Glutamine may help prevent damage by H. pylori

Sunday May 17, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Two decades ago it was announced that stomach ulcers were caused, not simply by stress, but by bacteria identified as H. pylori. Since that time, antibiotics have been used to combat the problem.

Unfortunately, doctors are discovering that H. pylori is becoming somewhat immune to antibiotic treatment. A new study out of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and MIT indicates there may be another option. Researchers conducting the study found that the non-essential amino acid, glutamine, rectifies the gastric damage wreaked by H. pylori; damage that can ultimately lead to chronic gastritis, and even stomach cancer.

The discovery came from a study involving mice that had been exposed to H. pylori. In those animals that had been infected, the ones who were treated with L-glutamine exhibited significantly fewer signs of inflammation, which is what ultimately causes cell damage, and eventually, cancer.

In a previous study, the researchers, led by Susan Hagen, PhD, the Director of Research for the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel, had discovered that L-glutamine reduces the ammonia given off by H.pylori bacteria. By offsetting the ammonia in the gastric system and liver, cell damage was greatly reduced.

According to Hagen, H. pylori is the root cause of 5.5 % of the cancer burden, yearly. The potential of effectively treating the effects of the infection with a low cost supplement is certainly worth further study.

Glutamine is often taken in supplement form by body builders wishing to increase body mass. And, according to WebMD, it effectively offsets neuropathy side effects of some chemotherapy drugs.

(By Rachel Stockton, and edited by Heather Kelley)