids. Anything larger is recognized as a foreign invader and attacked by the immune system. The problem is many things can turn our expertly designed digestive system into a system of leaky pipes that let all sorts of poisons into our body.

Leaky gut is the underlying source of most chronic diseases of aging, including autoimmune diseases and metabolic diseases. Leaky gut can be triggered by many factors, including stress, starvation, alcohol, injury, infection, burns, immunosuppression, chemotherapy, radiation, and lack of proper nutrition.

 A leaky gut can be caused by not getting enough protein in your diet. Since glutamine is a common amino acid, many foods contain glutamine. The question is how much? A couple eggs (100 grams) has about 0.6 grams of glutamine while 3 1/2 ounces of beef (100 grams) has 1.2 grams. A similar amount of milk, rice, or corn will have only 0.3 grams of glutamine while the same amount of tofu will have 0.6 grams of glutamine. Since we need about 15 grams of glutamine each day, you can easily see that if we were not able to make some of that glutamine inside our own body, we would never get our needs met. Those needs skyrocket when we are under physiologic stress like after a burn or radiation treatment. Studies have shown that taking supplemental glutamine orally prevented the burning destruction of the colon commonly associated with radiation treatments for cancer.

Let’s return to the leaky gut story. Under normal conditions, the cells in the lining of the gut are damaged by protein digesting enzymes, food components, alcohol, drugs, microbes, and other substances. However, if there is a good supply of glutamine available, the cells are able to rapidly replace any damaged cells and constantly repair the mucosal lining. This keeps the gut healthy.  Glutamine promotes the growth of the cells that make up the wall of the gut as well as the vast carpet of villi that create the massive surface area for the absorption of nutrients from food. Nutrients are let into the body through tiny doorways called tight junctions. However, these doorways can be destroyed by certain bacterial toxins and certain proteins like gluten. When the tight junctions in the gut lining are broken, parts of the walls of negative bacteria can translocate into the bloodstream and trigger massive inflammation. This is the major reason for the body-wide pain symptoms felt by patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Glutamine, zinc, and N-acetyl cysteine can repair most of this damage.

For me this looks like a no-brainer. I’ve been taking glutamine every morning in my daily nutrient shake for years. I don’t take a massive dose, but I get probably 3 to 4 grams a day. Glutamine makes a nice addition to my morning shake as it is sweet naturally and I like sweet. My morning shake has probably 25 things in it, but the base is glutamine, glycine, taurine, and creatine. It also has raw cacao powder for the polyphenols and a lot of collagen. I probably don’t need a lot of what I take every day, but it is there in case I do. The needs of the body vary so much from day to day, even hour to hour. It would be silly for me to pretend that I can determine exactly what I need in advance. So I use a shotgun approach. It may be overkill, but it works.  I take a lot of supplements, but I probably don’t need most of them. However, the needs of the body vary so much from day to day, even hour to hour, that it would be silly to think I can determine exactly what I need in advance. So I use a shotgun approach. It may be overkill, but it works.

Several years ago, I created a product for the office called Gut Healer. It is basically glutamine, aloe vera, various soluble fibers, and a couple herbs. The idea was to quickly calm down gut inflammation when a patient’s system was really upset, usually meaning diarrhea and cramping. This combo is a good short-term product for immediate intervention. However, when we have a leaky gut situation, we need to use a much larger approach. We need to avoid a lot of inflammatory foods and supply a good steady supply of glutamine-containing protein foods several times a day. Soluble fibers may or may not need to be avoided, depending upon just how inflamed the ileocecal valve is. This protocol needs to be followed for at least a month or two. Leaky gut does not heal overnight. If you are avoiding animal proteins, then you almost have to use a supplemental source of glutamine. You just can not get enough in from plant proteins. You can get a copy of the Leaky gut diet from my front office if you are curious.

The biochemistry of glutamine is a subject of great interest to grad students, but for the rest of us, the important thing to know is that we need glutamine, especially if we are sick or injured. In these cases, it is a good idea to increase our glutamine containing protein intake or use a supplemental form. Anyone undergoing chemotherapy or radiation should definitely check into using supplemental glutamine.

Take care and have a wonderful holiday season…

David

Ellen

Ellen has been creating a new art expression, the symbolic expression of relationship in a person’s life. She will take someone she knows and represent different people and communities in that person’s life as various figures. These all combine to create a portrait of the key relationships in that individuals life. If you are interested in having paint a portrait of your life contact her at heartflow2@yahoo.com