6 replies to this topic

[Centurion]

Hi everyone. As someone who succombs to fatigue between exercise days quite easily, I have bought a tub of glutamine as suggested by a friend. However I see reports on the internet about glutamate accumulation causing breakdown in the brain due to something called excitotoxicity? Should this change my approach to supplementing with glutamine to protect my immune system and prevent overtraining?

[ajnast4r]

glutamate is not glutamine...

glutamate = bad

glutamine = good


i supplement 5G glutamine after everytime i exercise and i find it helps me recover much better...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate <-- BAD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine <-- GOOD



what type of exercise are you doing? what supplements are you using?

[Centurion]

I'm doing a combination of high rep weights and the stationary cycle. Spend about half an hour on the cycle and half an hour in the weight room 3 times a week. As for supps, I take 5g glutamine post workout and 20g whey protein pre workout and 20g whey post workout. I drink lots of green tea aswell here to keep the fat burning rate up.

cant go too rough on the weights though because I cant exercise my back, it spasms up on me, so I cant get in too good a shape around the front body, would look bad with a flat back

Doesnt glutamine deteriorate into glutamate if unused?

[FunkOdyssey]

I haven't come to any real conclusion on this issue myself. For those unfamiliar with the "glutamine can fry your brain" position of the debate, this article from Mercola's site sums it up nicely:

Is Glutamine Supplementation Helpful or Harmful? 5/14/04

[xanadu]

Great article, Funk. I think I would tend to avoid glutamine myself. I already avoid MSG and aspartame. Those are known to be toxic but they are still legal and are added to our food. That's another good reason to avoid processed food as well as restaurant food. Just my opinion.

[Omega 3 Snake Oil]

so glutamine DOES increase glutamate in the brain?  

https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC3049458/

Edited by Omega 3 Snake Oil, 17 July 2017 - 09:02 PM.

[Omega 3 Snake Oil]

also, cysteine (so NAC I'm guessing?) is a risk for ALS?  https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/18973429
 

Cysteine, sulfite, and glutamate toxicity: a cause of ALS?

Woolsey PB1.

Author information

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) of nonmutant superoxide dismutase (SOD) type may be caused by toxicity of the reduced glutathione (GSH) precursors glutamate and cysteine, and sulfite (a metabolite of cysteine), which accumulate when one or more of the enzymes needed for GSH synthesis are defective.

OBJECTIVES:

A case is examined where the patient exhibited elevated sulfur on a hair mineral analysis, elevated blood cysteine, positive urine sulfite, elevated urine glutamate, and low whole blood GSH. During the time when strict dietary and supplement measures normalized the patient's whole blood GSH, blood cysteine, and urine sulfite, the patient did not experience additional physical decline. The possible causes of abnormalities of the patient's laboratory test results, as well as the nutrition measures used to normalize them, are discussed in relationship to the functions and importance of cysteine, sulfite, and glutamate in glutathione metabolism in ALS.

CONCLUSIONS:

Since elevated plasma cysteine has been reported in other ALS patients, sulfite and cysteine toxicity may be involved in other cases of ALS. Patients with ALS with nonmutant-SOD should be tested for sulfite toxicity, cysteine, glutamate and GSH levels, and whether they have low levels of GSH metabolism enzymes. Since glutamate metabolism appears to be inhibited by sulfite, research on the effect of sulfite on glutamate levels in patients with ALS should be pursued. Life might be prolonged in those patients with ALS with sulfite toxicity by closely monitoring the blood cysteine and urine sulfite levels and minimizing their dietary intake, as well as increasing GSH by using sublingual GSH. A long-term solution might be found through research to determine methods to increase GSH synthesis without using sulfur-containing supplements that may add to the cysteine and sulfite toxicity.