Anyone supplement with glycine?

[ht]

There is plenty of good research on the benefits of glycine for anti-aging (1), sleep (2), restoring youthful glutithione levels (3), etc.  I've been taking 3g every day before bed, and I do sleep noticeably better when I take it.

However, after taking it like this for about 2 or 3 weeks straight, I start to get extreme daytime sleepiness.  Even after a perfect 8 hours of sleep, I'm groggy all day and can't wait to crawl in bed at night.  I'm not 100% sure it's the glycine, but I'm 90% sure.  The only other real possibilities are some transient sickness, or worse than usual allergies.  I've just finished my 3rd try of supplementing with glycine, and each time I've have to quit for a while just to be able to function like a normal person again.  I think the health benefits are pretty clear cut, so I'd like to continue with it, but I can't handle the fatigue.  The thing is, I can't find any study or even an anecdotal report that talks about fatigue associated with glycine.  The glycine sleep study even reported an improvement in daytime sleepiness due to the better sleep, so I'm baffled.

Does anyone else take glycine regularly, and have you experienced fatigue?

1. http://www.fasebj.org/content/25/1_Supplement/528.2
2. http://holisticprimarycare.net/topics/topics-o-z/vitamins-a-supplements/1249-a-new-approach-to-promoting-healthy-sleep-
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21795440

[PeakT]

There is plenty of good research on the benefits of glycine for anti-aging (1), sleep (2), restoring youthful glutithione levels (3), etc.  I've been taking 3g every day before bed, and I do sleep noticeably better when I take it.

However, after taking it like this for about 2 or 3 weeks straight, I start to get extreme daytime sleepiness.  Even after a perfect 8 hours of sleep, I'm groggy all day and can't wait to crawl in bed at night.  I'm not 100% sure it's the glycine, but I'm 90% sure.  The only other real possibilities are some transient sickness, or worse than usual allergies.  I've just finished my 3rd try of supplementing with glycine, and each time I've have to quit for a while just to be able to function like a normal person again.  I think the health benefits are pretty clear cut, so I'd like to continue with it, but I can't handle the fatigue.  The thing is, I can't find any study or even an anecdotal report that talks about fatigue associated with glycine.  The glycine sleep study even reported an improvement in daytime sleepiness due to the better sleep, so I'm baffled.

Does anyone else take glycine regularly, and have you experienced fatigue?

1. http://www.fasebj.org/content/25/1_Supplement/528.2
2. http://holisticprimarycare.net/topics/topics-o-z/vitamins-a-supplements/1249-a-new-approach-to-promoting-healthy-sleep-
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21795440

I've taken it but not consistently enough to notice the above.  I didn't know that about the glutathione, so thx!

Check this out:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21414089

"Oral administration of glycine increases extracellular serotonin but not dopamine in the prefrontal cortex of rats."

"AIM:
Glycine, one of the non-essential amino acids, has been reported to be effective in reducing negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Recently, we found that glycine improves subjective sleep quality in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of oral glycine administration on endogenous 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of living rats.
METHODS:
Microdialysis probes were inserted stereotaxically into the rat prefrontal cortex. Cortical levels of 5-HT and dopamine were measured following oral administration of 1 or 2 g/kg glycine, 2 g/kg d-serine, or 2 g/kg L-serine.
RESULTS:
Both glycine and d-serine significantly increased extracellular 5-HT levels for 10 min, whereas dopamine levels remained unchanged. L-serine, in contrast, had no significant effects on 5-HT levels.
CONCLUSIONS:
It is possible that the increase in 5-HT in response to glycine and d-serine was mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. The transient increase in 5-HT in the PFC might be associated with the alleviation of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and the amelioration of sleep quality in patients with insomnia."

[Kierkegaard]

I've tried glycine 6-7 times, and each time it seemed to cause me to have lighter, more fragmented sleep.  Definitely not rested on awakening.

Then again, I've had similar experiences with tryptophan, which is a precursor to serotonin (like 5-HT), and an awful response to an SSRI, meaning I have some weird reaction to serotonin that might explain my poor response to glycine. 

[Osprey]

I take trimethylglycine as part of my CFS stack. I've been taking it for about 6 months. The past couple of months I've been experiencing what you describe but I attribute it to the fact that my TSH has shot up to almost 5.0, even though I've been taking the same thyroid med at the same dose. Last year the same thing happened coming through winter even though at that time I was not taking the TMG and other CFS supplements. I've increased my thyroid dose so I'm hoping that takes care of the daytime fatigue.

