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Found some of my own information:

[copied from Glutamine: The Essential "Non-Essential" Amino Acid by Ivy Greenwell]

Quote:

Combats hypoglycemia by raising serum glucose

Glutamine can enter the Krebs cycle and serve as a non-carbohydrate source of energy. In fact, this is the main way it usually contributes to the production of energy. However, if the blood sugar is low (hypoglycemia), glutamine is readily catabolized (broken down) in the liver to provide more glucose. Together with alanine, glycine, serine and threonine, glutamine is an important "gluconeogenic" amino acid, in fact the primary one. This production of glucose from glutamine takes place mainly in the liver. Recently, however, it has been discovered that the kidneys can contribute as much as 25% to whole-body glucose production, a phenomenon that occurs only during hypoglycemia. Actually this is not surprising, since the kidneys are especially equipped to process glutamine due to its importance in the detoxification of ammonia.

Providing abundant glutamine through diet and supplementation means that less muscle tissue (if any) will be broken down to provide glucose. This is of great importance to people on calorie-restricted diets, whose great problem is losing muscle mass more so than fatty tissue. Since it is the metabolically active muscle mass that helps keep us slender (not to mention strong and fit), extra glutamine can help dieters lose girth around the waist while preserving muscle mass.

Considering the effectiveness of glutamine in combating hypoglycemia, it is no wonder that alternative medicine recommends it for the purpose of eliminating sugar cravings, and alcohol cravings in the fight against alcoholism (many alcoholics appear to suffer from hypoglycemia).

Diabetics, however, need to exercise caution, since they have an abnormal glutamine metabolism. A much higher percentage of their glutamine is broken down for the production of glucose by the liver and the kidneys, a process called glutamine gluconeogenesis. This increased production of glucose from glutamine (and also from alanine, an amino acid in the same family) is probably related to the diabetes-related excess levels of the serum glucose-raising pancreatic hormone called glucagon. True, this excessive breakdown of glutamine into glucose in diabetes occurs without any supplementation, since the muscle and the fatty tissue release so much glutamine in response to the endocrine pathology.

Diabetics also show other enzymatic abnormalities in relation to glutamine, including poor function of the retinal glia (glia are cells that have various supportive functions in the nervous system, including detoxifying ammonia through the production of glutamine). Thus the diabetic retina is prone to damage through glutamate excitotoxicity, since the glia are not converting enough glutamate to glutamine. While a plausible argument could be made for the benefits of glutamine even for diabetics-sparing of muscle mass, improved intestinal function, enhanced immune response-caution must be urged. A diabetic considering taking any amino acids should discuss the matter with his/her physician. The use of high doses of antioxidants, including vitamin E and various polyphenols, should be beneficial, as well as supplementation with taurine. Taurine is the one amino acid that seems to be very helpful to diabetics.

Now what I am curious about is this. Gluconeogenesis takes place under the influence of glucagon, not insulin. If you have extra glucagon floating around in your system, insulin cannot be present in large quantities (and vice versa). So, if insulin is not present, how can this knock you out of ketosis?

Nat