Glutamine is not only the most abundant amino acid found in the body but also one of seven conditional essential amino acids. This means that while our bodies produce it naturally, we still need quite a lot of it, especially when training regularly.
Glutamine has many benefits and is known to reduce muscle soreness, accelerate recovery time and improve hydration, making it an important supplement to take if you work out. Oral L-glutamine supplementation can also boost your immune system and improve gut health.
We’ve compiled a list of the 6 best glutamine supplements for 2023, to make staying healthy a walk in the park.
If you just want to know what our top pick is, that distinction goes to BCAA Glutamine by Transparent Labs. It’s super clean, vegan-friendly, and available in multiple delicious flavors (including unflavored).
BCAA Glutamine from Transparent Labs is laser-focused on one thing: helping you recover from your workout.
If you take your BCAAs after working out, then BCAA Glutamine is a good pick for you.
Delivering a hefty 8-gram dose of BCAAs at the proper 2:1:1 ratio, your body will have the ingredients it needs to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Glutamine may help alleviate muscle soreness after intense exercise.
Discount codes:
LV10 = 10% off Transparent Labs
Table of Contents
- 1 The 6 Best Glutamine Supplements
- 1.1 Best flavored glutamine supplement: Glutamine BCAA – Transparent Labs
- 1.2 Best unflavored glutamine supplement: Glutamine – Kaged
- 1.3 Best bulk glutamine supplement: L-Glutamine Powder – Bulk Supplements
- 1.4 Best budget glutamine supplement: L-Glutamine – Jacked Factory
- 1.5 Honorable mention: L-Glutamine Powder – Micro Ingredients
- 1.6 Honorable mention: L-Glutamine – MyProtein
- 2 What To Look For When Buying A Glutamine Supplement
- 3 Glutamine Benefits
- 4 FAQs About Glutamine Supplements
The 6 Best Glutamine Supplements
- BCAA Glutamine – Transparent Labs
- Glutamine – Kaged
- L-Glutamine Powder – Bulk Supplements
- L-Glutamine – Jacked Factory
- L-Glutamine Powder – MicroIngredients
- L-Glutamine – MyProtein
Read on the find out what we loved about each of these products.
Best flavored glutamine supplement: Glutamine BCAA – Transparent Labs
BCAA Glutamine from Transparent Labs is laser-focused on one thing: helping you recover from your workout.
If you take your BCAAs after working out, then BCAA Glutamine is a good pick for you.
Delivering a hefty 8-gram dose of BCAAs at the proper 2:1:1 ratio, your body will have the ingredients it needs to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Glutamine may help alleviate muscle soreness after intense exercise.
Discount codes:
LV10 = 10% off Transparent Labs
If you’re worried about the taste of your supplements, then Transparent Labs’ BCAA Glutamine supplement will be a great match for you. It comes in four distinct, tasty flavors: Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical Punch, Sour Green Apple, and Blue Raspberry.
You’ll likely also be glad to know that none of these delicious tastes contain artificial flavors, colorants or ingredients, and are all vegan-friendly. Besides that, Transparent Labs’ Glutamine BCAA supplement also contains 5,000 mg of glutamine per serving; plus a touch of coconut water powder for additional hydration.
The extra BCAAs included in this supplement promote muscle protein synthesis – so this tasty supplement will be great for recovery.
Key Ingredients
- Fermented Vegan BCAA 2:1:1 – 8,000 mg
- Ascorbic Acid – 1,500 mg
- L-leucine – 4,000 mg
- L-isoleucine – 2,000 mg
- L-valine – 2,000 mg
- L-glutamine – 5,000 mg
- Coconut water powder – 1,000 mg
Best unflavored glutamine supplement: Glutamine – Kaged
If you're looking for a high-quality, no-frills glutamine supplement, look no further than Kaged's Glutamine.
100% plant-based, this glutamine supplement delivers pure L-glutamine in a convenient unflavored powder.
If you want a no-nonsense, unflavored, pure glutamine supplement, Kaged’s Glutamine is the best glutamine supplement for you. Kaged Glutamine really only has one ingredient – L-glutamine – and a healthy 5,000 mg dose of it, too. This means that it isn’t just vegan-friendly, but also has no artificial ingredients.
This fermented glutamine is not only 100% vegan but is also amazing for your gut health. Not only does it help to build muscle, but it also aids in muscle recovery.
Nutritional supplements often come in weird and whacky flavors. If that’s not up your alley, then go for Kaged’s Glutamine offering. It really doesn’t taste like anything, so can be mixed with a protein shake or any other drink you enjoy.
Key ingredients
- L-glutamine (fermented) – 5,000 mg
Best bulk glutamine supplement: L-Glutamine Powder – Bulk Supplements
If you're looking to get a great deal on a bulk order of glutamine powder, then Bulk Supplements is the place to go.
