No Glutamine in Cronometer ?

Marus

I noticed that Glutamine amino-acid do not exists in Cronometer. This is a conditionally essential amino-acid. Why did not you include it ? It is not contained in the source database or... other reason ?
I do bodybuilding as a hobby and I understand that in this case Glutamine is very important. If I don't take enough from foods I must supplement it. That's why I asked this.
Glutamine and Asparagine are the only two missing amino-acids from the standard 20.

Karen_Cronometer

Hello Marus,

You guessed it! These amino acids are not reported by the USDA, so we do not have these data readily available.

Since glutamine and asparagine are conditionally essential, this means that under most normal conditions, when you are consuming all of the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, the body can synthesize these amino acids to meet metabolic needs. Therefore we don't have nutrition recommendations for these amino acids, so I suppose that is why they do not report these additional amino acids.

Best,

Marus

Hi Karen,
Indeed, the body can synthesize glutamine from the essential amino acids, but is strange that neither NCCDB nor ESHA have any data about exactly and only these two amino acids. They have data for all those completely nonessential amino acids but not for glutamine, which is conditionally essential. This doesn't make sense to me.

Susan_RD_101

Hi @Marus,

If you want, you can track aspartic acid and glutamic acid by clicking in the checkbox beside their names under "Protein" (found in your profile).

One other thing to keep in mind is that we do have an amino acid pool from which our body is able pull amino acids when needed. Deficiency of amino acids occurs when there is long-term shortage of an amino acid. In the case of glutamine, this doesn't commonly occur, so it's considered only conditionally essential for the general population. Although I agree, it would be helpful to have more information available on the nutrient.

Kind regards,

Marus

Hi Susan,
What is the difference between Glutamic Acid and Glutamine ? I see that these two missing amino acids, Glutamine and Asparagine, have some "acids" with similar names: Glutamine -> Glutamic Acid / Asparagine - Aspartic Acid. Is there some connection between them, or is just a coincidence of names ? Is one made from another, and tracking one it's enough ?
I started studying nutrition and I'm just curious.

Susan_RD_101

@Marus

The two amino acids (glutamine/glutamic acid) are essentially different structures, but of the same amino acid. While small differences in their activity exists, they are often used interchangably in the nutrition literature. I think tracking the acids of each would give you a good idea of your overall intake (keeping in mind that data may be missing for some foods).

Good luck in your nutrition courses! It's fun.

Rockvole

Glutamine is a useful amino acid to track since it has implications for those with Alzheimer's.
Excessive glutamine sensitivity in Alzheimer' s disease and Down syndrome lymphocytes

fitgirl

Again the question gets danced around instead of being given a proper answer

Susan_RD_101

@fitgirl

Happy to help answer any question you have! It's been awhile since this was originally posted, so please refresh my memory on what you are looking for.

Rockvole

For me, I can track the Glutamic Acid as described above. Unfortunately, there is a lot of missing data. For example your Halloumi cheeses don't seem to have any Glutamic Acid content in the app.

A fix might be for you to derive the Glutamic Acid content. I believe milk protein (Casein) is typically 20% Glutamic Acid.