What Is It?
We are talking about the most powerful antioxidant on the planet. Glutathione (GSH) is the most important molecule to help people stay healthy, and most folks haven’t even heard of it. If you look it up, you’ll find thousands of articles written about it. GSH is actually a very simple molecule produced naturally all the time in your body. It contains three simple building blocks of protein/amino acids — cysteine, glycine, and glutamine. It’s known as “the mother of all antioxidants” in functional health circles, and for good reason.
A wide spectrum of disease processes is associated with GSH depletion, including heavy hitters such as neurodegenerative disorders, pulmonary disease, immune disease, cardiovascular diseases, chronic age-related diseases, liver disease, cystic fibrosis, and the aging process itself. It is associated with telomerase activity, an important indicator of life span. It has been correlated to a progressive loss of mitochondrial function/energy because of accumulated damage to mtDNA (an animal species’ ability to protect their mtDNA is directly proportional to longevity). GSH has been a hot topic in research circles for all of those reasons.
What Does It Do?
It combats oxidative stress. It is a powerful molecule that directly scavenges diverse, dangerous oxidants/free radicals that wreak havoc in our systems — superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical, nitric oxide, and carbon radicals. Through catabolism, it also detoxifies hydroperoxides, peroxynitrites, and lipid peroxides. It also protects cells from oxidants because of its ability to recycle other basic antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E. It recycles! GSH actually has a variety of roles in the body, and the most critical of those include but are not limited to the following list:
So there’s its connection to a wide array of disease processes if depleted. Many functional practitioners have made correlations of GSH deficiency with very ill patients. Our body’s ability to produce and maintain GSH is critical for it to recover from illness. Though it’s normally recycled in the body, if the toxic load becomes too much, GSH is affected and can’t recycle itself or other antioxidants.
Part of the secret to its power is the sulfur (SH) chemical groups it contains that attract free radicals and heavy metals and usher them out of our system. Toxins “stick” to GSH, and then it carries them into bile and stool to move them out of your body.
Internally, it is produced as an offshoot of the methylation cycle, so that metabolism is integral to the process. The schematic on this page shows where it fits in our metabolism.
Good News and Sad News
So the good news is that your body can produce its own GSH. The sad news is that poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections, and radiation can all deplete your GSH and your body’s ability to fight. Our modern technologies have brought these things to the forefront in the past 150 years.
A study in The Lancet reported that the highest glutathione levels were found in healthy young people, lower levels in the healthy elderly, very low in sick elderly, and they bottomed out with hospitalized elderly.
Keep in mind that some folks have a gene SNP that affects the enzymes that allow the body to create and recycle glutathione. These genes include GSTM1 and GSTP1, among others. Patients with one or more SNPs may find themselves much more susceptible to the poisons in our toxic modern world. It’s important to keep in mind that nearly one-third of our population suffering from chronic disease is missing the function of the GSTM1 gene. Those people will need diets high in sulfur-rich foods and supplementation.
What To Do
GSH is critical for immune function and controlling inflammation. It’s the body’s main antioxidant, a master detoxifier, and supports our energy metabolism. If you want to test to confirm deficiency, consider genetic testing to search for a potential SNP that could be at play. Another option is to test for GGT (gamma-glutamyl transferase) in the blood. GGT is upregulated in proportion to the need for GSH for things such as the detox of POPs. As you look at results, be skeptical of “in range” numbers. Studies have shown that even GGT that shows up in what is currently considered the “normal” range (40 to 50) indicates a twentyfold increased risk of diabetes. A GGT of 30 to 40 was associated with double the risk of all-cause mortality.
From a dietary standpoint, patients can also do the following:
1. Eat foods that are sulfur-rich, such as garlic, onions, and cruciferous vegetables.
2. Bioactive whey protein is a great source of amino acid building blocks like cysteine for GSH synthesis.
3. Exercise boosts GSH, which boosts the immune system, improves detox, and increases antioxidant defenses.
4. Take supplements that support GSH, including multivitamins, omegas, N-acetyl-cysteine, alpha-lipoic acid (NOTE: There is no effective oral GSH pill. The body digests proteins, so you won’t get the benefits that way. You want to support the production and recycling of it. Transdermal, intravenous, nebulize, or intranasal show more promise).
5. Methylation cofactors are important too, such as folate, vitamins B6 and B12, selenium, vitamins C and E (mixed tocopherols), and milk thistle (silymarin).
Laurie Mueller, BA, DC, CFMP served in private practice in San Diego, California. She served as the ACC Post Graduate subcommittee chair for 6 years, peer-reviewed for the Research Agenda Conference, and was the post-graduate director for the Palmer Colleges from 2000-2010. Dr. Mueller currently works as a private eLearning consultant with a focus on healthcare topics and functional medicine through her company, Impact Writing Solutions, LLC. She partners with companies and organizations to launch/administer eLearning initiatives and she is also the founder of www.cccaonline.com (for CA's) and www.FxMedOnline.com for allied health professionals. TAC readers can enjoy $10 off their first registration bundle by utilizing TAC's exclusive discount code at the time of purchase TACFXMED.
References:
1. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2014 Feb; 13(1): 8-12. Glutcitione PMCID: PMC'4684116 PMID: 26770075 Joseph Pizzorno, ND, Editor in Chief
2. Julius M. Lang CA. Gleiberman L. Hcirburg E, DiFrcinceisco W, SchorkA. Glutathione and morbidity in a community-based sample of elderly. J Clin Epidemiol. 1994:47(9): 1021-1026. [PubMed]
3. Borrcis C, Esteve JM, Vina JR, Scistre J, Vina J, Pallardo FV. Glutathione regulates telomerase activity in 3T3 fibroblasts. JBiol Chem. 2004:279(33): 34332-34335.
4. https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/19/glutathione-the-mother-of-all-antioxidants/
5. Nuttall S, Martin U, Sinclair A, Kendall M. 1998. Glutathione: in sickness and in health. The Lancet 351(9103):645-646
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