My Experience with L-Glutamine to Heal the Gut

When I first went gluten free in 2009, I was extremely sensitive to dairy products. The recommendation from celiac authorities at that time was to restrict dairy for the first 6 months and restrict oatmeal for 12 months. This would give your intestinal lining plenty of time to heal.

The tips of the villi in your small intestine make the enzymes needed to digest dairy products and sugar, so this made perfect sense to me. Don't eat dairy and cut back on sugar until your villi have healed.

Only, 6 months wasn't long enough.

I found myself eliminating dairy and sugar for a full 2 years, and then I had to cut way back on how much dairy I could eat at one time. I was still lactose intolerant, just not as sensitive to casein (the protein in milk) as I had originally thought.

I was able to consume high-quality hard cheeses, name-brand butter, Carbmaster yogurt, cream cheese, and a little heavy cream. Mozzarella cheese, which is made with lots of low-fat milk, always sent me running for the bathroom. Same thing with ice cream. Serving size had to be very small.

I didn't know that I was a super-sensitive celiac.

I didn't even know that super sensitivity existed. Nor what I needed to do about it.

Most participants in gluten-free forums do not believe that you are reacting to trace amounts of gluten if your gluten symptoms don't go away after switching to a gluten-free diet. They believe you have additional food sensitivities and allergies that surface once you go gluten free.

Their recommendation?

Give up the foods you're reacting to.

I bought into the theory, at first, because I didn't know any better; but after a while, I realized that eliminating dairy, soy, corn, and oats doesn't work.

Two years later I was still sick.

What I didn't know?

There's a lot of talk about Leaky Gut Syndrome and celiac disease, but lactose intolerance, in my own experience, is a symptom of being glutened. You only have to blunt the tips of the villi for lactose intolerance to manifest itself.

Lactose intolerance is the first sign I get that I'm getting trace amounts of gluten from somewhere.

Yes, there are those who must be both gluten and dairy-free; but dairy sensitivity among the celiac population is not as prevalent as I currently thought.

My Introduction to L-Glutamine Powder

After discovering that dairy products are not as gluten free as those within the celiac disease community will tell you, my youngest son sent me a canister of L-glutamine powder. It was shortly before we moved from Utah to Texas.

He had done a lot of research on glutamine and thought it might help my level of sensitivity to gluten.

He was taking it himself to help build muscle and to help with after-workout recovery, but noticed that most of his health complaints (he has lymphocytic colitis) had gone away shortly after starting to take the L-glutamine powder.

I was a bit nervous to try it. But a quick search online revealed that glutamine is an important amino acid that is used to nourish the gut.

I started taking it slowly. Only one scoop per day (5 grams) for the first week. I put it in some sugar-free Crystal Light because it was disgustingly gritty in water.

Right away, I noticed that I didn't have as much indigestion as I had before, so hubby decided that he wanted to try taking the powder himself. He had horrible indigestion back then, even though both of us were gluten free.

The second week, we both took 2 scoops per day (10 grams). Much less brain fog and my stomach wasn't as inflamed.

The third week, we both took 3 scoops (15 grams) and have been taking that much ever since.

This was a body-building brand my son had sent me (I honestly don't remember which one) that recommended you take 15 grams per day. The cost when I looked online was about $30 per 1-pound canister, a month's supply for one person.

I went looking around online and found it cheapest at VitaCost. They have their own brand of L-glutamine, which comes in a 2-pound canister, for about the same price as the 1-pound container elsewhere.

Hubby's indigestion completely went away!

And so did mine.

In addition, within a month or two my brain fog had completely disappeared and I was able to eat most forms of dairy again with no consequences. The only thing I had to pay attention to was how much milk I was getting in my cooking.

As time went on, I also stopped reacting to corn.

What I learned from all of this:

Leaky Gut is very common in celiacs. It is behind all of the crazy additional symptoms you get after going gluten free. Yes, you're reacting to a variety of foods, but once the integrity of your gut lining is healed, you'll stop reacting to all of those foods because your gut lining will protect you as it was designed to do.

Glutamine is an important nutrient that can help heal your gut, so you'll stop reacting to non-gluten foods and ingredients.

My Research on L-Glutamine

Over the years that I've been taking L-glutamine, here is what I've learned:

Digestion breaks down the food you eat into various nutrients and substances that your body can use. These nutrients and liquids are absorbed through the intestinal wall during a short amount of time.

The intestinal wall isn't solid. It's permeable, which means it contains tight junctures in between the cells.

If the space between the cells is open wide enough and long enough to let partially digested food, viruses, toxins, and other stuff into the bloodstream, your body will react to those molecules with an inflammatory immune response.

This is why it can feel like you're reacting to everything you eat after going gluten free.

Because you are.

Under normal conditions, the space between your intestinal cells doesn't stay open very long.

This is according to Dr. Fasano's research.

In healthy controls, and even those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, the space between your cells stays open just long enough for the body to absorb what it needs and then the space closes back up.

In those with celiac disease, however, Dr. Fasano found that the space between the cells stays open for a very long time.

This is known as Leaky Gut Syndrome.

There are 20 amino acids that the body needs. Only 8 of them are considered essential, which means you have to eat them every day. The other 12 can be made by the body out of other proteins.

L-glutamine can be manufactured by the body or gotten from food and supplements. 

Foods that contain glutamine are:

• beef
• chicken
• fish
• eggs
• tofu
• dairy products
• beans
• lentils
• beets
• cabbage
• carrots
• brussels sprouts
• leafy greens like spinach
• celery
• peas
• white rice
• corn
• parsley
• vegetable juices
• papaya
• fermented foods

If the body's need for glutamine is greater than it's ability to produce it, or if it's unable to get it from the food you eat, the body will tear down it's protein stores to get it.

Those protein stores are your muscles, organs, and other protein structures throughout the body.

This is because glutamine is a major player when tissue is being built or repaired. The body can synthesize sufficient amounts to handle its needs, but during stress, malabsorption, trauma, inflammatory bowel diseases, healing wounds, healing burns, or severe metabolic stress, glutamine becomes an essential nutrient.

This is why many people refer to it as a “conditionally” essential amino acid. As the demand for glutamine goes up, more must be obtained from the diet. It's no longer just nice to have around, it's a must.

As the body's demand for glutamine increases, more glutamine must be obtained from the diet. You can't heal a Leaky Gut without adequate L-glutamine. This makes L-glutamine an essential amino acid for those with Leaky Gut.

Do You Need to Take an L-Glutamine Supplement?

Taking L-glutamine to heal your Leaky Gut is a very personal decision. Just because hubby and I have seen dramatic improvements in our celiac disease symptoms, and no negative side effects, that doesn't mean that glutamine powder is right for you.

I'm not as sensitive to gluten as I used to be, but a lot depends on your level of stress.

If you're experiencing malabsorption issues, have an inflammatory bowel disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), fibromyalgia, severe indigestion, or are recovering from some sort of physical trauma like surgery or burns then using L-glutamine powder to heal the gut might be something you want to look into.

It's a good idea to consult with a dietitian or physician before you begin L-glutamine therapy. That way you'll know if it conflicts with other medical conditions you have or medications you're taking.

It's also a good idea to start slow.

We started with 1 scoop of powder per day and worked our way up to 3.

We didn't experience any side effects, even in the beginning, but others have reported:

• nausea and vomiting
• headaches
• dizziness
• skin rashes
• joint pain

So if you decide to try L-glutamine supplementation, pay attention to how you feel. L-Glutamine is conditionally essential, so your needs will rise and fall depending on what's going on in your life.