Glutathione: “The Master Antioxidant.”

IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT MOLECULE you need to stay healthy and prevent disease — yet you’ve probably never heard of it. It’s the secret to prevent aging, cancer, heart disease, dementia and more, and necessary to treat everything from autism to Alzheimer’s disease. There are more than 89,000 medical articles about it — but your doctor doesn’t know how address the epidemic deficiency of this critical life-giving molecule … What is it? I’m talking about the mother of all antioxidants, the master detoxifier and maestro of the immune system: GLUTATHIONE (pronounced “gloota-thigh-own”). Glutathione is your body’s most powerful antioxidant and has even been called “the master antioxidant.” It is a tripeptide found inside every single cell in your body.

The good news is that your body produces its own glutathione. The bad news is that poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections and radiation all deplete your glutathione. This leaves you susceptible to unrestrained cell disintegration from oxidative stress, free radicals, infections and cancer. And your liver gets overloaded and damaged, making it unable to do its job of detoxification. In treating chronically ill patients with Functional Medicine for more than 10 years, Dr Mark Hyman has discovered that glutathione deficiency is found in nearly all very ill patients. These include people with chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, cancer, chronic infections, autoimmune disease, diabetes, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, asthma, kidney problems, liver disease and more. At first he thought that this was just a coincidental finding, but over the years he has come to realize that our ability to produce and maintain a high level of glutathione is critical to recovery from nearly all chronic illness — and to preventing disease and maintaining optimal health and performance.

What is Glutathione?

Glutathione is a very simple molecule that is produced naturally all the time in your body. It is a combination of three simple building blocks of protein or amino acids — cysteine, glycine and glutamine.

Glutathione is sometimes confused with glutamine and glutamate due to the similarity in names. Although all three molecules are related, they are different in composition and function. When you are healthy, the three are balanced and do a delicate dance within your body.

In a nutshell, this is the difference between the three:

1.      Glutamine: Your body’s most abundant amino acid, made in your brain from glutamate; has a major role in various anti-injury processes and muscle repair; a precursor to glutathione.

2.      Glutathione (two types, GSH and GSSG): The “master antioxidant”—most powerful antioxidant in your body, present in every cell. Protects cells, and especially important for liver health; breaks down into free glutamate.

3.      Glutamate (aka glutamic acid or L-glutamate): Monopeptide amino acid neurotransmitter in your brain—required for synaptic activity. You don’t want too much of it—it’s an excitotoxin.

The secret of its power is the sulfur (SH) chemical groups it contains. Sulfur is a sticky, smelly molecule. It acts like fly paper and all the bad things in the body stick onto it, including free radicals and toxins like mercury and other heavy metals.

Normally glutathione is recycled in the body — except when the toxic load becomes too great. And that explains why we are in such trouble …

There are genes involved in producing enzymes that allow the body to create and recycle glutathione in the body. These genes have many names, such as GSTM1, GSTP1 and more.  The one-third of our population that suffers from chronic disease is missing this essential gene.

The Importance of Glutathione in Protecting Against Chronic Illness

Glutathione is critical for one simple reason: It recycles antioxidants. You see, dealing with free radicals is like handing off a hot potato. They get passed around from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then finally to glutathione which cools off the free radicals and recycles other antioxidants. After this happens, the body can “reduce” or regenerate another protective glutathione molecule and we are back in business.However, problems occur when we are overwhelmed with too much oxidative stress or too many toxins. Then the glutathione becomes depleted and we can no longer protect ourselves against free radicals, infections, or cancer and we can’t get rid of toxins. This leads to further sickness and soon we are in the downward spiral of chronic illness.

But that’s not all. Glutathione is also critical in helping your immune system do its job of fighting infections and preventing cancer. That’s why studies show that it can help in the treatment of AIDS.(i)

Glutathione is also the most critical and integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool — and out of your body.

And lastly, it also helps us reach peak mental and physical function. Research has shown that raised glutathione levels decrease muscle damage, reduce recovery time, increase strength and endurance and shift metabolism from fat production to muscle development.

If you are sick or old or are just not in peak shape, you likely have glutathione deficiency.
In fact, the top British medical journal, the Lancet, found the highest glutathione levels in healthy young people, lower levels in healthy elderly, lower still in sick elderly and the lowest of all in the hospitalized elderly.

Keeping yourself healthy, boosting your performance, preventing disease and aging well depends on keeping your glutathione levels high. Glutathione is so important because it is responsible for keeping so many of the keys to wellness optimized.

It is critical for immune function and controlling inflammation. It is the master detoxifier and the body’s main antioxidant, protecting our cells and making our energy metabolism run well.

Glutathione deficiency has been linked to:
 

• Age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

• Coronary and autoimmune diseases

• Arthritis, asthma and other inflammatory conditions

• Cancer

• Mitochondrial dysfunction

• Muscle weakness and fatigue

Synthesis of glutathione depends upon adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the molecule that provides cellular energy. It follows that glutathione levels are linked to energy deficiency, or low ATP.

And the good news is that you can do many things to increase this natural and critical molecule in your body. You can eat glutathione-boosting foods. You can exercise. And you can take glutathione-boosting supplements. Let’s review more specifics about each.

Eat Foods that Support Glutathione Production

1. Consume sulfur-rich foods. The main ones in the diet are garlic, onions and the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, etc.).

