FIX MY BELLY

What is Leaky Gut?

Leaky Gut (or intestinal permeability), is when your gut lining becomes comprised and does not function normally or in a healthy way. While we have done an overview of leaky gut syndrome before, let's do a quick review here.

As food is absorbed into the digestive tract, it's divided into individual nutrients which pass through the tight junctions of the stomach lining into the bloodstream and are then used for other functions. If the gut lining becomes damaged, then toxins, bacteria and food particles can pass through the intestinal wall and into our bloodstream.

While we want to emphasize that scientists remain split on leaky gut syndrome, we do believe that there is evidence to support that the condition does, in fact, exist. We want people to know about it, the serious health problems it can create for you, and how you can best manage and treat it.

What Happens With a Leaky Gut?

Being such an integral part of the human body, the intestinal tract is constantly is always working - just think about how many meals you've had since you were born!

In addition to this, every time you "tax" your gut lining, be it from physical activity, mental stress, food, drugs, your gut health is slightly impacted.

Leaky Gut Symptoms

Problems with your digestive system not only put your overall intestinal health at risk, but also with your whole body. In fact, when your intestinal barrier function is disrupted, you may start experiencing many symptoms, which can include:

• Nausea
• Bloating
• Gas
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Abdominal pain
• Acne
• Skin rashes
• Brain fog
• Drowsiness

If you leave your body in a state of a "leaky gut," this can be very detrimental to your health and your daily life. The good news is that the human body is very capable of healing itself and your gut lining is no different. In this guide, we will look at l-glutamine for leaky gut.

What is L-Glutamine?

L-glutamine is an amino acid, which is in the human body. Glutamine itself plays a very important role in the human body as it is responsible for supporting many cells in the body.

Glutamine, along with other amino acids, help bolster protein in the human body. As such, it's vital that we have l-glutamine in our bodies and if not, identify how to augment your intake.

There's a reason that it's at the top of our list for best leaky gut supplements. For intestinal diseases, such as leaky gut syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, Celiac disease, and inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), l-glutamine can be crucial to treating any gut barrier dysfunction.

Benefits of L-Glutamine for Leaky Gut

In the above text, we defined leaky gut syndrome and l-glutamine. But how exactly does l-glutamine improve your gut health?

In addition, we also discussed how hard your digestive system works. Again, even in a healthy individual, the gut is stressed every single day (albeit, perhaps not always in a significant way). If your gut health becomes comprised, you are placing additional stress on a weakened gut.

In the sections below, we'll look at ways that l-glutamine can be beneficial for your comprised gut health.

Promotes A Healthy Digestive System

Your body is constantly repairing. Specifically relating to your gut lining, your body naturally goes through a recovery process periodically. L-glutamine supports this process. (Source)

Here we can see that even in a regular healthy digestive system, l-glutamine is critical. If your gut starts to weaken, this can disrupt the normal process. Because the system doesn't function properly, we can see an onset of digestive issues.

Heals a Hurt Gut

One of the main (and sometimes unnoticed) causes of a "leaky gut," can be through infection and/or injury. This may or may not be directly relating to the gut. For example, one can get food poisoning and deal with digestive infection. Alternatively, after dealing with a different type of body problem, you may have a gut injury. As the body goes through a natural healing, glutamine can help strengthen the gut lining. (Source)

In fact, a separate study even showed that severely burned individuals who took glutamine saw better healing of their wounds and a better maintenance of the intestinal barrier. (Source)

In addition, most people know that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Advil (ibuprofen) can have a bad impact on gut health. This is why people are often told to take probiotics. What people may not know is that l-glutamine supplementation can also help when dealing with the effects of NSAIDs. What's more interesting is that the studies found that taking l-glutamine 1 week prior to consuming these drugs didn't help as much as multiple doses around the same time as taking NSAIDs.

Finally, what's not as well known is that cancer patients often deal with digestive issues due to radiation therapy. It's been shown that supplementation of glutamine can help heal gut permeability which can be caused by this radiation. Interestingly, this would be in addition to the benefits glutamine has for physical stress and trauma. (Source)

Combats Inflammation

Gut is one of the sources of systemic inflammatory response in abdominal postoperative patients and glutamine can decrease intestinal permeability, maintain intestinal barrier and attenuate systemic inflammatory response in early postoperative patients.

We know that inflammation in the body (especially in the gut) can cause digestive issues. In fact, IBD or inflammatory bowel disease is an umbrella term to define chronic inflammation in the digestive tract.

Specifically pertaining to patients with ulcerative colitis (a type of IBD), glutamine was shown to be very beneficial in protecting gut barrier integrity. (Source)

In addition, both whey protein and glutamine supplementation were also shown to help directly decrease inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease.

Supports Immunity

Glutamine, on its own, is said to be vital for your immune system to work properly. As a normal body is typically producing glutamine, it's possible that those who suffer from leaky gut syndrome may not have sufficient levels. In addition, those who have had other conditions, who some who have had surgery (for whatever reason), could have problems with their body's immune system.

Also, activities that are taxing on your body, such as physical exercise can also negatively impact your glutamine levels. this is why it's important that athletes refuel their bodies with the right nutrients and amino acids after periods of strenuous exercise. Often, l-glutamine is included in various post-workout supplements.

