That was a quote from the article, not my statement.
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Glycine can cause depression and apathy in some. It does become a limiting component in the body’s ability to synthesize glutathione in middle age and older along with cysteine, which seems to be rate limiting at all ages.
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For those looking at a whole-food approach, I’ve had great results testing a fat/protein preload using a CGM.
Eating a handful of almonds about 15–20 minutes before a large high-carb smoothie significantly reduced my glucose spike.
It does add a few calories compared to isolated glycine or acarbose
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Thank you for the information on Glycine , I tried it last night , a level teaspoon over my high carb/ sugar meal, , normally I spike to around 140 at night, after using Glycin it went to 85 , I am so excited about this because using SLG 1 ,plus Acarbos,plus Metformin , nothing stopped that spike. This Glycine is amazing , thank you so much
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Interesting. I wonder why it works.
I have to wonder if just about any amino acid or whey protein would do the same thing.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/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.
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That is amazing, I will try that
My low glucose level is 59 in the night so I don’t think I should take Glycine before bed. I am experimenting with Glycine right now , I have had a slight reduction in my night spike but I will keep testing it
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I think it’s a level teaspoon
Yes: 3g of glycine is typically a level teaspoon, depending on the specific product. I take 6g daily in two doses.
But 30g is 10x that amount, which would be 10 teaspoons, and that’s a very different dose. For me, even 6g at one time will cause exciting GI upset. As I see it, 30g is many tokes over the line. All the lines. No thanks. 
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I’ve also read that taking glycine before bed helps sleep. Have you, or anyone else here, monitored their blood glucose levels after dosing glycine in the evening before bed? I wonder if it raises blood glucose levels.
I’m concerned about taking Glycine at bedtime because my sugar goes down to 59 during the night . At dinner I took a Acarbose then a Metformin but no glycine because I had a no carb meal. However I did sprinkle a teaspoon over my lunch and took a acarbose and my glucose stayed well under 90
I checked with Google Gemini Flash:
Is there scientific and clinical evidence that glycine, when dosed at 3 to 5 grams, will raise or lower blood glucose levels by itself?
Gemini Response:
When administered alone in a fasting state, a single oral dose of 3 to 5 grams of glycine does not significantly raise or lower systemic blood glucose levels. Clinical evidence indicates that isolated glycine induces glycemic neutrality due to simultaneous, counterbalancing endocrine responses.
Clinical Evidence: Standalone Administration
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Glycemic Stability: In a clinical study by Gannon et al. (2002), healthy subjects received an oral dose of glycine adjusted to lean body mass (~3.6 to 5.0 g) either alone with water or alongside oral glucose. When ingested alone,plasma glucose concentrations remained flat and did not significantly differ from baseline or from a plain water control over a two-hour sampling window.
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Insulin Stimulation: A clinical trial by González-Ortiz et al. (2001) evaluated an oral bolus of 5 g of glycine in healthy first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetics. Glycine elicited a statistically significant increase in early, late, and total insulin secretion without inducing clinical hypoglycemia or altering baseline insulin sensitivity.
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Longer-Term Fasting Parameters: In a 2025 trial published by Tan et al. (2025), two weeks of daily glycine supplementation (~0.1 g/kg/day, roughly 8–10 g/day in obese adults) resulted in no significant change in fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, or mixed-meal tolerance test (MMTT) glucose area under the curve (AUC).
Standalone vs. Postprandial Context
The metabolic behavior of glycine changes entirely when carbohydrates are present. In the Gannon et al. trial, co-ingesting glycine with 25 g of glucose cut the postprandial glucose AUC by over 50% relative to glucose alone. This blunting effect occurs without an increase in total insulin AUC, pointing toward accelerated glucose disposal mediated by enteroendocrine signaling (such as glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1). When taken by itself , however, this postprandial clearing mechanism remains inactive because no exogenous glucose load is present to clear.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) | (.gov)
Scholarly Debates and Knowledge Gaps
- Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Granularity: Most clinical trials examining standalone glycine relied on intermittent venous sampling over 120 to 180 minutes. Granular interstitial data capturing transient micro-fluctuations (e.g., during nocturnal dosing for sleep architecture) in normoglycemic and prediabetic cohorts remain sparse.
- Metabolic Phenotypes: Most acute dosing trials involve young, metabolically healthy cohorts. In individuals with severe hepatic insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD/MASLD), or hyperglucagonemia, a 5 g glycine challenge might theoretically skew hepatic glucose output differently if αα-cell suppression is impaired,though clinical verification of this specific scenario is lacking.
- Chronic Glycemic Markers (HbA1c): While an acute bolus does not lower blood glucose, chronic daily intake (3 to 15 g/day) in diabetic cohorts has shown small reductions in HbA1c in preliminary trials (e.g., Cruz et al., 2008).This is generally attributed to decreased systemic inflammation, advanced glycation end-product (AGE) inhibition,and enhanced glutathione synthesis rather than direct hypoglycemic action.
If the goal is to evaluate acute individual response to an isolated 3 to 5 g dose (such as before sleep), verifying stability requires measuring paired fasting capillary glucose or tracking a continuous glucose sensor for 120 minutes post-ingestion.
This new medication Imeglimin sounds interesting for glucose control and lowering A1C , it’s not yet FDA approved but do you think we can buy it from India?
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15$ / 100 tablets/ 500 mg
20$ / 100 tablets / 1000 mg Imeglimin
From India
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Yes, all the regular resellers in India have it, and many of us have been using it
Are there discussions on this site about it, I’m interested to learn of results
Thank you
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N=1
I find that 4 grams of glycine before meals dramatically lowers the glucose spike, more than acarbose does. Am I a hyper responder?
Also, I take 4 grams right before bedtime, and it does improve sleep quality by lowering core body temperature slightly.
Glycine is on my must-have supplement list.
Gemini:
“Clinical and animal studies show that glycine induces hypothermia (a slight cooling of the core body), which directly mimics and supports the body’s natural circadian rhythm as it prepares for sleep.” ref
Clinical and animal studies show that glycine induces hypothermia (a slight cooling of the core body), which directly mimics and supports the body’s natural circadian rhythm as it prepares for sleep. [1, 2]
How It Works
- Vasodilation: Glycine increases cutaneous blood flow, meaning it dilates the blood vessels near the surface of your skin. This process increases blood flow to your extremities (hands and feet), allowing heat to escape from the body. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Brain Signaling: This cooling mechanism is mediated by the activation of NMDA receptors within the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the master biological clock in the brain that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. [1, 2]
Impact on Sleep Quality
Because a drop in core body temperature is a critical biological trigger for sleep onset, this physiological change offers several benefits: [1]
- Faster Sleep Onset: It shortens the time it takes to transition from wakefulness to sleep.
- Deeper Sleep: It supports transitions into deep and REM sleep stages.
- Improved Daytime Alertness: Small clinical trials have found that taking glycine before bed significantly reduces next-day fatigue and improves cognitive function. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Administration and Timing
In clinical sleep studies, glycine has typically been administered shortly before bedtime to evaluate its physiological effects. Most individuals begin to experience the subtle cooling effect within that timeframe. [1, 2, 3]
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