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.

The scientific community wanted to put this discovery to the test by boosting intracellular glutathione levels in children to see how this affected autism.

To increase glutathione levels intracellularly they of course turned to Immunocal (HMS 90 in Canada) and conducted a 6?week open-label clinical trial on the use of Immunocal® on children with autism.

The specific questions addressed during this study were:

1. Will the children take the supplement?
2. Will the supplement be tolerated?
3. What behavioral changes were documented?

from Immunotec on 8/29/08:

“We’re proud to announce that the results were promising and will allow for further studies to proceed in order to fully demonstrate the benefits of augmented glutathione levels in children with autism.”

This is indeed great news. Immunocal is one of the very few patented neutraceuticals and, as such, is already being accepted by mainstream medical practicioners and naturalists alike

clinical trials like this one only add to the compelling evidence that increasing glutathione is tremendously beneficial for many troubling disease states and that Immunocal is the safest, most natural way to boost intracellular glutathione levels (outside of drinking 4 gallons of raw organic milk everyday :) ).

We look forward to the follow up results.

Of the many websites and books that we consider for mentioning here at Inflammation911.com, her book was a real standout.

Why? Mainly because of the gifted way in which Evelyn teaches. I really took note of the many analogies and “word pictures” she uses to make subjects like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, inflammation and nutritional healing simple and interesting.

As you can imagine, I considered it a real privilege to be granted an interview with someone who has been interviewed by CNN, “Good Morning America”, “Today” and Fox News. And…what an amazing interview it was. Evelyn is absolutely a reservoir of knowledge, but, more than that, she is an infectious advocate for health and healing.

Our interview is about 20 minutes. She answers questions such as:

…and much more!

Enjoy Listening to the Interview!

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, uncontrolled, chronic or systemic inflammation is a distinct kind of BAD inflammation, the dark side of what should be a healing process. It occurs when the tissue is continuously injured by infection, stress, irritation, etc…thereafter, chronic inflammation ensues.

This is how what should be a healthy defense system turns into a ruthless, life-threatening destroyer.

Here is what happens in more detail…

Inflamed tissue is flooded with macrophages looking to remove the damaged cells from the injured tissue. These cells are powerful defenders for the body, but in an unhealthy, or more specifically, an unbalanced body, bad things can happen.

Dr. William Meggs, in his book “The Inflammation Cure” explains it this way:

“Ideally, inflammation should subside when the pathogens are killed, or when the insult is removed and the body tissue heals. When the virus that causes the common cold dies…When the cut on your arm heals. The chemical messengers stop ringing the inflammation alarm, and blood vessels and the lymphatic system carry the excess fluid, dead pathogens, damaged cells, and leaked blood cells away from the site of inflammation. Unfortunately, when the body becomes unbalanced, the system can overreact, or stop working, or turn against us, or just continue fighting small battles every day so that inflammation continues indefinitely.”

This is why uncontrolled or chronic inflammation is almost always accompanied by tissue destruction.

Typically, inflammation is characterized by redness, swollen joints that are warm to touch, joint pain, joint stiffness, or loss of joint function.

However, inflammation may also be associated with general “flu-like” symptoms.

But, most interestingly, and probably most relevant to us, uncontrolled inflammation can affect internal organs in the same way that it affects the other tissue in our body such as the joints.

The symptoms you may feel depends on which organs are affected.

For example:

In fact, pain may not be a primary symptom of an uncontrolled inflammatory response, since many organs do not have many pain-sensitive nerves.

In that way, uncontrolled inflammation secretly and silently destroys our cells, only to be detected once a significant amount of damage produces an obvious symptom.

So, the goal should be, not to just “treat” uncontrolled inflammation but to prevent it.

How?

By keeping your body balanced. By understanding what you can do to make sure your body has what it needs to fight infection, disease, toxins, viruses and injuries normally.

We all know that we need to exercise and eat healthy foods.

We all know that vitamins and supplements are beneficial.

In fact, many people seeking a natural cure spend hundreds of dollars a year on vitamins, minerals and other beneficial supplements.

Maybe you are one of them…

And, although you may have had a measure of success with the variety of supplements you have taken over the years, you may not have experienced a true breakthrough.

Well, here is something that you should know…

Understanding a little known, but increasingly mentioned, molecule produced naturally by our bodies is the key to a true breakthrough in fighting uncontrolled inflammation.

