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01.12.2022

Exercise burns up more fat after supplementing with cystine and glutamine

Athletes burn more fat and can sustain physical exertion for longer if they take a supplement containing the amino acids cystine and glutamine. According to researchers at Waseda University in Japan, the cystine-glutamine combination increases the concentration of glutathione in the muscle cell during exercise.

Study
Healthy young men took a mixture of 1 gram glutamine, 0.23 gram cystine and 1.23 gram maltodextrin [AAM] 3 times a day for a week. In total, the men therefore consumed 3 grams of glutamine, 0.69 grams of cystine and 3.69 grams of maltodextrin daily.

On another occasion, the men took a placebo containing only maltodextrin [PLA].

At the end of both the supplement and placebo periods, the men had to cycle for 60 minutes at an intensity of 70 percent of their maximum heart rate.

Results
The subjects reported less fatigue [RPE] when cycling after taking the mixture of amino acids than after taking the placebo. Yet the supplement contained the same number of calories as the placebo.

After the exercise session, the researchers found fewer free fatty acids in the blood of the men who had used the cystine-glutamine mixture. You would think that this combination of amino acids increases the burning of fatty acids during exercise.

And this was probably the case, suggest experiments with mouse muscle cells in test tubes by the same researchers. The researchers exposed the muscle cells to the fatty acid palmitic and hydrogen peroxide [H2O2].

Hydrogen peroxide is a free radical. Free radicals are also released during exercise. By administering hydrogen peroxide, the researchers imitated the conditions under which muscle cells burn fat during exercise.

The muscle cells burned more fatty acids if the researchers also added cystine [Cys2] to the test tubes.

Mechanism
Glutamine and cystine are building blocks for glutathione [structural formula at the top of the page]. Relevant detoxifying enzymes in cells require glutathione to function properly. Because the concentration of glutathione in muscle cells decreases during intensive exercise, the concentration of breakdown products in muscle cells increases and those muscle cells function increasingly poorly.

The Japanese suspect that supplementation with an extra building block weakens that process. As a result, after supplementation with cystine and glutamine, muscle cells function better during exercise and burn more fat.

Source:
Sports (Basel). 2022 Sep 27;10(10):147.

More:
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Combination of phenylalanine, alanine and arginine accelerates fat loss 10.01.2019
Low intensity cardio before breakfast burns more fat if you take some L-phenylalanine 29.12.2017

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