@article {689647, title = {Circulating Glutamine and Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study}, journal = {Clinical Interventions in Aging}, volume = {15}, year = {2020}, pages = {185{\textendash}193}, abstract = { Background Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder. Its worldwide prevalence is over 24 million and is expected to double by 2040. Finding ways to prevent its cognitive decline is urgent. Methods A two-sample Mendelian randomization study was performed instrumenting glutamine, which is abundant in blood, capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, and involved in a metabolic cycle with glutamate in the brain. Results The results reveal a protective effect of circulating glutamine against Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (inverse-variance weighted method, odds ratio per 1-standard deviation increase in circulating glutamine = 0.83; 95\% CI 0.71, 0.97;\ P\ = 0.02). Conclusion These findings lend credence to the emerging story supporting the modifiability of glutamine/glutamate metabolism for the prevention of cognitive decline. More circulating glutamine might mean that more substrate is available during times of stress, acting as a neuroprotectant. Modifications to exogenous glutamine may be worth exploring in future efforts to prevent and/or treat Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease. }, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7020919/pdf/cia-15-185.pdf}, author = {Charleen D. Adams} }