Glutathione is:

Glutathione: The Master Antioxidant

Antioxidants participate directly in the destruction of reactive oxygen compounds called free radicals. These by-products of a cell’s normal function can’t be avoided, but exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or other sources promotes their emergence.

Free radicals have been linked to muscle fatigue during exercise and aging.

For this reason, the body is equipped with a variety of antioxidants. Vitamins C and E are natural antioxidants but do not occur naturally in the body.

These and other antioxidants actually depend on natural glutathione to function properly. This is why glutathione is called “The Master Antioxidant”.

Glutathione: Food for the Immune System

Glutathione helps build your immune system’s resistance and improve your chances of staying healthy.

Lymphocytes are cells of your immune system. Glutathione is essential for lymphocytes to increase in number, produce antibodies, and function efficiently.

Glutathione: A Cellular Level Detoxifier

Our food and water sources are becoming increasingly contaminated with chemicals, as is the air that we breathe.

Supplemental detoxifiers such as glutathione help to counter the effects of the toxins we inhale and ingest.

By physically binding to toxic compounds in cells, glutathione helps make them soluble – and harmless. The body can then eliminate these disarmed toxins in the bile and urine.

Raising Glutathione Levels Means HEALTH

Think for a minute on the cellular changes that would take place in your body if you were to…

What one supplement or diet can offer this much toward balancing your health and well-being?

Honestly, only by increasing the body’s natural levels of glutathione can you begin to treat chronic inflammation, the root cause of many illnesses and get on track to long-term health.

However, the clinical application of GSH (glutathione) is just beginning to be elaborated and will have far-reaching effects. The detrimental effects of “reduced” glutathione production in one’s cells is being linked to a striking array of illnesses.

Antioxidation

Glutathione is the major naturally occurring antioxidant present in our cells. Other antioxidants introduced through our diet such as vitamins C and E actually depend on GSH for their function and recycling within the cell.

The field of free-radical biology is exploding and the list of disease states linked to oxidative stress is rapidly growing. In the past 3 years over 38,000 scientific papers have been released dealing with glutathione and its effect on a significant number of these diseases.

Toxicology

Glutathione plays a key role in detoxifying environmental toxins, including heavy metals, fuel exhaust, and many by-products of cigarette smoke.

Immune Modulation

Lymphocytes, in particular T-cell subsets, have a high demand for adequate GSH for their function and replication. GSH depletion caused by an acute or chronic inflammatory process, aging or infection will lead to a blunted immune response.

What is paradoxical is that as much as the body needs to have sufficient levels of glutathione, it is very difficult for the body to replace GSH through typical diets and supplementation when levels are low.

Glutathione vitamins, pills or supplements are ineffective and a waste of money since they are broken down before reaching the blood stream.

The pharmaceuticals currently used such as NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) have effectively helped critical situations such as Tylenol overdose cases and cystic fibrosis, however, they have the disadvantage of having side effects and results are short lived.

The good news is, Dr. Gustavo Bounous and a research team at Montreal Hospital, the teaching hospital of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, developed a patented natural dietary supplement. Their many years of research led to a break-through discovery of a milk serum protein isolate. The resulting product is known as Immunocal®. This product contains high amounts of glutathione precursors and both laboratory and clinical trials have documented the crucial role of this bio-active protein concentrate in promoting high cellular glutathione levels allowing for support of an efficient immune response. The precursors found in Immunocal® stimulate the cells to produce glutathione inside your cells and thus boost the immune system.

The 16th International Congress of Nutrition in Montreal, Canada conducted an open study using Immunocal with patients having Chronic Hepatitis B, and found significant improvement.

In another study, an in-vitro study dealing with breast cancer, Immunocal® caused depletion and inhibition of proliferation in human breast cancer cells.

In an in-vivo study with HIV patients, Immunocal was shown to lower viral count dramatically over a six-month period.

For more information on the benefits of glutathione (GSH), Dr. James F. Balch from “Prescriptions for Natural Healing” explains it very well in this Dr. Balch on Glutathione audio presentation.

