Dr. Nicole Cain explains how glutamine converts to glutamate, then to GABA, a calming neurotransmitter. Vitamin B6 is the cofactor that makes this conversion work. If you have signs of high glutamate, B6 might help with anxiety and sleep.
Questions this video answers
Vitamin B6.
Glutamate decarboxylase.
Chapters
Hi, this is Dr. Nicole. And this is episode two in the series All About Glutamate. Glutamate comes from an amino acid called glutamine. Glutamine is released by your lungs, your muscles, your brain, and you can get glutamine in your diet. In addition to being a precursor to glutamate, glutamine has many important jobs. It supports your immune system, balances your gut. It helps you build muscles. Lots of stuff, right? Problems arise when glutamine converts into glutamate but gets stuck. Stuck. So that glutamate can't convert into gaba. But here's a hack. There is one vitamin that you need to take that can help convert glutamine into glutamate and then glutamate into gaba. You care about this because GABA is your calming neurotransmitter. That's the neurotransmitter that can combat anxiety, help you go to sleep at night, and help you feel more relaxed and grounded. This is for those who are visual learners. You start with glutamine, you have glutamine synthase and then you make glutamate and then you use glutamate decarboxylase and you go to gaba. The necessary vitamin CO factor for making Gaba is vitamin B6. So if you have signs of too high glutamate, one start that you can add to your protocol is getting B6 in and seeing if that helps with some of your high glutamate symptoms. Stay tuned for more videos.
