The REAL Reasons to Use L-Glutamine

Dr. Stengler: I want to talk to you about the real reasons to use glutamine for gut repair. Glutamine is the most abundant free amino acid in the body. Your body can make it, but it's also important to get it through diet — especially if you exercise a lot, have a chronic illness, or have digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, colitis, or Crohn's disease. In those cases, increasing your glutamine intake can be very important for repair.

Your intestines use about one-third of the total amount of glutamine in your body, and the small intestine actually uses more glutamine than any other organ system. It supports gut function and the integrity of the gut mucosa — helping with normal regeneration of the cells that line the small intestine, as well as healthy colon cells.

The International Journal of Molecular Sciences explains the role of glutamine for intestinal health as follows: glutamine has been shown to prevent premature cell death of intestinal cells, which normally turn over every three to four days. Premature death of intestinal cells occurs in conditions like ulcerative colitis or bacterial infections. Glutamine prevents this premature apoptosis by functioning as a precursor to the antioxidant glutathione, regulating the enzymes and proteins involved in apoptosis, controlling inflammation, decreasing cellular stress, and regulating the breakdown and replacement of intestinal cells.

Because the intestine is constantly regenerating itself, glutamine plays a critical role — acting as a fuel source for those cells. If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, Crohn's disease, or similar conditions, it's very important to get enough glutamine and to consider supplementing it for a period of time until you're doing better.

The journal Frontiers in Nutrition reports that glutamine promotes healthy small intestine cell proliferation, regulates tight junction proteins — the proteins that connect the epithelial cells lining the small intestine — reduces inflammatory pathways, and promotes a healthy gut microbiome. Studies have also shown that glutamine supplementation reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome when combined with a low-FODMAP diet. The journal Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care similarly states that glutamine is a major nutrient for maintaining intestinal function.

We also know that glutamine helps repair the intestinal villi — the small projections in the small intestine where absorption takes place. Without healthy villi, you won't have healthy absorption.

Glutamine is available in capsules, tablets, and powders. I usually recommend the powder form because you can get higher amounts without swallowing a large number of pills. For most of my patients, I recommend 2,000 to 5,000 milligrams per day — an amount that can produce a real regenerative effect on small intestinal health.

I have many videos on gut health through nutrition, supplementation, and other holistic techniques on my YouTube channel.

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