They have anywhere from 20 to 5,000 servings available, depending on the size you want to get.
If you’ve been looking for the best glutamine supplement to help with muscle growth, Bulk Supplements L-Glutamine Powder is the way to go – obviously. Like Kaged’s Glutamine, Bulk Supplements also takes a no-nonsense approach to its star product: its only ingredient is L-glutamine.
It is also vegan, gluten-free and contains no harmful or synthetic additives.
Bulk Supplements L-Glutamine Powder contains a decent dose of the amino acid, which can aid in muscle growth when you are trying to bulk up and add mass.
Key ingredients
- L-glutamine – 5,000 mg
Best budget glutamine supplement: L-Glutamine – Jacked Factory
Jacked Factory offers 100 servings of l-glutamine powder for about $0.24 per serving, which is an excellent deal.
If you want to save a few bucks without sacrificing quality, definitely check them out.
If you want a glutamine supplement but you’re on a tight budget, then Jacked Factory’s Fermented L-Glutamine product should be ideal. Like most of the other glutamine supplements on this list, its only ingredient is L-glutamine.
What sets it apart is its price tag – Jacked Factory’s L-Glutamine is far more affordable than many other supplements on our list. So, if you’re working out on a budget and still want some great glutamine supplementation, Jacked Factory has you covered.
This product was manufactured in the US, in a cGMP-certified lab, so you can rest assured it is top quality and pure ingredients.
Key Ingredients
- Fermented L-glutamine – 5,000 mg
Honorable mention: L-Glutamine Powder – Micro Ingredients
Our first honorable mention goes to MicroIingredients’ L-Glutamine Powder.
At under $0.20 per 5 gram serving, it’s a solid deal. It may not have the reputation of more established manufacturers like Bulk Supplements, but it offers a compelling value proposition.
But, despite the price, you do get a quality product. It is gluten-free, dairy-free and GMO-free, so you really are putting the best essential amino acids into your body.
Key ingredients
- L-glutamine – 3,000 mg
Honorable mention: L-Glutamine – MyProtein
Our second (and final) honorable mention goes to MyProtein’s L-Glutamine supplement. Unlike the other products on our list, it comes in ten different flavors but also offers an unflavored option.
We’d suggest going for the unflavored option in this case, as the flavored supplements don’t contain as much L-glutamine per serving. Apart from that, they also contain artificial sweeteners and colorants, which some people prefer to avoid.
Key Ingredients – Unflavored
- L-glutamine – 5,000 mg
What To Look For When Buying A Glutamine Supplement
There are a few things you should keep in mind before you empty your bank account for a pricy new supplement. Our guide should help to make your decision a little easier.
Dosage should be at least 5 g
If you want to get the most out of glutamine supplements, you should make sure that the product you choose has at least 5,000 mg of L-glutamine per serving. Otherwise, you won’t really be able to get the benefits that glutamine supplements offer. The recommended glutamine dosage is between 5 and 15 g per day.
If a glutamine supplement contains less than 5 g of L-glutamine per serving, you’ll end up going through it much quicker to reach your daily glutamine target.
Decide if you want powder or capsules
You can get glutamine supplements in both capsule and powder form – it’s up to you to decide how you want to get this amino acid into your system.
Glutamine powders are usually absorbed faster, while glutamine capsules take a bit longer to digest. But, regardless of what you choose, you’ll still be getting extra glutamine.
If you prefer to drink your supplements or mix them into smoothies, go for glutamine powder; and if you don’t, go for glutamine capsules.
Consider if you want flavored or unflavored powder
If you’ve chosen glutamine powder over glutamine capsules, you’ll also need to choose between a flavored or unflavored powder.
Unflavored glutamine supplements are a lot more versatile because you can mix them with other supplements or add them to flavored smoothies. So, if you get sick of your supplement flavors quickly, you can change things up with an unflavored powder.
Flavored glutamine supplements, on the other hand, require a lot less effort on your part. All you need to do is add water, shake them up, and hey presto – you’ve got a glutamine supplement ready and waiting.
Unfortunately, if you get sick of supplement flavors quickly, it won’t be easy to change things up. This is mainly because flavors like sour green apple don’t exactly pair well with most flavored protein shakes and smoothies!
Read reviews
If you want to find out how good a product is, you should go online and read reviews. This is one of the easiest ways for you to find the best glutamine supplement to suit your needs, as the people leaving reviews have actually tried the product, and can let you know how what it is like.
Reviews should be able to tell you which glutamine supplements are effective and whether or not they are worth the money.
Buy from a brand you trust
Buying supplements from well-known brands can be more expensive, but it is usually worth it. Brands like Transparent Labs make use of third-party testing and are very open about the ingredients used in their supplements.