Similarly, sometimes when we face intense and severe shock and trauma, our body's glutamine levels can decrease. In this case, it's important to bring your glutamine levels back to optimal. (Source)

As your body is healing, it's important that it has adequate amounts of this amino acid.

Where can I find L-Glutamine?

Glutamine can be found in many foods and is also available in supplement form.

Again, do keep in mind that with a normal healthy diet, most people do receive an adequate amount of l-glutamine for them. If you suffer from digestive problems, you’ll likely want to look at adding more l-glutamine in your diet naturally and/or through supplementation.

Natural Foods with L-Glutamine

When it comes to the natural forms of l-glutamine, you can find it in the following foods:

• Eggs
• Nuts
• Meats
• Fish
• Spinach
• Cabbage
• Milk
• Cheese

Now, it must be noted that if you’re looking to add additional glutamine to your diet naturally, you should be cognizant of what you’re including and how it fits in with your overall diet plan. For example, if you’re following a low-FODMAP diet, and start heavily increasing your milk intake, you’ll increase your glutamine intake, but you may have other problems. This is very similar to how you'd use herbs for leaky gut.

It’s also possible that even when adding more natural glutamine-containing foods in your diet, you may still be lower than what’s required for you and cannot realistically be obtained naturally and conveniently. This is when we look into supplementation.

L-Glutamine Supplementation For Leaky Gut

People can also help heal their leaky gut syndrome with l-glutamine supplementation. Like with any supplement you're taking, there's always some important key factors to which you want to pay attention. For l-glutamine supplementation, these include:

• Quality
• Ingredients
• Form

We'll look into each of these more thoroughly.

Quality

When it comes to quality, there's generally a few areas where you want to pay careful attention because you want to buy the highest quality possible.

Typically, if the manufacturer is well-known for their supplements, then they're likely to be from a trusted source. However, this doesn't always mean that they are the best.

With respect to production, you may also be able to see where the glutamine was manufactured. Based on where this may be, it can help you understand how tight (or loose) the regulations are around the producing these types of supplements.

Finally, take note of what the company is displaying on their supplements. They've likely done work to understand their top features and would display them upfront. This means that if you see something that says "pharma-grade l-glutamine" from a reputable brand, it's probably more legitimate than other brands.

Ingredients

For ingredients, you want to know what else is included in your l-glutamine supplement. This is important because it can go both ways. For example, if you are an athlete or an active person who regularly purchases whey protein, it may already include glutamine. Then, if you combine your "natural" glutamine intake, along with your protein drink, you may find that it adds up to enough l-glutamine for you (we'll discuss dosage below) and you may not need an additional daily l-glutamine supplement.

Most l-glutamine supplements will probably only include l-glutamine, so if you see any additional chemicals, it's best to pass up.

The only exception is if the form of your l-glutamine supplement is in capsule form as this can contain additional ingredients, which we'll discuss below.

Form

Generally, l-glutamine supplements are available in capsule form or powder form. So which is the best one?

All else being equal, you want to go with powder. This is because it's absorbed the fastest by the body, typically excludes other ingredients and has more dosage per serving.

That said, there's also an element of convenience. Depending on how much l-glutamine you want to supplement for your leaky gut, you may find it easier to use capsules. In this case, you just want to be mindful of other ingredients. Capsules, by nature, usually have other ingredients (to hold the l-glutamine in a pill). You'll also want to be mindful of how many capsules would equate a serving of powder. In some cases, you may even find that it can be 10-20 capsules per day, at which point, you may want to re-evaluate your decision.

Should I Only Get L-Glutamine Naturally?

When it comes to supplements, people will always wonder, do I need to supplement? Should I just stick with natural food?

The answer is that if you are someone who is suffering from leaky gut syndrome (or other digestive disorders), your body may benefit from additional l-glutamine to help heal your gut lining and intestinal permeability.

If you already include glutamine containing foods in your diet, then you wouldn't be exploring alternatives. In this situation, it's likely worth looking into supplements. However, you want to get the dosage right. Too little probably won't make a noticeable and too much can be detrimental and have adverse effects. We'll discuss the right dosage below.

Are L-Glutamine Supplements Safe for leaky gut?

Generally speaking, increasing l-glutamine is considered to be safe. Trusted health sources will tell you that even up to 30-45 grams per day is fine. That said, the dosage amount is different for everyone.

Most people, who don't have gut issues, wouldn't necessarily consider l-glutamine supplements. At most, active/athletic people would mostly rely on natural food intake for their glutamine needs may supplement protein, which often contains glutamine.

Those who have leaky gut syndrome often need to supplement and when they do, it's key that they understand the dosing.

L-Glutamine Dosage for Leaky Gut

So far, we've define l-glutamine, how it can help heal leaky gut syndrome, and where it can be found. But once you find it, how much l-glutamine should you take?

For l-glutamine, do not think that more is better. This not to say that it's unsafe, but why take more of something when you don't need to?

Generally, they say that most people get about 6 grams per day through their day. As we saw above, it's generally acceptable to take up to 30-40 grams per day. Does this mean that you take an extra 32 grams per day? Absolutely not.

