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Amino Acids

Glutamine for healing a leaky gut

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glutamine-powder

Glutamine is one of my favorite nutrients for healing the gut (or repairing the intestinal barrier). Here is the extract from a paper published last month: Glutamine and intestinal barrier function:

The intestinal barrier integrity is essential for the absorption of nutrients and health in humans and animals. Dysfunction of the mucosal barrier is associated with increased gut permeability and development of multiple gastrointestinal diseases.

Recent studies highlighted a critical role for glutamine, which had been traditionally considered as a nutritionally non-essential amino acid, in activating the mammalian target of rapamycin cell signaling in enterocytes.

In addition, glutamine has been reported to enhance intestinal and whole-body growth, to promote enterocyte proliferation and survival, and to regulate intestinal barrier function in injury, infection, weaning stress, and other catabolic conditions. Mechanistically, these effects were mediated by maintaining the intracellular redox status and regulating expression of genes associated with various signaling pathways.

Furthermore, glutamine stimulates growth of the small intestinal mucosa in young animals and also enhances ion transport by the gut in neonates and adults. Growing evidence supports the notion that glutamine is a nutritionally essential amino acid for neonates and a conditionally essential amino acid for adults.

Thus, as a functional amino acid with multiple key physiological roles, glutamine holds great promise in protecting the gut from atrophy and injury under various stress conditions in mammals and other animals.

I’d like to share how some well-known practitioners use glutamine for healing.  

In this article by Dr. Josh Axe: 4 Steps to Heal Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disease, glutamine is listed as one of the key gut healing nutrients:

L-Glutamine is critical for any program designed to heal leaky gut. Glutamine is an essential amino acid that is anti-inflammatory and necessary for the growth and repair of your intestinal lining. L-glutamine benefits include acting as a protector: coating your cell walls and acting as a repellent to irritants. Take 2–5 grams twice daily.

Be sure to check out the whole article for great images of leaky gut and how leaky gut can lead to leaky brain and mental health problems like anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders. What Dr. Axe states is so true: in many cases, if you can heal the gut, you can heal the brain.

Dr. Axe references a 2008 paper that discusses normalization of leaky gut in chronic fatigue syndrome with

natural anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative substances (NAIOSs), such as glutamine, N-acetyl cysteine and zinc

Dr. Amy Myers, author of The Autoimmune Solution shares this in her blog called 8 Supplements to Heal a Leaky Gut:

L-Glutamine is an amino acid that is fundamental to the well-being of the digestive and immune systems. Glutamine is great for repairing damage to the gut, helping the gut lining to regrow and repair, undoing the damage caused by leaky gut, and reducing sugar cravings. I recommend 3-5 grams a day.

Dr. David Perlmutter, author Grain Brain shares this in his interview with Dr. Tom O’ Bryan on The Gluten Summit:

Adding in nutritional supplements like glutamine to allow the gut to calm down, heal itself, and begin to rebuild those vital intestinal barriers to keep out the invaders.

Dr. Mark Hyman shares this in his book The UltraMind Solution in the gut food section:

Glutamine: 2,500 mg twice a day [this equates to 5000mg or 5g/day] You can use the powder or capsule form. This is a nonessential amino acid that is the preferred fuel for the lining of the small intestine and can greatly facilitate healing. It can be taken for one to two months. It generally comes in powder form and is often combined with other compounds that facilitate gut repair.  

In an article on Leaky Gut Syndrome, Sharon Garrett shares how she loves a product called GI Revive, a product that combines glutamine with other gut-healing nutrients:

I LOVE this product and it lasts a long time. It contains L-glutamine, Slippery Elm, Marshmallow Root, Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice, Mucin, Okra Extract, Cat’s Claw, Quercetin, Prune Powder, Zinc, MSM, Chamomile, N-Acetyl Glucosamine, Aloe Vera Extract, and Citrus Pectin. This product was one of the cornerstones of my own progress to heal my gut, and I still use it today for maintenance!

You can read more about glutamine for blood sugar stability, calming and gut healing here.

And be sure to read cancer concerns and benefits if you have active cancer and talk to your doctor before using glutamine. Stay tuned for more blog posts on glutamine and the cancer debate.   I’m still gathering information to share with you.