Glutathione is:

Glutathione: The Master Antioxidant

Antioxidants participate directly in the destruction of reactive oxygen compounds called free radicals. These by-products of a cell’s normal function can’t be avoided, but exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or other sources promotes their emergence.

Free radicals have been linked to muscle fatigue during exercise and aging.

For this reason, the body is equipped with a variety of antioxidants. Vitamins C and E are natural antioxidants but do not occur naturally in the body.

These and other antioxidants actually depend on natural glutathione to function properly. This is why glutathione is called “The Master Antioxidant”.

Glutathione: Food for the Immune System

Glutathione helps build your immune system’s resistance and improve your chances of staying healthy.

Lymphocytes are cells of your immune system. Glutathione is essential for lymphocytes to increase in number, produce antibodies, and function efficiently.

Glutathione: A Cellular Level Detoxifier

Our food and water sources are becoming increasingly contaminated with chemicals, as is the air that we breathe.

Supplemental detoxifiers such as glutathione help to counter the effects of the toxins we inhale and ingest.

By physically binding to toxic compounds in cells, glutathione helps make them soluble – and harmless. The body can then eliminate these disarmed toxins in the bile and urine.

Raising Glutathione Levels Means HEALTH

Think for a minute on the cellular changes that would take place in your body if you were to…

What one supplement or diet can offer this much toward balancing your health and well-being?

Honestly, only by increasing the body’s natural levels of glutathione can you begin to treat chronic inflammation, the root cause of many illnesses and get on track to long-term health.

We were amazed when we saw thousands of clinical studies explaining and verifying the importance of maintaining optimal glutathione levels and the effectiveness of Immunocal as the one safe, natural and effective way to raise those levels.

To help you in your search for “truth” we have listed just a few of the independent medical research articles that emphasize the benefits of raising glutathione levels.

Type 2 Diabetes: “Type 2 Diabetics are more prone to infections and circulatory problems leading to heart disease, kidney failure, and blindness. Glutathione protects against the complications of diabetes.” Source: Clinical Science 91: 575-582, 1996

Heart Disease, Stroke, and Cholesterol: “Raised glutathione levels fight the oxidation of circulating fats in the bloodstream, including cholesterol, retarding the process of plaque formation in the arteries, the underlying cause for most heart disease and stroke. Source: Nutrition Reviews 54: 1-30, 1996

Cancer: “Depletion of this small molecule is a common consequence of increased formation of reactive oxygen species during increased cellular activities. Bioactive whey protein concentrate (Immunocal) has been shown to represent an effective and safe cysteine donor for GSH (glutathione) replenishment during GSH depletion in immune deficiency states. Source: Anticancer Research 20: 4785-4792, 2000

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: “Abnormalities of both humoral and cellular immunity have been demonstrated in a substantial proportion of patients with CFS. As an antioxidant, glutathione is essential for allowing the lymphocyte to express its full potential without being hampered by oxiradical accumulation.” Source: Med. Hypothesis 53 347-349, 1999

Kidney Disease: “People with kidney failure or dialysis suffer from higher levels of oxidative stress and decreased glutathione levels. Raised glutathione levels helps prevent anemia. Source: Nephron 61: 404-408, 1992

Pregnancy, Lactation, and Childbirth: “Glutathione’s role in fetal and placental development is crucial. It also acts in the placenta to detoxify pollutants before they reach the developing child. Many complications of pregnancy have been linked with poor glutathione levels. Source: Early Human Development 37: 167-174, 1994

Toxins, Pollutants, Radiation: “Glutathione detoxifies a variety of pollutants, carcinogens, and poisons, including many found in fuel exhaust and cigarette smoke. It also retards damage from radiation exposure due to the eroding ozone layer.” Source: Annual Reviews of Biochemistry 52: 711-760, 1983

Digestive Diseases: “Glutathione protects the body from the inflammation of gastritis, stomach ulcers, pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel disease including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.” Source: Gut 42: 485-492, 1998

