No its not the next super-action comic book hero of our century, although after reading this you may re-think that. Glutathione is just popping up in the minds of athletes these days when looking for the best antioxidant foods that will enhance performance, energy and stamina.
If biochemistry were the stuff of comic books, antioxidants
would be the superheroes — with glutathione (gloota-thigh-own) being no
less than a cross between Superman and Underdog. As the most powerful
antioxidant in the body, glutathione works around the clock to fend off
nefarious characters. And yet, few people recognize its importance.
Glutathione is likely to get more attention in the near future, as
experts begin to connect the dots between depleted stores of the
antioxidant and the likelihood of chronic disease. “If you haven’t heard
of glutathione yet, you will,” says Mark Hyman, MD, founder of The
UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Mass., and a pioneer in the field of
functional medicine. “In terms of staying healthy, it is one of the most
important molecules in the body
Glutathione is a triple threat to toxins. It neutralizes free
radicals, enhances the immune system and detoxifies the liver. But some
worry that it has met its match. The trappings of modern life —
everything from refined foods to over-the-counter painkillers to stress —
rob the body of this vital antioxidant. And, even if you’re doing
everything right, aging takes a bite.
Around age 45, our glutathione
levels start to slip. Ultimately, those levels can dip as much as 50
percent below optimal as we age.
Some scientists are now wondering if low glutathione levels aren’t
partly to blame for the free-radical-induced illnesses so common in
middle age and later, such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease.
Indeed, research published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
found that, among people with heart disease, those with the least
amount of glutathione in their blood were 30 percent more likely to have
a heart attack than those with the most glutathione.
Hyman didn’t understand the full ramifications of a glutathione
deficiency until his own health was in peril. In the mid-1990s, he was
besieged by muscle pain, brain fog and “bone-numbing” exhaustion. “I
went from feeling really healthy one day to really sick the next,” he
says.
After months of medical sleuthing, he discovered he had mercury
poisoning — probably due to eating contaminated fish and breathing
tainted air while working in China. He suspects that the burden of
detoxifying the mercury depleted his glutathione levels, leading his
body to break down under the strain. “As you detoxify, your body uses up
more and more of your glutathione stores until it’s gone,” he says.
“That’s when you end up with toxic overload.”
In exploring what went wrong, Hyman discovered he lacked a gene,
called GSTM1, crucial to making and recycling glutathione. He estimates
that roughly half of Americans are missing one or more of the genes
necessary to produce enough of the antioxidant. The percentage climbs
even higher among his critically ill patients, the vast majority of whom
have rock-bottom glutathione levels. “At first I thought it was just a
coincidence,” he says, “but I’ve come to realize that making and keeping
a high level of glutathione is critical to preventing disease.”
Gloota-what?
Found in every cell in the body, glutathione protects the cell’s
engine, called the mitochondria, from bacteria and viruses as well as
toxins. It’s considered “the mother of all antioxidants,” as Hyman calls
it, because all other antioxidants, including vitamin C and vitamin E,
rely on it to give them a second life.
The average antioxidant has a short life span, sacrificing itself
whenever it wipes out a free radical. But glutathione carries enough
extra zip to not only bring spent antioxidants back from the dead but
also to recharge itself, explains Leslie Fuller, ND, an educator at the
National College of Natural Medicine and practitioner at the Nature
Cures Clinic, both in Portland, Ore.
Most glutathione is made inside the body from three amino acids:
glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine. In addition, some foods,
particularly asparagus, spinach, avocado and squash, are high in a plant
version of glutathione that the body converts to replenish its supply.
Under healthy conditions, and in a healthy environment, our bodies
would be able to churn out plenty of glutathione to meet our daily
needs. But cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, processed foods and certain
medications deplete the body’s stash. So does stress. And as Hyman
discovered, toxic surroundings may pose an even bigger threat to our
body’s glutathione supply.
Radical Riff-Raff
To fully appreciate glutathione, it helps to know a little more about
its nemesis: free radicals. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules
created by our metabolism. The instability stems from a missing
electron. In a mad attempt to find balance, the misfit molecules rip
electrons from their neighbors. As a result, those molecules also turn
into free radicals. This damage can eventually snowball and disrupt a
cell’s integrity, causing it to behave abnormally.
“Almost every chronic illness known to humankind has been linked in
some measure to free-radical-induced tissue damage,” says Lise
Alschuler, ND, FABNO, coauthor of
The Definitive Guide to Cancer: An Integrative Approach to Prevention, Treatment, and Healing, Third Edition (Celestial Arts, 2010).
That’s not to say the goal is zero emissions. Indeed, some
free-radical damage is natural. Every breath inhaled, every calorie
burned, every muscle contracted leaves a wisp of free radicals in its
wake. “Even if we lived in a pristine environment, our bodies would make
free radicals,” says Alschuler. And, as she explains, some free-radical
damage is a good thing because a damaged cell is triggered to be either
repaired or destroyed. By sparking either a renovation or a demolition,
free-radical damage gets the body’s attention, and, if the body is
healthy enough and the free-radical damage is not overly extensive, free
radicals may play a role in preventing diseases like heart disease and
cancer.
Unfortunately, our bodies must contend with an ever-growing onslaught
of free radicals in the environment. Free radicals hitchhike into the
body on the backs of chemicals in the air, the water supply and the food
chain. The cumulative load is called oxidative stress. Corrosion caused
by oxidative stress (or oxidation) inside the body is often compared to
the slow rusting of metal when it’s exposed to the elements.
Protecting cells from oxidation is where antioxidants, particularly
glutathione, come into play. All antioxidants retard oxidative stress,
but because glutathione recharges its allies, it plays a particularly
important role in helping the body keep up with our accelerated
modern-day demands.