Keep in mind that licorice root/DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice), probiotics, zinc, slippery elm, marshmallow root and quercetin are other supplement options for gut healing if you can’t tolerate glutamine for some reason.

Have you used glutamine for gut healing? Have you used other approaches for gut healing? Please share and feel free to post questions you may have.

Glutamine for blood sugar stability, calming and gut healing

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Glutamine powder by DFH: 3/4 of a teaspoon = 3g, so 1/6 of a teaspoon = 500mg
Glutamine powder by DFH: 3/4 of a teaspoon = 3g, so 1/6 of a teaspoon = 500mg

If you’ve been following me for awhile, worked with me, read my book The Antianxiety Food Solution, or listened in on The Anxiety Summit, you’ll be aware that I use glutamine with clients to help with blood sugar control while we’re figuring out diet/breakfast/adrenal health and the carbohydrate/sugar cravings associated with low blood sugar. Opened on to the tongue or taken in powder form glutamine is super-effective for stopping that intense desire for something sweet if it’s related to low blood sugar.

Integrative psychiatrist Dr. Hyla Cass and Julia Ross, MA both recommend glutamine for addiction and carb cravings, as well as for blood sugar control. During a past Anxiety Summit, Dr. Cass shared how to break free of addictions. And Julia Ross, a pioneer in the use of individual amino acids talked about glutamine and other amino acids for eliminating anxiety.

My clients also find benefits as far as healing the leaky gut and glutamine is recommended by many respected integrative practitioners for this purpose: Dr. Josh Axe, Dr. Amy Myers, author of The Autoimmune Solution , and Dr. David Perlmutter, author Grain Brain during his interview with Dr Tom O’ Bryan on The Gluten Summit.  Steven Wright also writes about leaky gut and glutamine on the SCD lifestyle blog, as does fermentationist Summer Bock.

With all these benefits, my clients love this amino acid!

Here is very encouraging feedback from one of the participants in the Amazing Aminos for Anxiety group program:

I started the glutamine trial low and slow. I have been taking 500mg three times a day AM AFT & BED for the past 4 days. I am celiac and have irritable bowel as well. The 2-3x a day diarrhea I have been experiencing has completely stopped! Blood sugar feels stable – not hungry and not craving. Psychologically, I’m feeling more resilient i.e., calmer and more positive on a daily basis. I am surprised that glutamine has helped so much 🙂  My gut is healing and my mental health has improved markedly through this trial.

She confirmed that adding the glutamine was the only change she made. She is already gluten-free and her diet doesn’t include any grains, legumes or lactose etc. She also avoids other foods to which she has had reactions.

I was so thrilled with these fabulous results and this was my feedback:

These are fabulous results – so happy for you! If you feel you could get added benefits i.e. if these symptoms (low blood sugar, hunger, craving, resilience) are not all 0s (with 10 being the worst on a scale of 1 to 10) then I’d consider bumping up the glutamine to 1000mg 3 x day to see if you get added benefits. If you don’t see added benefits then you can go back down.

It’s very common to get good results like this so I’d like to share another example. I met Nicole at the NTA conference and she shared how she suffers from low blood sugar issues:

I get irritable, I get shaky and I get to the point that if I don’t get food NOW I think I’m going to hurt something!

She did a trial of 500mg glutamine and in under 5 minutes she went from that frantic feeling to a very calm feeling:

I’m ok. I feel happy, I feel calm, I feel I can make it longer without needing food right away. I’m impressed at how well that worked for me.

You can read more about low blood sugar and watch Nicole’s video feedback here.

Of course there is research supporting the many benefits that glutamine has for gut health. Here are some excerpts from the abstract of a 2015 paper titled: Glutamine and intestinal barrier function.

glutamine has been reported to enhance intestinal and whole-body growth, to promote enterocyte proliferation and survival, and to regulate intestinal barrier function in injury, infection, weaning stress, and other catabolic conditions

glutamine stimulates growth of the small intestinal mucosa in young animals and also enhances ion transport by the gut in neonates and adults

as a functional amino acid with multiple key physiological roles, glutamine holds great promise in protecting the gut from atrophy and injury under various stress conditions in mammals and other animals.

