Increasing plasma glutamine in postoperative patients fed an arginine-rich immune-enhancing diet—A pharmacokinetic randomized controlled study*

Abstract

To our knowledge, this is the first reported pharmacokinetic study on an IED even though these products have been on the market for 20 years. Our main result is that administering an ARG-enriched IED causes a significant increase in plasma GLN probably from de novo GLN synthesis from ARG. This suggests that the ARG present in IED can serve to supply GLN to ICU patients, who are usually depleted in this conditionally essential AA during injury.