After finding a supplement, you should pay attention to the amount per serving. Typically, you'll see that it's anywhere between 0.5-5 grams. If your supplement lists the recommended dosage or what one serving would be, it's prudent to start with that amount. If not, you can try with 1 gram per day.

L-Glutamine may take a few days to kick in but you may be able to results in the same day.

Depending on how you feel, you can look at increasing the per serving amount. If you reach 5 grams per day, and are seeing benefits, you could look at continuing it. If you are not seeing benefits, it may not make sense to continue.

In addition, around 5 grams is the amount of glutamine that protein powders usually contain. This gives you an idea of how much you're supplementing.

As mentioned above, a higher dosage does not equate to better results here. Supplementing l-glutamine is not something where people state that increasing the dosage to 30 grams from 5 grams helped them.

Side Effects of L-Glutamine for leaky gut

As mentioned above, by most credible accounts, l-glutamine supplementation is generally considered safe.

You should check-in with a medical professional prior to starting an l-glutamine supplement and if you are experiencing side effects, please do seek medical attention.

While getting used l-glutamine can take a few days, you want to be mindful of potential side effects.

Allergic Reactions

Sometimes, there may be onset of symptoms when first taking an l-glutamine supplement. These can be those similar to allergic reactions (cough and/or skin itchiness, etc.). However, you want to be mindful of the severity of these symptoms or how long they're persisting.

Changes in Bowel Behaviour

When people take any supplement for their leaky gut, they may see a change in their digestive issue symptoms. This can mean more gas, bloating, constipation and/or diarrhea.

Again, there is no clear-cut universal answer to define what's normal and what isn't. This can be a temporary adjustment but is entirely situational. You'll need to be cognizant of what's working and what isn't.

That said, one shouldn't be experiencing any type of additional "pain" when taking l-glutamine for leaky gut. This is an immediate sign to stop supplementing.

Liver Issues

L-glutamine is known as an important amino acid in your body. Specifically, it helps your liver detoxify your body. As such, it's possible in some cases that glutamine can be too overwhelming for your body, which can cause various issues.

There have been studies where using an l-glutamine supplement caused some liver problems for certain patients.

In a specific study, a physically active athlete was supplementing 10 grams per day and started noticing symptoms which included: nausea, vomiting, fever and changes in skin colour. As previously mentioned, these are the type of side effects for which you want to get immediate medical attention. Although the patient fortunately recovered, it was determined that her l-glutamine supplement caused her hepatotoxicity (liver damage). The study claimed that it's possible that there may been issues with the actual product itself (such as bacterial). (Source)

Not Dosing Properly

This was discussed above and the point remains: there's no reason to take more than what you need when supplementing. It's important to get the dosage right. Understandably, this isn't easy and can be a game of trial-and-error. Where it can be become a problem is if you take too much.

Taking a greater amount of l-glutamine than needed can not only cause digestive side effects, but can also create other problems in your body.

Prolonged Use

This is a very challenging one and requires proactive work.

While the science community generally concludes that long-term use of l-glutamine supplementation is safe, there's a more logical approach for you: the whole point of supplementation is to take something for as long as you need it. Ideally, if it brings you no additional benefit, there's no need to take it.

At some point in your recovery, you'll want to pause taking the l-glutamine supplement to see how you're doing. This may be every couple weeks or months. It may take a couple days for your body to provide some feedback.

Generally, if you're noticing that your symptoms are better for more than 2 weeks, it's a good sign. Stay off the supplement as long as you can. If you symptoms worsened after you got off or returned after some time, you can look at re-introducing l-glutamine supplements.

This is extremely helpful because it shows you that l-glutamine is something that can help you -- a lot of people suffering from leaky gut syndrome or other illnesses are often not able to find anything that works for them.

References

Hatami, B., Saffaei, A., Jamali, F., & Abbasinazari, M. (2020). Glutamine powder-induced hepatotoxicity: It is time to understand the side effects of sports nutritional supplements. Gastroenterology and hepatology from bed to bench. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7069532/

K;, K. O. I. T. M. (n.d.). Germinated barley foodstuff feeding. A novel neutraceutical therapeutic strategy for ulcerative colitis. Digestion. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11173912/

M;, W. N. P. B. A. K. R. P. J. G. (n.d.). Glutamine, exercise and immune function. links and possible mechanisms. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.). Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9802174/

Peng X;Yan H;You Z;Wang P;Wang S; (n.d.). Effects of enteral supplementation with glutamine granules on intestinal mucosal barrier function in severe burned patients. Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15019120/

Rao, R. K., & Samak, G. (2012, January). Role of glutamine in protection of intestinal epithelial tight junctions. Journal of epithelial biology & pharmacology. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369670/

Rao, R. K., & Samak, G. (2012, January). Role of glutamine in protection of intestinal epithelial tight junctions. Journal of epithelial biology & pharmacology. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369670/

Wilmore DW;Smith RJ;O'Dwyer ST;Jacobs DO;Ziegler TR;Wang XD; (n.d.). The gut: A central organ after surgical stress. Surgery. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3055397/