Neurological Diseases: “Low glutathione levels have been associated with neuro-degenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, among others.” Source: Lancet 344: 796-798, 1994

Aging: “It is well known that aging is accompanied by a precipitous fall of glutathione levels. Lower glutathione levels are implicated in many diseases associated with aging including cataracts, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, atherosclerosis, and others.” Source: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 47:1021-1026, 1994

Lung Disease: “Doctors have used glutathione-promoting drugs to treat lung diseases including asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. Newer potential therapeutic roles can be found for cigarette smoke damage, pulmonary fibrosis and other respiratory illnesses.” Source: American Journal of Medical Science 307: 119-127, 1994

Hepatitis: “The liver is the major storehouse for glutathione. Glutathione is impaired in alcoholic hepatitis as well as in viral hepatitis including Hepatitis A, B, and C. Raised glutathione levels restore liver function.” Source: American Journal of Gastroenterology 91: 2569-2573, 1996

We Recommend Raising Glutathione Levels With Immunocal

Why? Because Immunocal is the only safe, natural and “steady” way to raise glutathione levels in the body. Not to mention that it is a product with 6 US patents and is included in the Physician’s Desk Reference. Learn more about Immunocal.

Obviously then, it is in your best interest that we talk about how to raise glutathione levels.

Since the key to to our body’s ability to make glutathione in every cell is the amount of cysteine in our diet, let’s take a look at cysteine itself, N-acetylcysteine (or NAC for short), and Immunocal.

Cysteine is an amino acid and can be found by itself in supplement form, pills or powder. Unfortunately, just eating cysteine “raw” has not proved to be effective in raising glutathione levels.

Why? Well, cysteine, when it is all by itself, is quickly oxidized by your digestive system and doesn’t make its way to your cells. The trick is to protect the cysteine molecule so it can survive the perilous trip from your mouth to your gut and onto your cell where it can be used.

NAC

NAC is a chemically modified form of cysteine that is able to safely make the journey from mouth to cell. In fact, NAC is used as a drug to raise glutathione levels in critical medical situations such as an acetaminophen overdose.

However, NAC has two significant drawbacks.

Not a pleasant experience for someone who want to raise levels of glutathione on a daily basis.

Immunocal

Thanks to Dr. Gutavo Bounous, the world was introduced to a safe and natural solution to increasing glutathione levels safely, consistently and naturally. He developed what is now called Immunocal, a protein supplement that uses a patented process to deliver “bonded” cysteine to the cell. Immunocal can be described as a “cysteine delivery vehicle” that allows the cyteine molecule to get from your mouth to your cell where it can then be used to produce glutathione.

Once in the cell, the transformation of this cysteine molecule to glutathione begins quickly, but continues over many hours as your digestive and metabolic process do their thing.

Best of all, side affects from the taking of Immunocal are very rare.

Get more information on Immunocal or watch a video with Dr. Jimmy Gutman on the benefits of glutathione.

• Drive past McDonalds even when every animal instict is screaming for french fries.
• Tell one of your kids you’re not hungry (even though you are starving) when they wave a big spoonful of cookie dough ice cream in your face and offer to share.
• Make a special trip to the whole foods store on the other side of town just to pick up and pay a hefty sum for organic, montmorency cherries because you heard how high in antioxidants they were.

Why?

Because you want to feel better!

You want more energy!

You want your clothes to fit again!

And, most importantly, you want to BE healthy, right?

So, in case you haven’t met, let me introduce you to the “Master”.

The master antioxidant that is.

It is known as Glutathione or GSH.

Why is glutathione called the master antioxidant?

To put it simply, glutathione replenishes the action of many other antioxidants. In other words, glutathione makes those montmorency cherries go even farther as an antioxidant, enhancing the well documented and undeniable benefits of antioxidants.

For the scientific types, here is a brief explanation offered by Dr. Jimmy Gutman, a noted glutathione expert. He says,

“When vitamin C and E pick up an oxyradical they must hand it off to the GSH (glutathione) system so they are free to go back and get others. GSH similarly neutralizes peroxide and lipoic acid. In fact, all of the antioxidants help to neutralize each other and glutathione is at the center of cellular antioxidation. It is GSH -not the vitamin- that ultimately neutralizes the radical.”

