Glycine Powerfully Lowers Cortisol

haidut

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I have long suspected that inhibitory amino acids suppress cortisol release. The reason is that most of these inhibitory amino acids like glycine, taurine, beta alanine, theanine, etc are all GABA agonists. GABA agonist pharma drugs are used to treat Cushing syndrome and are very effective at lowering cortisol. However, up until today I did not have much evidence for such an effect of amino acids with the possible exception of theanine.
This study shows that glycine can acutely lower cortisol to about 20% of controls (i.e. 80% reduction). The study was done in chickens, so unfortunately the dosage conversion is a bit difficult to come buy but I think the results are valid given that glycine has also been shown to stop aging-related muscle loss and even cancer cachexia, both of which are mediated at least partially through elevated cortisol. So, if somebody knows how to convert doses from chicken to rodent or human please chime in. I have included a link that talks about doses of specific drugs for rodents, pigs, cats, dogs and birds and based on that conversion it looks like the effective dose in humans to achieve the cortisol-lowering effect could be as low as 70mg/kg. This dose is surprisingly close to the 1mmol/kg (75mg/kg) glycine that acutely lowered the glycemic response in humans by more than 66% without changing insulin levels. As you can see from the screenshot, glycine also lowered cortisol in chickens without changing insulin. In general, anything that lowers cortisol will lower blood sugar, so it is quite plausible that the cortisol-lowering effects of glycine are behind its beneficial effects on blood glucose, diabetes, obesity, bone health, and aging which I have posted about in separate threads on this forum.


Effects of orally administered glycine on myofibrillar proteolysis and expression of proteolytic-related genes of skeletal muscle in chicks. - PubMed - NCBI
"...The plasma corticosterone concentration was also decreased by glycine, but the plasma insulin concentration was unaffected. These results indicate that orally administered glycine suppresses myofibrillar proteolysis and expression of proteolytic-related genes of skeletal muscle by decreasing the plasma corticosterone concentration in chicks."


The domestic animals drug conversion link:
Veterinary Formulary

Another substance that also powerfully lowers cortisol is niacinamide and thus can synergize well with glycine to block the stress response.
Niacinamide Lowers Cortisol | Ray Peat Forum
 

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superhuman

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great find. I was wondering about amino acids like taurine and glycine/gelatin. It seems like you dont have to eat them bit sugar for them to cause a positive effect ? like with other protein you have to balance it out witu sugar because else it will cause blood sugar respons and stress response.
Seems like taurine/glycine/gelatin is different?
 
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haidut

haidut

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great find. I was wondering about amino acids like taurine and glycine/gelatin. It seems like you dont have to eat them bit sugar for them to cause a positive effect ? like with other protein you have to balance it out witu sugar because else it will cause blood sugar respons and stress response.
Seems like taurine/glycine/gelatin is different?

I think it is still wise to consume with sugar. Glycine seems to be relatively safe even in large doses but I know taurine can trigger hypoglycemia even at doses of 1g and without glycogen stores this will cause a stress response.
 

Velve921

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How much glycine is in 1 tbsp of Great Lakes gelatin? Are there other sources of glycine in food beside bone and gelatin?
 
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tca300

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How much glycine is in 1 tbsp of Great Lakes gelatin? Are there other sources of glycine in food beside bone and gelatin?
You can find the answer to that question very easily on several websites that show you the breakdown of various foods.
 

BastiFuntasty

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How much glycine is in 1 tbsp of Great Lakes gelatin? Are there other sources of glycine in food beside bone and gelatin?
100 g Gelatine has approx 21g
Every other food that contains protein, also contains glycine, each with its own balance between those inhibitorys and excitatories.
Seefood seems good, oysters have 500 mg per 9g protein, very low tryptophan and not too much excitatories.
 
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haidut

haidut

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How much glycine is in 1 tbsp of Great Lakes gelatin? Are there other sources of glycine in food beside bone and gelatin?

Did you Google it before asking? Some of these questions can be answered within seconds with a simple search on the forum or a search engine.
 

superhuman

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I think it is still wise to consume with sugar. Glycine seems to be relatively safe even in large doses but I know taurine can trigger hypoglycemia even at doses of 1g and without glycogen stores this will cause a stress response.

