Glutamine Supplements

Larry Law

​Dr. Carolyn Dean, a respected researcher and doctor in private practice states "MSG, gluten, glutamine, and glutamic acid are all in the same family and are all placing a strain on our magnesium stores. Wheat has been hybridized, which increases the gluten content. Glutamates such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) are used in most processed foods...Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body. Most glutamine is made and stored in muscles and lung tissue, and it helps protect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. For that reason, some researchers have suggested that people who have inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease) may not have enough glutamine. This finding led to the widespread use of glutamine for leaky gut and all manner of intestinal imbalance. However, two clinical trials found that taking glutamine supplements did not improve symptoms of Crohn's disease."

Dr. Russell Blaylock wrote in his book, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, "high doses of the single amino acid glutamine will be converted into glutamate." A person who is low in magnesium will be unable to prevent glutamate from flooding into unprotected brain and heart cells. As a result, glutamine supplementation could prove to be a very dangerous path.
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In an article, Magnesium: The Original Chill Pill published in Psychology Today, the author states, "Magnesium is calming but calcium and glutamate are excitatory in their actions, and if they are in excess, they are toxic. Calcium and glutamate activate the NMDA receptor (think glycobiology), whereas magnesium guards the receptor to keep out excess calcium and glutamate. If magnesium is deficient, there is no guard, no protection against too much calcium and glutamate. Calcium and glutamate can activate the receptor like there is no tomorrow. In the long term, this damages the neurons, eventually leading to cell death. In the brain, that is not an easy situation to reverse or remedy."

Another interesting connection with magnesium is the vagus nerve. "The vagus nerve and its branches innervate the trachea, lungs, heart, esophagus, and stomach. Thus a 'trigger-happy' vagus nerve can cause you to cough as your heart beats erratically." This could cause a simple cold drink of water to leave a person anxious and gasping for breath with an attack of arrhythmia. Therefore, having enough magnesium in your body can have a calming effect on nerves and the erratic electrical discharge some people experience.

Oftentimes, researchers fail to mention that the major cause of inflammation in the body is a  deficiency in magnesium in the presence of too much inorganic calcium. In fact, researchers go out of their way to warn doctors not to screen for coronary artery calcification (CAC) because they admit they dont have an effective treatment for stopping or even slowing the progression of that disease. Patients who take statins for coronary artery disease experience an increase in coronary calcification independent of  plaque progression or regression. This means that the statins are encouraging calcification all by themselves.

Another concern is the massive amounts of soda that people consume. Scientists report that drinking just one sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage per day can increase CAC because extra magnesium is required to metabolize sugar. In addition, the high amount of phosphorus in soft drinks is a contributing factor in calcification. For more information on the negative effects of too much inorganic calcium, see my book.