L-Glutamine
Indications:
L-Glutamine helps with a number of the causes of diarrhea. These include:
- Chronic diarrhea
- Animals that have
food allergies
- Animals that are
sensitive to foods, developing diarrhea with any alterations to their
diet
- Inflammatory bowel
disorders
- Colitis
- Animals that suffer
from frequent bouts with loose-formed, mucous- coated or watery diarrhea
- Recurring diarrhea
due to parasites, Giardia, and bacteria
- Balance
phase detoxification... often said to be the "poor mans" detoxification
program
L-glutamine is the
most abundant amino acid in the circulation and in the intracellular amino
acid pool. Glutamine is the primary vehicle for nitrogen transfer between
tissues. Although it is synthesized in the body from glutamic acid, glutamine
is considered to be a conditionally essential amino acid due to
a greatly increased demand for glutamine in catabolic states. For example,
during:
- starvation and
decreased appetite
- surgery
- injury
- infection
This demand may not
be met by metabolic synthesis. Stored principally in skeletal muscle,
glutamine is released as needed and is taken up primarily by the GI tract,
where it is used as the preferred fuel for enterocytes of the small intestine.
Large bowel mucosal cells (colonocytes) also utilize glutamine, although
butyrate is their principal fuel.
Glutamine supplementation
has been shown to increase small bowel mucosal thickness, villus height,
and nitrogen content, and may preserve the integrity and/or speed the
healing of the intestinal mucosa. Glutamine also enhances gut immune function,
as it decreases bacterial translocation across the gut wall, increases
secretory IgA levels and decreases bacterial adherence to enterocytes.
Glutamine was found to be beneficial in calves with diarrhea . Other uses
for glutamine might include chronically ill patients that are sustaining
a long-lasting catabolic state, following intestinal surgery, as a supplement
during endurance training, intestinal permeability disorders, hepatic
disease, and immune boosting of lymphocytes and interferon.
Potential
uses:
- Small intestinal
diarrhea
- Chronic disease
with immune suppression
- Acute diarrhea
- Adjunct to antibiotic
therapy
- Giardia therapy
(also see Paraguard®, click
here, the use your web browser's back button to return to this
page)
- Proventricular
and Vetricular disease in birds
- Seeds passing in
droppings
- Diarrhea
in Llamas and Alpacas
Other
links to explore:
Dosage:
Cats:
1/8
teaspoon, 1 - 2 times daily
Dogs:
1-25
lbs=1/2 teaspoon twice daily
25-50
lbs=1/2 - 1 teaspoon twice daily
50-100
lbs=1 - 2 teaspoons twice daily
Birds:
1/32
teaspoon daily, mixed into 2 tablespoons of soft foods such as yogurt,
peanut butter or bean mixes
Alpacas
and Llamas
- 1
tablespoon three times daily