Get you. Thanx a ton.
Im doing 50g gelatin a day and have been doing that for a while. Im gonna up it to 70g a day once i get the 4lb big bottle of it. I now just buy 25g packets
 
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haidut

haidut

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Get you. Thanx a ton.
Im doing 50g gelatin a day and have been doing that for a while. Im gonna up it to 70g a day once i get the 4lb big bottle of it. I now just buy 25g packets

Watch out for symptoms of nausea from too much gelatin. Back in revolutionary France it was tried as food for the poor and most people refused to eat more than 50g a day due to the overwhelming nausea it caused when eaten long term. Their health did improve, especially bone health and ability to do hard work, and the latter genuinely thrilled the nobility. But if you consider that attempts as a type of randomized uncontrolled trial, it seems that gelatin may have a sweet spot in dose. Not sure if it is 50g but when I tried eating nothing but gelatin as my protein I did get the nausea after a week of 128g (4 boxes of Knox gelatin) a day.
 
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haidut

haidut

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Got it. Thanks.

Btw, I didn't mean to sound sarcastic in any way. I truly meant that for some questions Google will directly provide an answer, like for instance " molar mass of glycine". Haven't searched for the glycine percentages but it probably answers that question as well.
 

Velve921

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I did not take it away. When I was looking at glycine on the greatlakesgelatin bottle and website I was confused on how the percentages conveyed the content in grams. I found feedback on google and I went on cronometer and got a good breakdown as well.

I've noticed the way you explain certain concepts makes more sense and thats why I like to ask you directly.

Thanks Haidut!
 

bobbybobbob

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I zonk out for nine hours of deep sleep every couple weeks when I take the local happy hour lobster tail with five jumbo shrimp special. It's super noticeable. First few times I figured it might be coincidence but I've been hitting up the special every other week for months. It's not an effect I get from gelatin at all. There's definitely something going on with shell fish. Dunno whether it's just the glycine or also other mineral factors.
 

superhuman

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Watch out for symptoms of nausea from too much gelatin. Back in revolutionary France it was tried as food for the poor and most people refused to eat more than 50g a day due to the overwhelming nausea it caused when eaten long term. Their health did improve, especially bone health and ability to do hard work, and the latter genuinely thrilled the nobility. But if you consider that attempts as a type of randomized uncontrolled trial, it seems that gelatin may have a sweet spot in dose. Not sure if it is 50g but when I tried eating nothing but gelatin as my protein I did get the nausea after a week of 128g (4 boxes of Knox gelatin) a day.

Thanx. Do you think it can be that some did not dissolve it completely? Since that is super important to not get a bad reaction.
 

dd99

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I zonk out for nine hours of deep sleep every couple weeks when I take the local happy hour lobster tail with five jumbo shrimp special. It's super noticeable. First few times I figured it might be coincidence but I've been hitting up the special every other week for months. It's not an effect I get from gelatin at all. There's definitely something going on with shell fish. Dunno whether it's just the glycine or also other mineral factors.
Sounds like it's the taurine. I get a similar but not as dramatic effect from prawns.
 
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haidut

haidut

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Thanx. Do you think it can be that some did not dissolve it completely? Since that is super important to not get a bad reaction.

I think it is more of an effect on lowering serotonin. Dopaminergic and anti-serotonin drugs all have nausea as side effects. Not sure hot to mitigate except to find experimentally your maximum dose at which you don't get nausea. I think adding theanine may help the nausea but for me this combination makes me fall asleep almost immediately.
 

superhuman

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I think it is more of an effect on lowering serotonin. Dopaminergic and anti-serotonin drugs all have nausea as side effects. Not sure hot to mitigate except to find experimentally your maximum dose at which you don't get nausea. I think adding theanine may help the nausea but for me this combination makes me fall asleep almost immediately.

as usual, thanx a ton
 

Luann

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Anyone know of gummy / gelatin candy that doesn't have HFCS? All the variety in getGo, CVS seem to have the nasty stuff : /
 
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haidut

haidut

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Anyone know of gummy / gelatin candy that doesn't have HFCS? All the variety in getGo, CVS seem to have the nasty stuff : /

Trader Joe has gummy bears with porcine gelatin and relatively benign ingredients. It is Trader Joe's own brand, the packet is bright neon-green and has orange edges. The face of the packet says "Mango Mango". So far I have not had any issue with them.
Disclaimer: I do not endorse the product or get royalties from Trader Joe.
 

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