And this 2015 paper titled: Oral supplementation with L-glutamine alters gut microbiota of obese and overweight adults found that adults supplemented with 30g of glutamine a day for just 14 days had a change in gut bacteria:

Oral supplementation with [glutamine], for a short time, altered the composition of the gut microbiota in overweight and obese humans reducing the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, which resembled weight loss programs already seen in the literature.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that was conducted in children aged two months to nine years from the urban shanty compound community of Fortaleza, Brazil, it was found that:

Glutamine and all combined nutrients (glutamine, vitamin A, and zinc) improved the intestinal barrier function in these children

When it comes to cravings, addiction and appetite we have this research supporting the use of glutamine:

I do want to end by saying there are some possible concerns with cancer supplementation and be sure to check with your oncologist if you are currently undergoing treatment. I write about these concerns here – Glutamine supplementation: cancer concerns and benefits.

Have you successfully used glutamine for helping with low blood sugar control, reducing carb or other cravings/addictions, and healing your leaky gut?

 

Tryptophan and 5-HTP combination for anxiety and sleep: when to use

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amazing aminos for anxiety

Here is a great question that came in from one of the attendees of the live Amazing Aminos for Anxiety program that I hosted earlier this year.   This attendee is asking when to use a combination of tryptophan and 5-HTP for anxiety and sleep, and concerns about high cortisol when wanting to use 5-HTP:

The book says “for symptoms that occur earlier in the day, 50-150 mg of 5-HTP on waking and midmorning” but it also cautions about taking 5-HTP if one has severe insomnia (which I do) as it can raise cortisol. Is it okay to take tryptophan upon waking and mid-morning? I’m assuming the reason for holding off until late afternoon is to avoid daytime drowsiness, but am wondering if this is where the tyrosine may come in? (At the end of the program)

I started getting good results at 500 mg tryptophan. Sometimes I needed more so I doubled the dose to 1000 mg. Sometimes I got better results than others. It’s possible I may need to take more than that – the book says to take up to 1500 mg. Is consistency key (as opposed to PRN/as needed) when taking tryptophan, in the same way that one has to build up a blood level of serotonin when taking an SSRI? I also wanted to mention that prior to coming off my SSRI, my mood was fine

She is referring to my book The Antianxiety Food Solution and she had been taking these amino acids before starting the group program with me. Her goals were to address her insomnia, the anxiety and the depression. The tryptophan she had been taking was not the Lidtke tryptophan, which is the brand I recommend.

You can listen to the 4 minute snippet of this question and my answer here:

 

Before using any amino acids be sure to check the Amino Acid Precautions and work with your doctor if needed.

And a friendly reminder for you …. we are offering $100 off each of the 3 options of The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy programs. This offer expires today, Monday October 19th at 9pm PST midnight EST  (previous emails said 9pm EST – sorry about that)

This is a powerful home study program that results in you feeling

  • less stressed and overwhelmed, and happier
  • more energetic and focused
  • sleeping through the night
  • and no longer suffering from emotional eating/stress eating!

I walk you through, one week at a time, how to use five of the top individual amino acid supplements (tryptophan/5-HTP, GABA, glutamine, DPA/Endorphigen and tyrosine) to help you eliminate anxiety, social anxiety and panic attacks. We also cover pyroluria, other key nutrients, diet and lifestyle changes.

There are 3 program options available:

  1. Basic: Homestudy if you’re a DIY person

     OR

  1. Plus: Homestudy + 2 Q and A Live with Trudy (if you need some guidance and will have questions you can opt for this one)

     OR

  1. Premium: Homestudy + 4 Q and A live with Trudy (if you need some guidance and will have questions) + private Facebook group for group discussions and interactions.

All 3 options include access to Questions and Answers from the previous program so you get to learn from others. Options 2 and 3 include the LIVE Question and Answer sessions i.e. you can ask your own questions (option 3 also includes the facebook support).

For #3 Premium program, we will also be closing the cart and not taking new registrations until January next year

You can check out the 3 program options and register here https://www.everywomanover29.com/aminosforanxietyhs/

Got questions about the program or tryptophan and 5-HTP? Feel free to ask them below and read some of the commonly asked questions on this blog post

5-HTP for anxiety, depression and insomnia: a clinically-effective serotonin precursor

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5-htp

5-Hydroxytryptophan or 5-HTP is an amino acid that increases production of serotonin in the brain alleviating anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain, carbohydrate cravings and more.

