My diet is strict so I need to know-I assume 1g of any amino acid is 1g of protein thus 4 calories? (Albeit, 1g of an incomplete protein.)
Someone has to know this?!
Glutamine is a weird little guy. See that extra amine group on it? That makes it into a source for extra amine when the body is generating protein (enzymes will move the amine group to a carbon skeleton to generate an amino acid). For this reason, I would assign double the thermic effect of protein to glu, if I had to guess. ergo 4cal x 0.9 x 0.9 = 3.2 cal.
This only really matters if glutamine is a major part of your diet. Food has such a high standard deviation that anything but just approximating is a waste of time.
So if I add say 30-50g of L-Glutamine daily can I uinclude those 30-50g in total grams of protein daily? I am thinking yes?!
If you’re low on protein, the L-Glu will be used to generate additional protein. Therefore, it wouldn’t really have a “calorie” cost because it’s not being burned for fuel. On the other hand, if your body has plenty of protein, then it will just be clipped into a carbon skeleton and converted to glucose. At that point, I’d use it as 3.2cal/g
30-50g??!?!? Shit, man, I only take 5g a day. What’s the recommended dosage?
I have to agree with El_Machinae on this one. The total energy (kcal) content of food is no more than an approximation. It is impossible to determine precisely how many calories you burn on a daily basis. Chances are it varies widely depending on your daily activity load. It would probably not be the wisest or most feasible decision to consume 50 g of glutamine a day. There are no peptide bonds to break in free form amino acids, and it is possible that those excess aminos are deaminated and converted to glucose. So it may very well be that the 3-4 cal/g is correct, but you are burning those calories just by reading this message! So I would suggest ingesting more complete proteins (ie those found in food), it’s cheaper and you won’t have to worry about the calorie load of glutamine.
I have “never” counted Individual amino acids as protein
calories! Under extreme conditions aminos such as BCAA’s
and L- glut can be converted into glucose, but I still can’t
find the mechanism by which they are be stored as
body fat. So why punish yourself by counting them as
calories??? (Any thoughts?)
A few months back on the forum we had a similar discussion
that never really settled anything so I e-mailed JMB to see
what his take was.
Dear John, We were discussing a particular amino acid question on
the T-mag Forum, but no one had a satisfactory answer.
Question: Outside of my regular protein intake, I consume about 30
grams of free form BCAA’s 20 grams of L-glutamine and 5 grams of
L-tyrosine daily. Should I list them them as protein calories in my daily
calorie total? (I keep a strict food log, tracking all my micro and macro
nutrients.)
I have heard it takes a grouping of 12 amino acids to qualify as a protein/calorie - is there any truth to this? Your input is greatly appreciated.
JMB replied: “…The experts haven’t ever answered this question
sufficiently in my opinion… until they do, I say don’t count
them as KCAL …”