When you purchase from a brand like Transparent Labs, you know that you are getting a quality product. While buying glutamine supplements from lesser-known brands is cheaper, the products may contain unnecessary ingredients or even be less effective.
Glutamine Benefits
We’ve already touched on some of the benefits that glutamine offers. In this section, we’ll go into more detail about the benefits of glutamine, and examine why this amino acid is an essential part of a healthy diet.
Glutamine supports gut health and intestinal function
There’s more than enough peer-reviewed evidence online that shows how and why glutamine supports gut and intestinal health.
There are trillions of bacteria living in the gut that impact your health. These bacteria need energy to function, and glutamine is the best source.
Energy from the amino acid allows these bacteria to repair and maintain your intestinal lining, which is essential for gut health. It can also reduce inflammation and support immune function in the gut.
Glutamine is often given to people who suffer from gut problems like IBS.
Glutamine supports the immune system
There is also evidence suggesting that glutamine supplementation is beneficial for wound healing and reducing the risk of infection. It isn’t just a fuel source for the bacteria in your gut; it also fuels immune cells, like white blood cells.
Some studies have even reported that glutamine supplementation can improve your overall health, decrease the chances of contracting various infections, and reduce the duration of hospital admissions.
With such insights, it’s clear why glutamine is often given to people who have suffered burns, major injuries, and surgeries.
Glutamine may support muscle recovery and growth
Glutamine’s beneficial role in muscle recovery and growth has been explored, with some evidence to support this theory. The amino acid is essentially a protein-building block, after all.
Other findings suggest that glutamine only helps with muscle recovery, not gaining mass.
One study involved giving glutamine and a placebo to 15 men for four days after an intense exercise session. When the four days were up, the men who took the real glutamine reported that they felt an improvement in their muscle soreness and strength levels when compared to those who took the placebo.
Glutamine may reduce exercise-induced muscle damage
There is limited evidence suggesting that glutamine may be able to reduce exercise-induced muscle damage. Another study was conducted on professional basketball players to test these effects.
This study also made use of both a placebo and real glutamine that were taken after a period of intense exercise. At the end of the study, it was found that the real glutamine was able to reduce markers of muscle damage.
More research will need to be conducted to support these findings, however.
Glutamine may support brain function
A few studies have shown that glutamine may be able to support brain function. The reason for this is that glutamine serves as a precursor for the neurotransmitters; glutamate and GABA.
Glutamate is important for a few cognitive functions, including learning and memory. GABA, on the other hand, has a calming effect, as it controls cell hyperactivity related to stress, anxiety, and fear.
However, there isn’t enough evidence to establish a definite link between glutamine and brain function.
FAQs About Glutamine Supplements
Branched Chain Amino Acids, or BCAAs, are often taken along with glutamine. There are no negative effects related to supplementing both amino acids simultaneously.
Additionally, you can take whey isolate protein powder along with glutamine – you can even mix your l-glutamine powder into your protein shakes.
Yes, it is completely safe to take glutamine every day, especially if you are only taking 5 to 10 g. Glutamine is not known to cause any negative side effects, even in doses as high as 40 g.
However, if you go over and above 40 g, you may experience symptoms like:
– Heartburn
– Upset stomach
– Bloating
– Gas
– Nausea
– Dizziness
Branched Chain Amino Acids, or BCAAs, are often taken along with glutamine. There are no negative effects related to supplementing both amino acids simultaneously.
Additionally, you can take whey isolate protein powder along with glutamine – you can even mix your l-glutamine powder into your protein shakes.
While there hasn’t been much research on the topic, there are a few studies that suggest that glutamine can support weight loss.
One study involved giving six overweight women glutamine every day for two weeks, all of whom experienced reductions in belly fat and body weight. During the study, the women were requested not to make any other lifestyle changes.
If you have a history of kidney or liver disease, you should avoid supplementing glutamine. It can put more strain on both your kidney and liver, which won’t be good for your health if these organs are already compromised.
Those diagnosed with Reye syndrome (a rare childhood disease) should also not take glutamine.
If you want to get the best results, take glutamine after a workout. Taking glutamine right before you go to bed is also a good option, though; as there is some evidence to suggest that it can help you sleep better.
You can also take glutamine 10 to 15 minutes before a meal, as you will get the most out of this supplement if you take it on an empty stomach.
There are no obvious disadvantages to taking glutamine supplements, especially if you take supplements without any artificial colors, flavors or other ingredients. Pure glutamine will benefit you if you stick to the recommended dosage amounts.
However, some people do report minor side effects when taking glutamine. These instances are very rare. They report gas, stomach pains, swelling in the hands and feet, dizziness or exhaustion. On incredibly rare occasions, a skin rash has been reported – but this is the exception, not the norm.
Generally speaking, glutamine supplements are safe. If you have any concerns, make sure to discuss your supplementation with your doctor or a dietician.