Here are some excerpts from an excellent paper published in Alternative Medicine Review in 1998 titled 5-Hydroxytryptophan: a clinically-effective serotonin precursor:

5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is an aromatic amino acid naturally produced by the body from the essential amino acid L-tryptophan. Produced commercially by extraction from the seeds of the African plant, Griffonia simplicifolia, 5-HTP has been used clinically for over 30 years. The clinical efficacy of 5-HTP is due to its ability to increase production of serotonin in the brain.

In the central nervous system (CNS), serotonin has been implicated in regulation of sleep, depression, anxiety, aggression, appetite, temperature, sexual behavior, and pain sensation.

Therapeutic administration of 5-HTP has been shown to be effective in treating a wide variety of conditions, including depression, fibromyalgia, binge eating associated with obesity, chronic headaches, and insomnia.

I advise my clients to take all the amino acids between meals and away from protein containing food so they are no getting competition from other amino acids, thereby affecting absorption of the targeted individual amino acid they are taking. I typically make the same recommendation for taking 5-HTP however I simply do this to make things less complicated. In actual fact, 5-HTP can be taken with meals:

Intestinal absorption of 5-HTP does not require the presence of a transport molecule, and is not affected by the presence of other amino acids; therefore it may be taken with meals without reducing its effectiveness.

The recommended starting dose for 5-HTP is 50mg two or three times a day and it is well absorbed:

Initial dosage for 5-HTP is usually 50 mg three times per day with meals. If the clinical response is inadequate after two weeks, dosage may be increased to 100 mg three times per day. For insomnia, the dosage is usually 100-300 mg before bedtime. Because some patients may experience mild nausea when initiating treatment with 5-HTP, it is advisable to begin with 50 mg doses and titrate upwards.

5-HTP is well absorbed from an oral dose, with about 70 percent ending up in the bloodstream. It easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and effectively increases central nervous system synthesis of serotonin.

It’s well recognized that 5-HTP (and tryptophan) can impact both serotonin and melatonin levels but is often less recognized that other neurotransmitters can be increased too:

Other neurotransmitters and CNS chemicals, such as melatonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and beta-endorphin have also been shown to increase following oral administration of 5-HTP.

You can read the complete paper here at altmedrev.com, a publication of Thorne Research Inc.

The author does seem to favor 5-HTP over tryptophan but I have found that many of my clients do better on one versus the other. I typically start my clients on tryptophan unless they have benefited from 5-HTP in the past. I would also recommend tryptophan at night if someone is wired-tired and adrenal testing shows high cortisol levels as 5-HTP can raise cortisol levels.

It really all comes down to our own biochemical individuality. I recommend doing a trial to see which amino acid is going to work for your symptoms. I write about this in this blog: How to do an amino acid trial for anxiety

Low serotonin MAY be a factor in anxiety and/or depression (and research shows this to be a fact). Anxiety and/or depression could have one of many possible causes – low serotonin, blood sugar instability, poor diet, not eating enough protein, sugar, caffeine, gluten, low dopamine (for depression), pyroluria, inflammation etc.

If low serotonin is a factor then 5-HTP (or tryptophan) is one way to start to raise serotonin levels so you can feel calm, confident, happy, pain-free again, as well as sleep through the night and end the afternoon and evening cravings.

Have you found 5-HTP to be effective? Please share how much you take/took and when, and how it made you feel. Did you also try tryptophan and do you prefer 5-HTP? We’d love to hear in the comments below.

Have you got questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below.

If this information sounds intriguing and you’d like practical help to figure out if you could possibly benefit from 5-HTP or one of the other amino acids, I invite you to join us in one of The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy group programs. This homestudy group program will provide guidance with using each of the targeted individual amino acids.

 

How to do an amino acid trial for anxiety

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amino acids for anxiety

The best way to figure out if you have a particular brain chemical imbalance and if you’ll benefit from a certain amino acid, is to do a trial.   This is something I do with all my clients with anxiety, when we’re working one-one-one and with those in group programs, and it works really well.

Because the effects of amino acids can be felt within a few minutes to a few days, it’s easy to confirm whether you do in fact have a deficiency in a certain area and whether you’ll benefit from supplementing with the associated amino acid.