Perhaps, to make the point clear, you need an analogy.

Think of the activity in your body as a bustling metropolis with lots of people. Like dangerous free radicals, some of those people prowl around seeking to do harm. Fortunately, most cities have some form of Law Enforcement which, in most cases, finds and captures these less than desirables, much like your immune system which uses (among many other things) antioxidants to seek, finds and capture free radicals.

In this analogy, glutathione is like the patty wagon which then whisks the criminals away and, unlike our democratic society, makes that criminal disappear forever.

As a result, every extra “healthy” act you exert yourself to make each day is enhanced when you have optimal levels of naturally occurring glutathione in your cells.

Each supplement you take, each vitamin, each mineral, each antioxidant rich fruit and vegetable is assisted by the free radical neutralizing power of glutathione.

You may already be aware that increasing the amount of glutathione your body produces each day is very beneficial to many of the natural systems that make and keep you HEALTHY.

Hopefully, you are also keenly aware that your personal level of glutathione directly affects your body’s ability to reduce and control chronic inflammation.

So, how does one increase personal glutathione production?

Can you just “take” glutathione?

That is a good question but despite what some dishonest supplement sellers would have you believe, you cannot eat glutathione, your body MUST make it inside the cells. The false claim that you can just eat glutathione, made by some supplement scoundrels, can be likened to saying that all you have to do to get smart is eat brain tissue supplements. (Now, I don’t suppose anyone would buy into this but you never know.)

So, really, you have 2 choices

1. Take drugs (pharmaceuticals) that cause your body to increase its glutathione production.
2. Take natural supplements that promote glutathione production inside your cells.

Our approach is always toward the natural glutathione route, but in case you were wondering, the pharmaceutical drugs that are shown to raise glutathione (GSH) levels are briefly listed at the bottom of this post. But first, here are 7 natural ways to increase glutathione production inside your cells.

7 Natural Glutathione Boosters

1. L-Cysteine
   • Since the amount of cysteine in our body determines how much glutathione your body can make, why not just eat cysteine as a supplement? Well, you can, but research shows there would be negligible benefits and potential risks. Cysteine taken as a dietary supplement can promote hypercysteinemia and potential toxicity.
2. L-Methionine
   • Methionine is indeed a precursor of glutathione but the metabolic transformation of methionine into glutathione is a complex process which has the potential for “going astray”. For example, methionine is also a precursor of homocysteine, a risk factor in the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
3. Melatonin
   • Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in the brain and has many roles in the body, one being its ability to raise glutathione levels in certain tissues of the body, including brain, liver, and muscle tissue. The long term safety of products that promote melatonin production has not been established and should be used in consultation with appropriate health professionals.
4. Glutamine
   • Glutamine is an amino acid found in abundance in our body. It is tremendously beneficial to the body and is easily found in a healthy diet. Also, supplemental glutamine must be kept absolutely dry or it will degrade into ammonia, a toxin to the body. Due to its abundance in a healthy diet and the risks of storing it, glutamine is not an ideal supplement.
5. Lipoic Acid (alpha-lipoic acid)
   • Lipoic acid occurs naturally in the body but can also be taken as a supplement with effectiveness. This supplement works well in conjunction with healthy levels of glutathione but studies show that if taken by a person whose glutathione levels are too low, lipoic acid actually promotes oxidation.
6. Silymarin (milk thistle)
   • This herbal extract seems to stimulate the growth and regeneration of damaged liver cells but also has been shown to significantly increase glutathione production. However, some toxic reactions are noted by some, such as gas, cramps and diarrhea.
7. Whey Proteins
   • Fresh or “bioactive” milk whey contains potent glutathione precursors. Unfortunately, by the time milk reaches your table, it has been pasteurized and has lost its bioactivity, and its glutathione enhancing benefits. However, a neutraceutical is available which is essentially the whey proteins harvested from milk and kept in a bioactive or undenatured state. There are no known side effects associated with taking bioactive whey proteins and, since there is no lactose in whey proteins, lactose intolerant people are not adversely affected.