This molecule is called glutathione or GSH. A chemical or substance our body produces by itself which has been called the “master antioxidant”.

Understanding what glutathione is, how it works and how to increase the bodies ability to produce this life sustaining molecule has recently transformed the quality of life for many.

It can make a difference in your life as well.

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.

As you may know, cancer is second only to heart disease in mortality.

An amazing one-third of Americans will eventually die due to some form of cancer (although the information I will share with you literally has the power to change that statistic.)

Ironically, many cancers can be prevented by maintaining a good diet, avoiding carcinogens and reinforcing the immune system.

Once a cancer has established itself, however, more firepower is needed to fight it off.

The most common forms of cancer are prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women. Next is bladder and lymphoma cancer for men and uterine and ovarian cancer for women.

Why does cancer happen?

Well, first let’s understand what happens.

In simple terms…

Symptoms begin to appear once this clump begins to interfere with bodily functions or depletes energy resources.

Simply put, cancer happens due to unhealthy cells.

Therefore, what we really need to know is: What causes a cell to be unhealthy?

Good question…We have billions of cells and it seems like it would be impossible for everyone of them to stay healthy. That is absolutely true. In fact, cells have a life cycle, they come and go, they start out healthy and then eventually get old and die.

So why doesn’t everyone have cancer?

The truth is, they do!

What! Everyone has cancer?

Yes, in the sense that we all have cells in our body which have become unhealthy, some due to natural decline and genetic predisposition, but others due to the effect of the stresses our bodies absorb on a daily basis. Some of these cells then lose their ability to replicate properly and begin to show signs of cancer.

The point is, if you keep the majority of your cells healthy, you will have a healthy immune system and a relatively “clean” body (think: detoxification) which can quickly and naturally attack and eliminate cancerous cells from your body.

In a healthy body, this “cancer fighting machine” is at work 24/7. But in an unhealthy body, it is as if our “cancer fighting machine” stalls and just can’t keep up, giving the cancerous cells time to take root and potentially take over.

In fact, when our body gets behind, when our immune system is not responding quickly, when our body is being overwhelmed by unhealthy cells, we manifest this in a way most of us are familiar with—it is called uncontrolled or chronic inflammation.

Uncontrolled Inflammation

Most of us have felt the effects of inflammation. The achy, painful to the touch, often swollen tissue that is the result of some sort of injury or insult to the body.

We sometimes notice inflammation when it is working properly, healing a bruise or sprain. However, uncontrolled inflammation is different.
The constant physical and even emotional stress we all endure leads to an inflammation response that is not balanced and which wreaks havoc on our bodies.

Countless scientific journals point to uncontrolled inflammation, “oxidative stress” or “free radicals” as the common denominator in most major disease states and one of the more prominent causes of cancer.

NOTE: In 1996, the European Journal of Cancer suggested that free radicals (or chronic inflammation) be listed as an important class of carcinogens (known causes of cancer).

In essence, the stressful, toxic world we face on the outside is taking a toll on us—on the inside.

Our cells are maxed out.

The physical stresses we encounter overwhelm the natural systems that are supposed to keep us balanced. And, without knowing it, we contribute to our own demise by simply not doing what it takes to get balanced.

But it is possible to give your cells what is needed to get balanced?

Yes! And that’s what this article is really about.

If you have cancer or if your concerned about curing your unhealthy body, don’t despair.

Now that you understand what is happening on a cellular level, you can act decisively and get your body balanced so it can heal and protect your health.

So, are you ready for the good news that could catapult you past the conventional wisdom and put you back on the road to pure health?

Here it is…

By fighting the root cause most disease states—chronic inflammation–you can prevent and even reverse the debilitating illness you may be struggling with.

You can be healthy, entirely healthy.

If you have been involved in healthy living for even a short time, you know that the best defense against free radicals are antioxidants.

Now the question becomes…what is the most effective, the most scientifically tested antioxidant?

You may have noticed, the health food store shelves are chock full of antioxidants.

Like most people seeking a real cure, you have probably spent a few dollars on vitamins, minerals and other beneficial supplements. Although you may have had a measure of success with the variety of supplements you have taken over the years, you may not have experienced a true breakthrough.

