Boost workout performance with l-alanyl-l-glutamine

For decades, supplement scientists have reported many performance-enhancing benefits to taking amino acids before, during, and after training. Most recently, scientists from University of Central Florida illustrated that ingesting a sport drink mixed with a di-peptide blend of alanine and glutamine (l-alanyl-l-glutamine) extends high intensity exercise performance.  

In this new study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, twelve endurance trained men completed exhaustive running exercise under 4 conditions (completed on separate days): no hydration (NH), sport drink only (SD), and low dose (LD; 300 mg/500 ml) and high dose (HD;1 g/500 ml) of l-alanyl-l-glutamine added to the sports drink. For each condition, subjects ran at 70% VO2max for 1 hour, followed by a run to exhaustion at 90% VO2max. For conditions involving hydration, during the runs, subjects were instructed to drink 250ml of sport drink (with or without l-alanyl-l-glutamine) every 15 minutes until the drink was finished. 

The researchers reported a remarkable increase in run time to exhaustion only in the l-alanyl-l-glutamine (LD and HD) conditions versus NH. Although the exact mechanism for this increase in exercise performance was not tested in this study, l-alanyl-l-glutamine is reported to enhance electrolyte and water absorption in the intestines, resulting in greater hydration. 

ACTION POINT: For those of you who exercise or play sports for extended periods (and sweat a lot), you can benefit by adding 300-1000 g of l-analyl-l-glutamine (known as, Sustamine™) to an electrolyte based sports drink like Gatorade. Sip on this concoction throughout your exercise session or game. 

Reference:

McCormack WP, Hoffman JR, Pruna GJ, Jajtner AR, Townsend JR, Stout JR, Fragala MS, Fukuda DH. Effects of l-Alanyl-l-Glutamine Ingestion on One-Hour Run Performance. J Am Coll Nutr. 2015 Jun 22:1-9. [Epub ahead of print]