2. Try bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis.Even if you are not a big fan of dairy. This is an exception — with a few warnings. The whey protein MUST be bioactive and made from non-denatured proteins (“denaturing” refers to the breakdown of the normal protein structure). Choose non-pasteurized and non-industrially produced milk that contains no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics.

Exercise for Your Way to More Glutathione

3. Exercise boosts your glutathione levels and thereby helps boost your immune system, improve detoxification and enhance your body’s own antioxidant defenses. Start slow and build up to 30 minutes a day of vigorous aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, or play various sports. Strength training for 20 minutes 3 times a week is also helpful.

Take Glutathione Supporting Supplements instead of Glutathione Supplements themselves

Ironically, glutathione supplements may actually interfere with your body’s own glutathione production.

The human body is programmed to self-produce its own antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione and SOD (superoxide dismutase, the first antioxidant mobilized by your cells for defense). And synthetic supplementation of these compounds actually signals your body to stop its own production – which leaves you dependent on synthetic substances (supplements or drugs).

Glutamine can be used as a supplement since it’s a direct precursor to glutathione. However, there is quite a bit of evidence it is poorly absorbed. Here are the main supplements that need to be taken consistently to boost glutathione.

4. N-acetyl-cysteine. This has been used for years to help treat asthma and lung disease and to treat people with life-threatening liver failure from Tylenol overdose. It is even given to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.

5. Alpha lipoic acid. This is a close second to glutathione in importance in our cells and is involved in energy production, blood sugar control, brain health and detoxification. The body usually makes it, but given all the stresses we are under, we often become depleted. Alpha lipoic acid is also known to regenerate glutathione. ALA also helps to regenerate vitamins C and E so that they remain active longer in your body. Red meat and organ meats are the best dietary source of alpha lipoic acid.

6. Methylation nutrients (folate and vitamins B6 and B12). These are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione. Methylation and the production and recycling of glutathione are the two most important biochemical functions in your body. Take folate (especially in the active form of 5 methyltetrahydrofolate), B6 (in active form of P5P) and B12 (in the active form of methylcobalamin).

7. Selenium. This important mineral helps the body recycle and produce more glutathione.

8. A family of antioxidants including vitamins C and E (in the form of mixed tocopherols), work together to recycle glutathione.

9. Milk thistle (silymarin) has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels.

Glutathione is your body’s most powerful antioxidant and has even been called “the master antioxidant.” It is a tripeptide found inside every single cell in your body.

What Foods Promote the Highest Glutathione Levels?

Many whole foods contain significant amounts of glutathione or its precursors. Foods richest in sulfur-containing amino acids are usually the best sources of glutathione:

The overall top food for maximizing your glutathione is high quality whey protein. It must be cold pressed whey protein derived from grass fed cows, and free of hormones, chemicals and sugar. 
Quality whey provides all the key amino acids for glutathione production (cysteine, glycine and glutamate) and contains a unique cysteine residue (glutamylcysteine) that is highly bioactive in its affinity for converting to glutathione. 

Glutamylcysteine is a bonded cysteine molecule (cysteine plus glutamate) that naturally occurs in Bovine Serum Albumin – a fragile immune component of the whey. This unique cysteine is exclusive to whey and rarely appears in other protein foods – which makes whey protein the best glutathione-promoting food source. 

Furthermore, whey provides critical co-factors, immunoglobulins, lactoferrin and alpha Lactalbumin (also a great source of cysteine), which together help create the right metabolic environment for high glutathione activity.
 

• Raw milk products, raw eggs and meat: Glutathione occurs in the highest levels in fresh, uncooked meats and raw milk, but is almost entirely absent in pasteurized dairy products.

• Fresh fruits and vegetables provide excellent glutathione, but once cooked, values become negligible. Spinach, potatoes, asparagus, avocado, squash, okra, cauliflower, broccoli, walnuts, garlic and tomatoes have the highest glutathione per serving.

• The herb milk thistle is an excellent source of the antioxidant compound silymarin, which may help to prevent glutathione depletion in the liver. Glutathione is crucial in the liver for detoxification and can become depleted from acetaminophen (Tylenol), alcohol consumption, and general toxic overload.

• Curcumin may also be useful for increasing glutathione levels.

Keeping your glutathione levels up is a matter of increasing factors that boost your glutathione and decreasing factors that lower it. The things that deplete your glutathione the fastest are chemicals, toxins and sugar.

The Right Whey

If you want to supplement your diet with whey protein products, you have to be careful because not all whey protein products are created equal. Supermarket and nutrition store shelves are lined with protein powder choices, 99 percent of which are loaded with sugar and chemicals that don’t support your health goal.

If you’re going to supplement, you should only use a high quality whey protein that provides all the necessary nutritional elements for NATURALLY boosting glutathione and also preventing its decline.

Be sure your whey protein supplement has the following features:
 

• The whey comes from grass-fed cows that are not treated with pesticides or hormones

• Cold processed, since heat destroys whey’s fragile molecular structure

• Whey protein concentrate, not protein isolates

• Sweetened naturally, not artificially, and low in carbohydrates

• Highly digestible—look for medium chain fatty acids (MCTs), not long chain fatty acids

                    Don't forget to look at my Organic Sulfur and see the benefits that you

will receive from adding it into your daily regime!