What is Glycine?
Glycine is a critical amino acid, essential for numerous neurological, cognitive, musculoskeletal, and metabolic functions.
Glycine supports the body in breaking down and transporting nutrients such as glycogen and fat to be used as energy for our cells. It supports our muscular, immune, digestive, neurologic, metabolic and nervous systems and is found in particularly high concentrations in skin, connective tissues / joints, organs and muscle tissue.
"Glycine … is an important component of many proteins and plays a crucial role in the synthesis of many biomolecules, including creatine and purine nucleotides. Glycine was first isolated in 1820 ... Its name is derived from the Greek word glykys, meaning sweet, and it is the smallest amino acid ...”
-Glycine: The Smallest Anti-Inflammatory Micronutrient
Due to its sweet taste, it's typically a palatable addition to horses' meals!
Glycine & Collagen
Glycine is the most abundant amino acid in collagen, making up one third of collagen's amino acid profile. It supports muscle growth and function, helps to heal the lining of the digestive tract, strengthens and restores bones, cartilage and other soft tissue, joints, organs, skin and more.
"Glycine has a protective effect in lung, brain, stomach, and intestine; participates in metabolic processes; modulates processes of the immune system such as tissue regeneration, decrease necrosis, sepsis protection; and finally, glycine is considered a genic expression modulator."
-Glycine: The Smallest Anti-Inflammatory Micronutrient
"Non-Essential" or Essential?
Technically, glycine is considered a 'non-essential' amino acid because our bodies are capable of synthesizing it… but only in very small amounts. Modern research indicates that glycine typically isn’t synthesized in sufficient quantities for optimal health or to support the body with chronic inflammation or diseases.
For humans, including glycine-rich foods in our diets, such as organic bone broth and chicken skin, can supply us with glycine, but regular consumption still may not provide enough. This is where glycine supplementation can be helpful.
Inhibitory Neurotransmitter
As an inhibitory neurotransmitter, glycine plays a critical role in decreasing the likelihood of action potential transmission, meaning it can help to calm an over-excited nervous system. Glycine supplementation can be supportive for various neurologic and psychiatric disorders, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia, mood disorders, sleep disorders (including equine sleep crashing) and more.
"Deficiencies in inhibitory neurotransmission (e.g., glycine) can result in excessive excitation or reduced inhibition within neural pathways, resulting in seizures and epilepsy disorders."
-Osmosis from Elsevier; Inhibitory Neurotransmitters
Glycine & Cushing's Disease | PPID
Cushing's disease is rooted in degenerated neurons which negatively impact hormone production in the pituitary gland, such as overproduction of ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTrophic Hormone). Glycine supplementation can be supportive for Cushing's disease by crossing the blood brain barrier to strengthen and calm the nervous system (recovering degenerated neurons & improving cellular communication / synapses), reducing excessive cortisol output, and supporting a normal inflammatory response, including reducing inflammation in the pituitary. Glycine can also inhibit the growth of tumors, which Cushing's is said to include a tumor on the pituitary gland.
Glyphosate (RoundUp) Masquerading as Glycine?
According to the research of Dr. Stephanie Seneff, Senior Research Scientist with MIT, Glyphosate (the main ingredient / herbicide in RoundUp weed killer) has the ability to replace our critical amino acid glycine with itself, potentially creating a very long list of genetic disorders and inflammatory conditions. Glyphosate is glycine amino acid, decorated with harmful chemicals, so structurally it fits right into glycine's place (its very simple structure has only a single hydrogen atom as its side chain). With Glyphosate masquerading as glycine, this can handicap the body's processes on a cellular level.
When horses are fed GMO by-products (the main ingredients in commercial feeds, balancers and many supplements), how much Glyphosate exposure do we suppose they might be getting, potentially interfering with their glycine stores and cellular processes? Did you know Glyphosate is also found in vaccinations when third party tested for purity (related: harms of injection vs. ingestion)? Is the farmer spraying RoundUp on the hay your horse is eating 24/7? What can we do to limit our horse's exposure to Glyphosate? Feeding them organic and wildcrafted ingredients is as close we can come to ruling it out via diet, as it's not allowed to be used in organic crops or wildcrafted plants.