Pharmaceuticals That Increase Glutathione Production

1. N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC)

   • This drug is a variant of the amino acid L-cysteine which has been “enhanced” so it makes the trip through the digestion process. This drugs works well but must be swallowed or injected several times a day to maintain consistent glutathione levels. It also carries a certain level of toxicity.
2. S-Adenosyl-Methionine (SAM)

   • The drug is a form of methionine which has been partially converted to cysteine. It may react poorly with antidepressants and has side effects of dry mouth, agitation and gastrointestinal problems.
3. Ornithine Decaroxylase (OTC) and Oxothiazolidine carboxylate (OTZ)

   • These 2 drugs are actually synthetic delivery sources. Kind of like a “taxi” which carries chemicals to your liver which then prompt it to make glutathione. These drugs are still being tested.
4. GSH Monoesters and GSH Diesters

   • These drugs are also delivery systems and despite significant research, the long term safety of these products is open to question.

   ---

Yes, the title above is not hype and is based on the article from scienceblogs.com/moleculeoftheday about glutathione. Here’s the gist of the article:

“Nothing is immune to oxygen’s effects, though – oxygen inevitably occurs in some forms that are toxic to all life – even us aerobes. Despite the fact that we live in a profoundly oxidizing atmosphere, your cells are a profoundly reducing environment. Whatever reactive oxygen species are present are neutralized by things like glutathione (italics ours)…the scalpel to molecular oxygen’s grenade.”

In other words, glutathione neutralizes free radicals which are a result of oxidation. As you may know, glutathione is not a supplement, it is actually made by the body for the beneficial purpose mentioned above (among other things). Thus, we refer to glutathione as the “master antioxidant”.

In fact, the article continues, “Glutathione, being so useful, has evolved numerous roles in metabolism beyond that of a simple antioxidant. Tomorrow, I’ll explain why Tylenol would kill you if you didn’t have the stuff!”

There you have it, the intro to that fantastic claim and the headline above. The next day the article from scienceblogs.com brought the point home.

“Acetaminophen/paracetamol (essentially, Tylenol) is a great drug. It comes without a lot of the GI irritation problems of aspirin and other typical COX inhibitors. Unlike aspirin, it doesn’t increase clotting time. No nagging feeling you’re going to give your kid Reye’s syndrome.

However, it has an unusually low threshold for overdose, due to a quirk in its metabolism. A small fraction…gets converted to a toxic metabolite: NAPQI.

NAPQI is a potent hepatotoxin – much at all and your liver is shot. As I intimated yesterday, glutathione provides reducing equivalents – this is another time it comes in handy. It can detoxify NAPQI. However, you’ve only got a limited pool of glutathione – generating these reducing equivalents in an oxidizing atmosphere is energetically “expensive” – think of it like running a fridge outside in summertime. So when you’re out of glutathione, as in an overdose, you stop detoxifying NAPQI.”

So, on a molecular level, glutathione can detoxify the “toxic metabolite” known as NAPQI which is a by product of Tylenol. More research on glutathione would reveal to you that it is actually essential to the body on three levels; as an antioxidant, an immune response booster and, as was related in the article, a potent detoxifier.

As a side note: the scienceblog.com article said that “you’ve only got a limited pool of glutathione…think of it like running a fridge outside in summertime.” This is very true and is one of the main reasons Inflammation911.com was established. Very few are aware of the fact that although glutathione cannot be ingested as a supplement, a person can encourage the body to make more glutathione. This is accomplished with a selectively healthy diet and bioactive whey protein.

In summary, let me just say that I never cease to be surprised by the medical research that often times flies in the face of traditional medicine. I don’t think the intent of the article in scienceblogs.com was to discourage the use of Tylenol but boy aren’t we glad our body knows how to process the chemicals we (perhaps unwisely) chose to put into it?