How does doing a trial work?

  • I have my clients complete the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution  and check off their symptoms on the low serotonin, low GABA, low catecholamines, low endorphins, and low blood sugar sections.  The rating uses scale of 1-10 with 10 being worst.
  • I also have my clients review the Amino Acids Precautions  and we figure out which amino acids they can and can’t use
  • I have them do a trial of the amino acid that resonates the most with them. For example if they have really bad obsessive thoughts, anxiety in the head, negative self-talk we’ll start with trying to address low serotonin with tryptophan or 5-HTP. If they resonate more with physical tension and overwhelm, we’ll start with trying to address low GABA with GABA.
  • We trial one amino acid at a time and use them opened onto the tongue or chewed (and held there for 1 to 2 minutes) for getting immediate feedback.
  • I have my client rate themselves before the trial and then afterwards (10 is worst), looking for benefits and how many notches they improved. This helps us figure out how much to start with.
    • If it’s a big improvement (like 4 or 5 notches) they may start on 1 of the lowest dose (for example 1 x 500mg tryptophan or 1 x 125 mg GABA).
    • If they see a small improvement (like 1 or 2 notches) we may start with the lowest dose and give them a range to try over the next week (for example 1-2 x 500mg tryptophan or 1-2 x 125 mg GABA)
  • During the trial and over the next week we also look for possible negative effects, such as a headache or feeling light-headed. If the adverse effects of supplemental amino acids are uncomfortable, taking 1,000 mg of vitamin C is an effective short-term antidote.
  • If someone is very sensitive to small amount of supplements, we may have them do a trial with a dab or two rather than a whole capsule and start really low during the next week.
  • We typically allow a week to see how the selected amino acid is working and adjust up or down during that week until we find the optimal amount.

What are the advantages of doing a trial?

  • You are able to target the amino acid for your specific needs – I write more about this here: Targeted individual amino acids: what do we really mean?
  • You get feedback immediately – the amino acid works or doesn’t
  • You are able to figure out what your starting dose of the amino should be and are able to adjust upwards accordingly
  • You get more in tune with your symptoms and how certain amino acids affect you
  • You can use the results (provided you log them – this is something I recommend and encourage) if you ever need a tune up in the future

Which amino acids have you found to be effective? Did you do a trial to figure out which one to try and how did that work for you? We’d love to hear in the comments below?

Have you got questions about doing a trial? Feel free to ask in the comments below.

If this information is useful but also sounds a little overwhelming, check out the The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy program. This homestudy group program provides guidance with using each of the targeted individual amino acids and how to do a trial.

The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety Homestudy program launch

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aaabanner

I’m so excited to launch the home study version of the Amazing Aminos for Anxiety program!

A powerful home study program on how to use five of the top individual amino acid supplements to help you eliminate anxiety, social anxiety and panic attacks. The added bonus is that you will also feel less stressed and overwhelmed, happier, more energetic and focused and will sleep through the night! Your cravings and emotional eating will be a thing of the past – no willpower required and no feelings of being deprived. You really do deserve to feel on top of the world and the amino acids may well be the answer!

Here’s what a past participant said about the live version I offered earlier this year:

This class was extremely helpful for me personally and professionally. I was intimidated with amino acids and Trudy’s class improved my understanding and confidence. In addition to her well organized class materials and information, she also shared personal experiences which made me feel like I wasn’t the only person with anxiety issues and there is a solution to managing anxiety.

I’m also seeing how gluten, alcohol and sugar really change my mood and anxiety/depression levels. I am very conscious of the consequences for me personally if I choose to eat/drink any of these. Before, I knew it was not good for me or anyone, now I know what happens with anxiety and brain function, in addition to the digestive and weight issues.

We’re offering 3 versions:

#1 Basic: Homestudy if you’re a DIY person OR
#2 Plus: Homestudy + 2 Q and A Live with Trudy (if you need some guidance and will have questions you can opt for this one) OR
#3 Premium: Homestudy + 4 Q and A live + private Facebook group for group discussions and interactions.

You can read all about it and sign up here:
https://www.everywomanover29.com/aminosforanxietyhs

Got questions or comments? Please comment below