Glycine & Glycogen Conversion (PSSM)
When glucose (sugar) is consumed, it’s converted into glycogen for storage, to be used later by the body for energy. However, with PSSM, it gets stuck as glycogen and is unable to convert back into glucose to be used by the mitochondria, so it builds up / accumulates in the muscle tissues.
Why is this happening? What is paralyzing the glycogen, inhibiting it from its normal function?
Glycine is critical for glycogen conversion. The enzyme that regulates glycogen synthase, Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3), might be the busiest kinase in most cells, having over 100 known substrates to deal with. The key here is, GSK3 has a glycine-rich region, and deletion of this region will induce the nuclear accumulation of GSK3α. GSK3 is a metabolic sensor that restricts cell mass accumulation, but it cannot do so if it is missing the glycine-rich region.
Ultimately, by limiting our horses exposure to Glyphosate and providing them with ample amounts of pure glycine, we can better support their bodies in recovering these normal and absolutely critical processes.
Glycine & Methionine Supplementation
Horses are commonly supplemented with therapeutic levels of Methionine (1 of the 3 rate-limiting amino acids), without attention paid to insufficient glycine intake / low glycine stores and glyphosate masquerading as glycine in their bodies.
Glycine is critical for the methionine clearance process, to avoid elevated homocysteine levels which lead to increased oxidative stress, cellular damage, cardiovascular problems and more.
If you supplement the 3 rate-limiting aminos, methionine, lysine & threonine, please consider offering glycine, as well. Our 3 + 1 Aminos blend includes glycine amino acid with methionine, lysine & threonine.
Glycine: Metabolic Syndrome, Blood Sugar Levels & Insulin Sensitivity
Glycine is necessary for multiple metabolic pathways, including synthesis of glutathione (the body’s master antioxidant) and regulation of one-carbon metabolic pathways. Glycine can increase insulin sensitivity, improving insulin levels for insulin resistant horses.
"Glycine supplements have been shown to stimulate a gut hormone that increases insulin’s ability to remove glucose from the bloodstream, potentially aiding in diabetes management and prevention.”
-Dr. Axe: Glycine: The Muscle-Building, Brain-Boosting Amino Acid
Glycine is considered a promising amino acid for improving metabolic health and is recognized as a relevant plasma marker for metabolic diseases associated with obesity.
Benefit Highlights:
- Supports a normal inflammatory response
- Helps manage pain & inflammation
- Inhibitory neurotransmitter / Supports the nervous system
- Calms nerves / minimizes anxiety
- Helps regulate nerve impulses
- Helps prevent ischemic strokes & seizures
- Supports normal cellular processes
- Anti-tumor properties
- Supports Cushing's disease
- Helps to regulate blood sugar levels
- Helps manage insulin resistance & diabetes
- Helps balance electrolyte levels including calcium, chloride & potassium
- Support glycogen conversion (PSSM)
- Promotes lean muscle growth
- Helps prevent sarcopenia (muscle loss, muscle wasting or deterioration)
- Repairs & protects joints & cartilage
- Improves flexibility & range of motion
- Supports digestion
- Helps build the lining of the gastrointestinal tract
- Produces bile salts & digestive enzymes
- Strengthens the immune system
- Reduces risk for certain types of cancer
- Helps reduce allergic & autoimmune reactions
- Helps produce red blood cells
- Slows the aging process
- Helps fight fatigue
- Supports restful sleep
- Can help minimize equine sleep crashing
- Can improve mental / cognitive performance & much more!
Ingredients: 100% Glycine (amino acid) powder.
Administration Instructions: 1 scoop (6 g), twice daily, for every 1,000 lbs of body weight. This can doubled as needed for acute situations.
Storage: Please store in a cool, dry place.