[PeakT]

I take trimethylglycine as part of my CFS stack. I've been taking it for about 6 months. The past couple of months I've been experiencing what you describe but I attribute it to the fact that my TSH has shot up to almost 5.0, even though I've been taking the same thyroid med at the same dose. Last year the same thing happened coming through winter even though at that time I was not taking the TMG and other CFS supplements. I've increased my thyroid dose so I'm hoping that takes care of the daytime fatigue.

How does glycine battle CFS in a nutshell?

[Osprey]

I take trimethylglycine as part of my CFS stack. I've been taking it for about 6 months. The past couple of months I've been experiencing what you describe but I attribute it to the fact that my TSH has shot up to almost 5.0, even though I've been taking the same thyroid med at the same dose. Last year the same thing happened coming through winter even though at that time I was not taking the TMG and other CFS supplements. I've increased my thyroid dose so I'm hoping that takes care of the daytime fatigue.

How does glycine battle CFS in a nutshell?

TMG is a methyl group donor, so it helps the methylation cycle. Once it donates its 2 methyl groups then it is just glycine.

So as a supplement TMG will have some different effects than plain glycine.

[PeakT]

TMG is a methyl group donor, so it helps the methylation cycle. Once it donates its 2 methyl groups then it is just glycine.

So as a supplement TMG will have some different effects than plain glycine.

Okay, that seems really cool.   Seems like it might help some of the negative effects of methylfolate, high dose niacin, etc. 

[Peyt]

from what I understand, Glycine will increase Glutathione if combined with Glutamine, and the ratio has to be 1:2 meaning if you take 1mg of Glycine you must take 2mg of Glutamine.
But it gets more complicated than that.
The only people who will generally benefit from this (as far as increasing their Glutathione by means of supplementing Glycine and Glutamine) are ones who have high levels of Cycteine

The way it works is this :

Cysteine + Glutamine + Glycine = Glutathione

so how does one know if their Cysteine is just sitting in their body and not converting to Glutathione like it's suppose to?
By doing a UAA test... If the test shows high Cysteine that means it's not properly converting to Glutathione. UAA test also shows levels of Glutamine and Glycine... If those 2 Amino Acids show low or very low then that's a sure sign that supplementing with them will have some benefit, otherwise you probably have plenty of both and don't need them.

[Prof]

I started eating gelatin every day and has a lot of glycine and proline,great food for immune function and others. One amazing thing is that I fall asleep easily when I eat it before bed

[Roger]

While I've supplemented with glycine in the past, I've never noticed any effects on "daytime sleepiness" one way or the other. But I do find the health benefits of glycine quite intriguing. For anyone intersted, Dr. Joel Brind has a very good series of posts on glycine at the following links:

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-2/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-3/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-4/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-cancer/

http://180degreehealth.com/glutathione/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-insulin-resistance/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-methionine-balance-revisited-matter-timing/
 

[PeakT]

While I've supplemented with glycine in the past, I've never noticed any effects on "daytime sleepiness" one way or the other. But I do find the health benefits of glycine quite intriguing. For anyone intersted, Dr. Joel Brind has a very good series of posts on glycine at the following links:

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-2/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-3/

http://180degreehealth.com/diet-inflammation-part-4/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-cancer/

http://180degreehealth.com/glutathione/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-insulin-resistance/

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-methionine-balance-revisited-matter-timing/

Wow.  I have read a couple of his article, but I missed this one so thx for posting that

http://180degreehealth.com/glycine-methionine-balance-revisited-matter-timing/

Man, I can remember guys giving me a hard time about keeping methionine down.  They thought I was crazy, but these articles should help everyone.

Here is a key statement if I've ever I've seen one:

"Although glycine is non-essential, your liver can’t make an unlimited amount, and the typical diet usually comes up short 8-10 grams of glycine per day. Meanwhile, glycine has critical functions in the body only recently discovered. Most relevant to human diet and health is the fact that glycine is the most important endogenous regulator of inflammation. In fact, I’m convinced that glycine deficiency lies at the core of most conditions that make people sick and die these days, from diabetes and arthritis to heart disease and cancer. That’s because they’re all traceable to chronic excess inflammation. If you are glycine-deficient, it will show up as chronic inflammation sooner or later, one way or another.  "