The Effects of Using Glutamine Supplementation in 3 Days on Indices of Muscle Damage after Leg Press Eccentric Resistance

Delayed muscle soreness occurs after resistance activity or training involving an eccentric component, and nutrition can affect the extent of muscle injury by playing a role in both protein synthesis and catabolism. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of using glutamine supplementation in 3 days on injury indices after a session of eccentric resistance exercise In a double-blind study, 20 voluntary non-athlete male subjects [age 21.1 ± 2.3 yr., height 177 ± 3 cm, weight 77.1 ± 6.2 kg, Body Mass Index (BMI) 24 ± 1.9 kg/m2, body fat 14.8 ± 4.5%] were divided randomly into 2 groups with 10 member supplement (glutamine) and placebo (maltodextrin). Serum creatine kinase was measured by photometric method and muscle pain was determined by using a standard scale of PAS in 24, 48 and 72 hours after resistance test which involved leg press. Three subsequent days of using glutamine amino acid did not demonstrate significant difference in decreasing injury indices after eccentric leg press (p>0.05). It seems that this dose of supplement is not sufficient in regard to the number of days administered and in order to show the positive effects of amino acid, it should be used for more number of the days. So, to clarify the effects of glutamine supplement, there is need to conduct further studies with more accurate control and more data collection times.