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The Crucial Role of Glutathione in Every Cell of Your Body

August 29th, 2008 · 76 Comments

Most physicians are familiar with glutathione or l-glutathione in regards to its role in detoxifying Tylenol overdoses, and more recently its importance in the maintenance of T-cell competence in HIV.

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.

Tags: Glutathione

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