[Glutamine as a key ingredient in protein metabolism]

Glutamine has a number of unique properties which suggest that this amino acid plays an important role in health and disease. Glutamine is considered a conditionally essential amino acid, because during periods of severe metabolic stress the body's requirements of glutamine may exceed the individual's ability to produce sufficient amounts of the amino acid. Studies with glutamine-enriched nutrition show beneficial effects on nitrogen balance, muscle protein metabolism, gastrointestinal mucosa, and immune status. In certain patient categories addition of glutamine reduces the number of infectious complications, improves long-term survival, and shortens hospital stay, e.g. bone marrow transplantation patients, neonates with severely subnormal weight, patients with multiple organ failure, multi-trauma patients. More studies are needed to document the dose-response and to identify the patients that are likely to benefit from glutamine supplementation.