The Study
Effects of glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate on intestinal barrier integrity and amino acid pool of the small intestine in piglets with normal or low energy diet
This study gave special food to baby pigs and saw that their guts worked better—like stronger walls and better nutrient transport. But it doesn't prove this would work the same way in people, because pigs aren't humans.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
When baby pigs are weaned, their tummies get stressed and leaky. Scientists gave them extra glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate — amino acids that act like fuel and building blocks — to help fix their gut lining.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 518 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — healthier guts mean piglets absorb more food, grow better, and get sick less often during the risky weaning period.
- 2Pigs that got the amino acids had stronger gut walls (more occludin/claudin proteins), less leakiness (lower DAO and D-lactate in blood), more gut cell growth (higher PCNA), and better nutrient absorption genes.
- 3On day 21, their cells also started making more proteins.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Year
2023
Authors
Yuankun Deng, Hao Cheng, Junyao Li, H. Han, Ming Qi, Nan Wang, B-K Tan, Jianjun Li, Jing Wang
Related Content
Claims (6)
Glutamine and malate provide energy directly to mitochondria in gut lining cells, which strengthens the barrier between the intestine and the rest of the body.
Feeding weaning piglets a diet supplemented with specific amounts of glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate increases the levels of key proteins that seal the intestinal lining and decreases blood markers of intestinal leakage.
Feeding weaning piglets glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate increases the activity of specific genes in the small intestine that transport amino acids, improving nutrient uptake when energy intake is low.
Feeding weaning piglets glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate increases the rate of intestinal cell division in the jejunum and speeds up repair of the intestinal lining.
In weaning piglets, adding glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate to the diet changes the levels of other amino acids in the blood, increasing lysine, arginine, and threonine when energy intake is low and increasing aspartate when energy intake is normal.
In weaning piglets, adding glutamine, glutamate, and aspartate to their diet turns on the mTOR-S6K1-4EBP1 signaling pathway in the small intestine at 21 days after weaning but not at 5 days after weaning.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.