Glutamine’s Physiological Functions

From the perspective of nutritional science, glutamine, like arginine, is not an essential amino acid. Nevertheless, glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body. Glutamine plays major roles in accelerating muscle metabolism, in preserving muscle, in promoting wound healing and in cell proliferation. It also serves as the nutritional source for gastrointestinal cells and as the major energy source for the immune system. In times when the demand for glutamine rises rapidly-following onset and spread of a disease or after a burn, wound, or surgical procedure-the amount of glutamine synthesized by the body itself is inadequate. For this reason, glutamine is called a semi-essential amino acid.