In the Zoe Rocks part 1 podcast, Richard talks about supplementing with Glycine and seeing much higher ketone levels. I was wondering if there was any science behind it, and why Richard thought it might help to supplement that?
I couldn’t find anything with a cursory online search, so… what’s the story?? 
Supposedly glycine promotes glucagon being released by the pancreas. Glucagon tells fat cells to release fat.
There’s also some discussion online that it actually kicks you out of ketosis, so maybe some more research.
I am trying to figure how how much glycine one would need to use to get this effect.
Yes that would be very interesting. I feel the makings of a n=1 experiment coming on! I’m a recovered T2 diabetic, but even with a normal a1c, ketogenic lifestyle and IF, the final 50 lb is just stubbornly resistant.
And do you find any problems with ketosis and glycine? There’s a Youtube video where the guy takes 5g glycine and checks blood sugar & ketones 45 min later. Basically finds that his blood sugar goes up and ketones go down.
I don’t measure my ketones, and I take it right before bed so I’m not sure how it effects my blood sugar. Chris Masterjohn has a couple of recent podcast episodes devoted to glycine, he’s a really good resource!
Really like Zoe’s turn of phrase. Always like hearing the Tim tales. Nice one, chaps.
Awful to know HPCSA are continuing what is beginning to resemble a professional vendetta.
Zoe’s charts very helpful, especially on what to eat for highest nutritional impact, force liver down - found a good chicken liver pate recipe.
I’ll see what I can do. Might not be a very fast reponse though. Keeping calm and… well, you know.
The metabolic response to ingested glycine.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12450897/
CONCLUSION: The data are compatible with the hypothesis that oral glycine stimulates the secretion of a gut hormone that potentiates the effect of insulin on glucose removal from the circulation.
SelfHacked has a good roundup of different effects - https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/glycine-little-protein/. The article feels cheerleadery, but every claim is linked to a source study:
Glycine sounds perfect - where has it been all my life? I am a bit hesitant because of the reported sweetness - I have broken the carb addiction and I don’t want a relapse. I eat a Swerve-sweetened item about 2x/year (1x for May birthday season & 1x in the holiday season). Has anyone had higher blood glucose bc of glycine supplementation?
I’m not being a naysayer, but until a lot of this is proven, there are certainly a lot of "can"s and "may"s in that list. I take glycine (testing to see if there is any difference with me) and there is a lot of anecdotal quotes and stories out there. However, I’m not seeing a lot of strong science and we as a species have come a long way without glycine supplements. I find it best to be a skeptic on any supplement claims.
So here’s some preliminary feedback on taking glycine. So far, I don’t see much in the way of blood sugar effects (neither up nor down). The one thing that I found is that if I take it in coffee in the amounts that you are supposed to need (several grams a day), it gives me pretty ugly heartburn! Maybe mixed into a smoothie or food item of some kind might be better, and as always, your mileage may vary! 