Glutathione or GSH

Understanding a little known, but increasingly mentioned, molecule produced naturally by our bodies is the key to a true breakthrough in fighting the root cause of cancer.

This molecule is called glutathione or GSH. The chemical our body produces by itself which has been called the “master antioxidant”.
Yes, glutathione is the fuel our “cancer fighting engine” needs to run strongly and smoothly. Fuel that can be produced naturally in every cell of our body.

Understanding what glutathione is and how to increase the bodies ability to produce this life sustaining molecule has recently transformed the quality of life for so many. It can make a difference in your life as well.

Well, my story is kind of unique but in many ways it is probably a lot like yours. I endured years of dead end drugs and therapies until I understood the root cause of my PROBLEM….chronic inflammation! This knowledge changed everything, especially the state of my health…

Losing My Health

My first encounter with “mortality” was at 13 when I came down with a serious case of rheumatic fever. As I’ve looked back to try and piece things together, I see now that this bout with sickness had a profound affect, not only on my body but also my attitude toward life and health.

As a young man I lived life vividly. I was a high producing sales professional, one of the energetic, young, hard-working (probably a little too hard-working) leaders of my industry. I had great friends, still do. I was conscious of my health, I exercised, I was not overweight, I ate relatively well.

I felt absolutely fine…

But, in 1986, at the age of 42 I had a heart attack. For 12 hours, the attending doctors let me lay while trying to determine what to do with me. You see, there wasn’t a surgeon available to get in and clear the obviously clogged arteries.

So, there I lay, pumped full of blood thinners and antibiotics until a surgeon arrived. Needless to say, this experience slowed me down.

Ultimately, I was left with serious heart damage.

I struggled to recuperate only to have another heart attack a year later.

At this time the doc informed me that 3 of my arteries were 75% clogged and one was 90% clogged. He then prescribed me 10 different medications and advised me to “eat right and exercise a little”.

At that point in my life, my prospects and my attitude stunk.

According to the doctor, my only option was bypass surgery and, for a while, I believed him. I felt trapped, without hope of being truly healthy once again.

Until one fine day, not long after, I read an amazing article in a health magazine.

Searching For a Natural Remedy

The article in this health magazine did not recommend a certain diet.

It did not tout a miracle cure or a world famous physician.

The article was actually a story…

A story of a number of individuals who were once in the same position, physically and mentally, that I was in. People who had essentially given up on getting back to the life they had once known before their heart disease and moved to Florida to try and eke out a few years of retirement before having that “last heart attack”.

That doesn’t sound very inspiring, I know, but the real point of the article was that these people had done this 20 years ago.

Yes, they were still living in Florida, feeling healthy and happy, 20 years later.

The consensus of the patients as well as the doctors interviewed was that once these individuals moved to Florida, they left the stress of their work-a-day lives behind, started walking on the beach and began to interact with people in a way they never had. In effect, they had balanced out their lives and their bodies enough to allow for a healing and even a reversing of their heart disease.

This inspired me tremendously. I wasn’t ready or able to retire to Florida but it made me change my attitude and my plans.

I began to educate myself on health with more zeal and purpose. I began to be conscious of my attitude and my actions and genuinely work hard to get healthy, mentally and physically.

In fact, I achieved a measure of success. Although, I had to go in for a few heart stents (small metal tubes surgically placed in the artery) to prop up my arteries between 1988 and 2004, my doctor kept confirming that I had, for all this time, prevented my heart disease from progressing. I still was about 70-75% clogged in the areas the stents were not holding up.

But, you know, I wasn’t satisfied with that.

I could not understand why all of that extra effort did not have the tangible, measurable benefits I was looking for. Of course, I was happy to be alive but, deep down, I really wanted to be healthy again. And for me that meant actually reversing my heart disease.

So I kept looking, kept reading, kept studying and asking questions.

Finally, A Real Natural Health Solution For My Clogged Arteries

In April of 2005 I learned about the role chronic or uncontrolled inflammation plays in heart disease and how it cripples the bodies ability to get healthy.

I learned about the naturally produced “master antioxidant” that fights inflammation called Glutathione (or GSH). And I have to say that at that point about a million light bulbs went off in my head.

All of the other research I’d done supported this information and opened a new door of hope to me.

That is what has lead me to today, sharing this information with you.

In June of 2006 my doctor ran me through my routine artery check and was astonished that the four 70-75% clogged arteries were now all in the 30% range. A drastic, significant, measurable event indeed.

