Glutathione: The Super Antioxidant

pronounced "gloota-thigh-own"

It's THE master detoxifier of the body... which makes it CRITICAL to staying healthy and preventing disease. As a matter of fact, glutathione can be your "secret weapon" to prevent premature aging, cancer, heart disease, dementia and Alzheimer's.

Good News/Bad News

The good news is... when you're healthy, your body produces its own glutathione. The bad news is that poor diet, pollution, medications, stress, aging, and infections all deplete your glutathione levels. Which leaves you susceptible to unrestrained cell disintegration from oxidative stress, free radicals, infections and cancer. This eventually overloads your liver... making it unable to do its job of detoxification. So glutathione deficiency creates a horrible downward spiral.

A glutathione deficiency exists 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 and liver disease.

The bodies' ability to produce and maintain high levels of glutathione is critical to recovery from nearly all chronic illness... and in preventing disease and maintaining optimal health and performance.

This article explains what glutathione is, why it's important... and offers 9 tips that will help you optimize your glutathione levels, improve your detoxification system and protect yourself from chronic illness.

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.

The secret of its power is the sulfur it contains. Sulfur is a sticky, smelly molecule that acts like fly paper so that toxins stick onto it, including free radicals, mercury and other heavy metals.

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

Glutathione was always important... now it's CRITICAL!

We humans evolved in a time before toxic industrial chemicals were invented. (There are 80,000 of them in use today.)

That is why most people survived with the basic version of the genetic detoxification software encoded in our DNA, which is mediocre at ridding the body of toxins. At the time humans evolved we just didn't need more.

Because most of us didn't require additional detoxification software, almost of half of the population now has a limited capacity to get rid of toxins.

The Importance of Glutathione in Protecting Against Chronic Illness

Glutathione is critical for one simple reason: It recycles antioxidants.

Dealing with free radicals is like handling hot potato... without gloves. 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.

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.

Infection fighter...

Glutathione is also critical in helping your immune system do its job of fighting infections and preventing cancer. All the toxins stick to glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool, and out of your body.

Glutathione helps us recover more quickly from trauma.

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 are glutathione deficient.
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. I'll say it again ... Glutathione is so important because it is responsible for keeping so many of the keys to wellness.

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.

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.

Tips to Optimize your Glutathione Levels

Eat Foods that Support Glutathione Production

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

Try bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis. As you know, I am not a big fan of dairy. But 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. Immunocal is a prescription bioactive non-denatured whey protein that is even listed in the Physician's Desk Reference.

Exercise

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

One would think it would be easy just to take glutathione as a pill, but the body digests protein -- so you wouldn't get the benefits if you did it this way. However, the production and recycling of glutathione in the body requires many different nutrients... and you CAN take those.

The main supplements that need to be taken to boost glutathione.

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. In fact, it is even given to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.

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.

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).

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

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

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