Glutamine: Prevents muscle soreness & accelerates recovery

General information about glutamine

Glutamine is a proteinogenic amino acid, which means that it is used to build proteins. Glutamine plays an important role, for example. in the formation and breakdown of plasma proteins, muscle metabolism and the daily renewal of intestinal mucosal cells. 

Glutamine is produced in muscle and is the most important amino acid with the highest concentration in blood plasma and muscle tissue (20% of the amino acid pool in blood, 40-60% in skeletal muscle). 

Since glutamine plays an extremely important role in a large number of crucial metabolic processes in the body, an adequate supply is especially important in case of increased demand. 

The right supply of glutamine in sports

L-glutamine is one of the non-essential amino acids, which means that the healthy body can produce this amino acid itself. Glutamine is converted from glutamic acid. 

However, based on current findings, glutamine is now classified as a so-called semi-essential amino acid, as there is a significantly increased demand for glutamine in the body during catabolic situations with metabolic stress, such as infections, surgery, stress, trauma, and also during strong and increased physical activity. 

The supply of this increased amount is difficult for the body to implement from food alone, so the self-synthesis to meet the demand is not sufficient. 

In studies and investigations on the effect and dosage of glutamine in cases of increased demand (strong physical strain, e.g. due to intensive sports or in cases of metabolic stress), dosages of approximately 0.3g/kg body weight per day were predominantly used. 

Based on this guideline, an adult male weighing 90 kg would need to consume approximately 27 mg per day to meet the increased demand for glutamine during increased physical activity such as exercise. Covering competitive sports. 

Theoretically, it would be possible to absorb this amount through food, e.g. by eating 600g lentils/day or 760g smoked pork belly/day or 675g beef fillet/day. In practical terms, however, this is likely to be difficult to implement, or not necessarily conducive to health. 

The following table shows the glutamine content of various foods: 

Values from: Souci SW, Fachmann W, Kraut H: The composition of food, nutrition tables, 7th revised edition. medpharm Scientific Publisher, Stuttgart 2008 

Positive effects of glutamine for athletes

In studies and investigations, the following positive effects of glutamine have been observed, among others: 

• Supplementation with glutamine as a therapeutic intervention was effective in mitigating the loss of strength and muscle soreness caused by muscle damage from extreme exercise loading (1)
• Amino acid blend (branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) plus glutamine and arginine improves training efficiency in athletes (2)
• Certain supplements such as glutamine (in free form or as a dipeptide) can support optimal nutrition during the recovery period (3,4,5)