To say the least, that made my day.

I really felt “healthy” that day. Actually, I felt like a kid again. I was so overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment that I really couldn’t help but want to share it with others.

So that is what I do. All the time. Maybe a little too much; just ask my lovely wife who has to muzzle me on occasion.

That is why I am so passionate about teaching people about the dangers of chronic inflammation and the power of Glutathione or GSH.

It is possible to cool the flames of pain caused by severe arthritis without resorting to potentially damaging pharmaceutical drugs. This brief post will explain how.

What many people suffering from severe arthritis (or any number of inflammation related health conditions for that matter) don’t realize is that the pain experienced as a result of arthritis is a symptom of chronic inflammation. So, per doctor’s orders, all too many simply pop the prescribed pain killer and whitewash the pain without getting to the root of the problem.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

There are 3 distinct pro-inflammatory markers which prime our body for chronic inflammation. If these were avoided or consumed in a balanced way, you could experience a health and wellness transformation you have only dreamed about.

Marker 1: Omega-6 Family of Fatty Acids
These fatty acids actually stimulate the inflammatory response. A key point to make here is that inflammation, when it is balanced, is good for you, in fact, it keeps you alive.

The problem is, sometimes your body doesn’t know when to stop and the inflammatory response turns from a powerful friend to a vicious enemy. So, it is not that omega-6 fatty acids are just bad for you, it is that we simply eat too many foods with omega-6 fatty acids. This “turns up the burner” on your immune system causing chronic, low-grade inflammation which leads to degenerative diseases such as arthritis.

So, as best you can, avoid vegetable oils and processed/packaged foods.

Easier said than done, right? The modern diet is built around vegetable oils and processed foods!

Don’t give up though, slowly adjust to fresh (organic if possible) produce and meat and you’ll quickly notice the difference this makes in the way you feel.

Marker 2: Trans Fatty Acids
Trans fats get a lot of attention these days, primarily because they are such nasty little buggars.

Take a look at the food label on just about any salad dressing, shortening, or cake and cookie and you’ll will find trans fats hiding behind the name “partially hydrogenated vegetable oils”.

These fats do their damage by interfering with the healthy anti-inflammatories you take into your body, especially the very beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.

Marker 3: Free Radicals
Free radicals are the worst of the three pro-inflammatory markers. Free radicals have been thoroughly proven to damage the cells in the body, increase the risk of disease, and accelerate the aging process. Probably because what they really do is stimulate and pro-long inflammatory reactions.

In other words, free radicals are like the key that unlocks that proverbial Pandora’s Box of chronic inflammation and, subsequently, arthritis.

Fortunately, not only can you treat, and potentially heal severe arthritis by avoiding these three pro-inflammatory markers, you can enlist powerful anti-inflammatory aids to speed up the healing process.

Powerful Anti-Inflammatory 1: Omega-3 Fatty Acids
We have written about the tremendous value of omega-3 fatty acids before. In a nutshell, omega-3 provides the building blocks for many powerful anti-inflammatory substances. Thus, omega-3 encourages the body to turn off inflammatory responses when they are no longer needed.

You can inject these wonderful health aids into your diet by eating just about any dark green leafy vegetable (these provide omega-3 via alpha linolenic acid) or, even more potently, by eating cold water fish such as salmon or herring (these provide omega-3 via eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA).

Power Anti-Inflammatory 2: Omega-9 Fatty Acids
These fats work hand-in-hand with their more potent “cousins” omega-3. Omega-9 fats are present in olive oil, avacados, macadamia nuts, and macadamia nut oil.

Powerful Anti-Inflammatory 3: Antioxidants
I saved the best for last. In case you haven’t already heard, antioxidants are great because they neutralize free radicals.

Since free radicals have the potential to do the most damage and really are at the root of the type of chronic inflammation that leads to arthritis (and all degenerative diseases), neutralizing them can literally change your life.

The good news is, antioxidants are found in some of the most delicious foods. It is well known that berries are bursting with antioxidants, dark chocolate is chock full of antioxidants and some juices are jammed with antioxidants. Getting lots of antioxidants into your body should be a pleasure. Although, it may mean you have to drive past McDonalds and hit up a farmer’s market for lunch or a snack, but, really, is that so bad?

• 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.