Glutamine for accuracy in basketball… Slam dunk!

Glutamine is an awesome amino! Not only does it oppose muscle wasting and support immune health and hormonal function, but it’s a precursor for neurotransmitters in the brain and can also increase fluid uptake in the gut to aid hydration as suggested by the results of this trial. This may exert an effect on accuracy in sport.

In this study on scholarship NCAA Division I basketball players, ten women participated in four trials, each consisting of a 40-min basketball game with controlled time-outs for rehydration. They dehydrated 2.3% of their body mass, and were either not allowed to rehydrate, rehydrated with water only, or rehydrated with L-alanyl-L-glutamine solution at either a low dose (1 g per 500 ml) or high dose (2 g per 500 ml) (AG2) concentration. Sports-stats geeks then analyzed performance data from the game to ascertain differences in the four trials.

Ingesting L-alanyl-L-glutamine solution at either a low dose or high dose improved fluid retention in line with glutamine concentration. However, it was only the lower dose that improved shooting accuracy significantly! The rehydrating effect of LALG improved performance – but the exact mechanism involved seems uncertain. Was this a brain boosting effect, or hydration mediating the improvement?

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Hoffman JR, Williams DR, Emerson NS, Hoffman MW, Wells AJ, McVeigh DM, McCormack WP, Mangine GT, Gonzalez AM, Fragala MS.. (2012) L-alanyl-L-glutamine ingestion maintains performance during a competitive basketball game. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. Mar 7;9(1):4. [Epub ahead of print]