What is Glucosamine? Other names: glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine sulphate, glucosamine hydrochloride, N-acetyl glucosamine, chitosamine
Glucosamine is a compound found naturally in the body, made from glucose and the amino acid glutamine. Glucosamine is needed to produce glycosaminoglycan, a molecule used in the formation and repair of cartilage and other body tissues. Production of glucosamine tends to slow with age.
Glucosamine is available as a nutritional supplement in health food stores and many drug stores. Glucosamine supplements are manufactured in a laboratory from chitin, a substance found in the shells of shrimp, crab, lobster, and other sea creatures. In additional to nutritional supplements, glucosamine is also used in sports drinks and in cosmetics.
Glucosamine is often combined with chondroitin sulfate, a molecule naturally present in cartilage. Chondroitin gives cartilage elasticity and is believed to prevent the destruction of cartilage by enzymes. Glucosamine is sometimes combined with methylsulfonylmethane, or MSM, in nutritional supplements.
The question is, are these supplements needed or can this be found in the food we eat?
The top 10 Foods high in Glutamine:
Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid, which means if required it can be synthesized in our body. When we consume Food Containing Glutamine, the amino acid helps maintain the intestinal tract, helps in the production of a key antioxidant enzyme (glutathione), ensures acid base balance, and maintains muscle mass. Inadequate intake of glutamine leads to a weak immune system and heightened intestinal permeability. Higher levels of glutamine are required in the following conditions; regular high intensity exercise, severe burns, colds, irritable bowel syndrome, and muscle wasting.
Sufficient dietary intake of glutamine can help prevent/manage alcoholism, chemotherapy side effects, food allergies, HIV, irritable bowel syndrome, candida overgrowth, severe burns, and ulcerative colitis.
Food Sources of Glutamine
Glutamine is found in considerable amounts in foods like beans, cabbage, beets, spinach, parsley, nuts and tofu. For meat eaters, beef, chicken, fish, and dairy products.
Top 10 Foods Containing Glutamine
- Beans and Legumes: All types of beans and legumes are excellent sources of glutamine for vegans.
- Vegetables: Vegetables like cabbage, beets, spinach, kale, parsley, wheatgrass are good sources of glutamine. The glutamine in cooked vegetables is denatured, thus raw vegetables are better sources.
- Nuts: Different nuts contain different levels of glutamine, and consumption of nuts in limited quantities can prove to be a vital source of the amino acid.
- Eggs: Eggs from any source and in any form contain high amounts of glutamine.
Glutamine has many health benefits, as mentioned earlier it can be produced in our body. Production of the amino requires a particular B vitamin: Niacin.
Foods high in glucose:
Glucose is a sugar made of a single sugar unit that is ubiquitous in the food supply and a key player in human and plant metabolism. In human metabolism, glucose is responsible for providing energy. Although it's necessary to support human life, too much glucose in the diet has been associated with health complications such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Following dietary guidelines to ensure that sugar intakes are within a healthy range is a good way to avoid these problems. Individuals with diabetes need to be particularly careful about how much glucose and other sugars they consume.
Natural High Glucose is a byproduct of the process of photosynthesis that plants undergo to provide themselves with energy. As a result, many plants, particularly fruits, are high in glucose. Examples of fruits high in glucose include bananas, grapes, kiwi, cherries and persimmons. Dried fruits are particularly high in glucose because of their low water content. According to the United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database, Medjool dates have the highest glucose content among dried fruits. The most potent source of glucose is honey, with a higher glucose content than any other sweetener, with the exception of artificially manufactured glucose.
Curing Arthritis
Arthritis is a degenerative joint disease that causes pain, inflammation and limited joint movement.
In osteoarthritis the joint that is affected has degenerated cartilage. As this is the cushion between the joints, one gets bone rubbing against bone and thus pain, inflammation and lack of mobility follows. Up until now the only relief from this pain was by way of treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. brufen, orudis) or by injection with steroids (e.g. cortisone). However, these only mask the symptoms and relieve the pain, and the disease continues to get worse. Thus, the spiral continues increasing the dose as the pain worsens. However here we create another problem as these drugs have deleterious side effects and may in fact cause certain features of osteoarthritis to progress faster.
Thus over the years the only relief that may be obtained is joint replacement by your surgeon. Even with artificial joints, the problem is not solved as these too have a finite life and will have to be replaced further down the road.
Firstly, healthy cartilage needs three things: water for lubrication and nourishment, proteoglycans to attract and hold the water, and collagen to keep the proteoglycans in place.
Proteoglycans are like a rope that threads itself through the collage and are essential as they hold many times their own weight of water, which both lubricates and nourishes the collagen. If the cartilage is damaged the thread of rope becomes weak and ‘leaks’ out and thus the collagen loses its nourishment as the proteoglycans lose their grip and float away. Thus the cartilage cannot withstand shocks, cracks and may wear out completely.
Glucosamine is a major building block of the water–loving proteoglycans. Besides being a building block for the synthesis of proteoglycans, its mere presence acts as a stimulus to the cells that produce proteoglycans. In fact glucosamine is a key factor in determining how many proteoglycans are produced by the cells.
Glucosamine has been shown to speed up production of both proteoglycans and collagen and it normalises cartilage metabolism which helps keep cartilage from breaking down.
Thus the affect of glucosamine on cartilage metabolism helps the body to repair damaged or eroded cartilage. In other words, glucosamine strengthens your body’s natural repair mechanisms. Besides stimulating cartilage production, glucosamine also reduces joint pain and inflammation.