Potential Benefits of Glycine Supplementation During Weight Loss
Glycine is an important amino acid, and it’s also one of the supplements sometimes taken to help with weight loss and increasing muscle mass. As such, it’s one of the main ingredients in the popular weight loss supplement PS1000. There are a number of potential benefits to supplementing with glycine while trying to lose weight.
Helps Preserve Muscle During Weight Loss
At least one study has shown that taking glycine while on a weight loss diet helps to preserve muscle mass and prioritize fat loss as you lose weight. Normally, when you lose weight it comes off as a mix of muscle and body fat. Glycine appears to help counteract this effect. To further minimize muscle loss during weight loss, participate in regular strength training workouts while on your diet and make sure your diet contains plenty of protein.
Promotes Muscle Growth
As an amino acid, glycine is one of the building blocks for protein in the body. However, this isn’t the only reason why it’s good for muscle growth. It’s also one of the precursors of creatine, which many bodybuilders know helps provide muscles with energy so they can improve their strength, endurance, and performance. With more energy and endurance, you can work out longer and build more muscle.
Helps Keep Joints and Cartilage Healthy
Glycine is one of the amino acids that’s essential for forming the collagen that helps keep your joints, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage healthy and functioning well. If you’re in pain from sore joints or your joints are damaged, you won’t be able to work out as much, you won’t build as much muscle, and you won’t burn as many calories.
Improves Sleep Quality and Minimizes Fatigue
Glycine also plays a role in the central nervous system, helping to calm you down so you get a more restful night’s sleep. A lack of sleep is associated with weight gain, so this is particularly helpful for those who are watching their weight. Glycine may help improve REM sleep, lessen daytime sleepiness, improve the circadian rhythm, and help people function better even when they get less sleep. When fatigue is minimized, you can get more exercise and burn more calories throughout the day, thus improving weight loss results
Is Essential for Providing the Body with Oxygen
Another of glycine’s functions is to help with the production of HEME, which is a part of red blood cells. These cells are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout your body and providing the body with the necessary energy to go about your daily activities. If you’re not getting enough oxygen, you won’t be able to exercise as long or as strenuously, so you won’t burn as many calories or lose as much weight.
Decreases Inflammation and Enhances Wound Healing
This amino acid may be beneficial for decreasing inflammation, as it is an anti-inflammatory substance, and it may also help speed up wound healing. Glycine might be helpful for healing muscles that are overworked or damaged by your workouts. Both of these are helpful for making it possible for you to keep up with your workouts, burn calories, and lose weight. Having too much inflammation in the body is associated with gain as well as a number of different health problems, as it can cause insulin resistance, interfere with your hunger mechanism, and alter the amounts of metabolism-regulating hormones in the body.
May Increase Adiponectin Levels
Glycine may increase levels of the hormone adiponectin, which will help to improve the ability of your muscles to use carbohydrates for energy, increase the breakdown of fat in the body, decrease your appetite, and boost your metabolism. To further increase these effects, get more exercise, decrease your carbohydrate intake, and increase your monounsaturated fat intake.
May Increase Human Growth Hormone
This amino acid may cause an increase in human growth hormone, or HGH, in the body. HGH may, in turn, help to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat, resulting in a better body composition, although it doesn’t necessarily decrease weight on its own. However, having more muscle and less fat in the body does tend to increase the metabolism, potentially making it a little easier to lose weight through diet and exercise.
Increases Insulin Sensitivity
Having appropriate levels of insulin sensitivity means you are at less of a risk for blood sugar swings. When insulin sensitivity is low, spikes and crashes in blood sugar are more likely, which means you’ll get spikes in energy and then crash and start to feel hungry again, making it harder to stick with a reduced calorie diet, such as the ps1000 diet, and lose weight. Getting more fiber in your diet can also help decrease spikes in blood sugar levels, as it slows down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates.
Works Best in Combination with Diet and Exercise
Glycine supplements on their own will only have a minimal effect on weight and body composition. For the best results, you’ll need to follow a reduced-calorie diet and get regular exercise. For weight loss, experts recommend getting between 30 minutes and 60 minutes of cardio most days of the week. And don’t forget the strength training, as this is the best way to minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss during weight loss. Aim for at least two full-body strength training workouts each week separated by at least one day of recovery.
Other Potential Health Benefits
Preliminary evidence shows that glycine may be beneficial for the treatment of schizophrenia, blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes, limiting brain damage from strokes, improving memory, and the treatment of leg ulcers. There may also be some beneficial effects when it’s used for the prevention or treatment of cancer, but further research is necessary to verify these potential beneficial health effects and determine the appropriate dosage.
Consider the Potential Side Effects
Some people experience a slight sedative effect when taking glycine supplements, so when taking glycine as a stand-alone supplement in relatively high doses, it’s a good idea to take it in the evening rather than in the morning. If you have diarrhea, glycine could make it worse, so avoid taking glycine until the condition improves.