“We are in a situation where our manufacturing and our recycling of
glutathione is maxed out,” says David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM,
author of
Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment (Hay House, 2011). “We just can’t detoxify fast enough.”
Cleanup Crew
Found throughout the body, glutathione is concentrated in the liver.
The body’s primary detox organ, the liver is charged with giving
nutrients the nod to be absorbed and giving toxins the boot. But
expelling a toxin isn’t easy. In phase one, liver enzymes must convert
the toxin into a compound that can be flushed. In phase two, glutathione
is used to grab hold of the toxin and escort it out of the body via
urine or bile. If there isn’t enough glutathione on hand, the toxins
stack up like so many cars in a traffic jam.
Glutathione owes much of its detoxifying prowess to cysteine. A
sulfur-rich amino acid, cysteine is abundant in eggs, garlic and whey
protein. “Sulfur is a sticky, smelly molecule that acts like flypaper
trapping toxins in the body,” explains Hyman. This is why vegetables
high in sulfur, including garlic and onions, have been at the heart of
detoxification diets for years.
Another plant substance, called cyanohydroxybutene (found in
broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage) helps restock the body’s glutathione
supply. “We’ve always been taught that broccoli and other cruciferous
veggies are important to the detox protocol, but we didn’t fully
understand why,” says Perlmutter. “Now we know that it’s because they
enhance glutathione production.”
Green tea, fish oil and resveratrol also house substances that switch
on genes responsible for making glutathione, Perlmutter notes. Aerobic
exercise and yoga are thought to goose glutathione levels as well.
Although glutathione doesn’t come in a simple pill form, Perlmutter
says, “You can take and do things that turn on your body’s genes to make
more glutathione, and that’s pretty powerful stuff. You are modifying
your own genetic expression.”
Logically, if more glutathione means better detoxification, people
with the highest levels of the stuff should live the longest. That was
the theory that drove Danish researchers to enroll 41 centenarians in a
study of glutathione levels. Their results, published in the journal Age
and Ageing, found that glutathione levels were highest in the
healthiest seniors. Additionally, they discovered that the centenarians
had higher levels of glutathione than people 20 to 40 years younger,
hinting that glutathione may be one reason why their subjects had lived
to such a ripe age.
Need More? Make More
Recognizing when the body is running low on glutathione takes some
detective work. Because it oxidizes quickly outside the body, the
antioxidant does not lend itself to a blood test. So some healthcare
practitioners, like Hyman, look for missing genes. Others consult
indirect biochemical markers, such as short telomeres (the caps of DNA
on either end of a chromosome, like handles on a jump rope) or high
levels of oxidation in the blood. A history of chronic illness is also a
clue.
But don’t wait until you’re sick to think about glutathione. High
stress levels, certain medications, past infections and a poor diet can
all nibble away at the body’s glutathione stash. The average American
consumes only 35 milligrams of glutathione per day, says Alschuler, far
short of the optimal daily intake of 250 milligrams. “This, coupled with
decreasing glutathione production as we age, leaves most of us
deficient.”
The good news: Protecting your glutathione levels is fairly simple,
says Perlmutter, and “the health implications can be profound.”
Easy Ways to Maximize Glutathione Production and Activity
Eat lots of glutathione-rich foods, such as asparagus, spinach,
avocado, squash, melons, grapefruit and peaches. Whenever possible, eat
these foods raw or minimally heated, since heat — and microwaving —
tends to destroy antioxidants.
Eat more colorful, antioxidant-packed produce, such
as strawberries, bell peppers and mangoes, all of which are particularly
high in vitamin C. The more one-shot antioxidants you’ve got on board,
the less your body needs to lean on its glutathione reserves.
Eat more foods high in cysteine. The sulfur-rich
amino acid is a key building block for glutathione. The best sources are
eggs, garlic and whey protein. If you buy whey protein, make sure it is
bioactive and made from undenatured (or nondenatured) proteins, meaning
the bond between the amino acids is preserved, and the cysteine is more
bioavailable.
Limit exposure to toxins by buying organic produce,
filtering your water, cutting down on refined foods, and avoiding
chemical-packed personal-care and cleaning products. Minimizing your
toxic burden will help preserve your body’s ability to produce
glutathione, and also reduce excess demands on your body’s glutathione
supplies.
Catherine Guthrie is a health writer in Bloomington, Ind., and a contributing editor to Experience Life.
One reason that glutathione wallows in relative obscurity is that,
unlike vitamin C or E, it isn’t easily shoehorned into a supplement you
can swallow. “With glutathione it’s not that easy,” says David
Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, author of
(Hay House, 2011).
That’s because to succeed as an oral supplement, a nutrient must be
able to wiggle through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream, he
explains. Otherwise it’s doomed to be destroyed in the gut. Here is
where glutathione’s size works against it. A large molecule, called a
tripeptide, glutathione cannot sneak through the intestinal wall intact.
Instead, its three amino acids are broken apart during digestion and
reassembled in the blood. (To get around this problem, many
practitioners give therapeutic doses of glutathione intravenously.)
Experts disagree on exactly how much oral glutathione reaches its
final destination, but all agree the best bet is to deliver plenty of
building blocks (a.k.a. precursors) the body needs to make glutathione
on its own.
In addition to eating glutathione-rich foods (see above) here are four more ways to get the raw materials you need:
: NAC supplements are made
synthetically from the amino acid l-cysteine. The small molecule slips
seamlessly into the blood where it combines with glutamic acid and
glycine to restock the liver’s supply of glutathione. A potent liver
detoxifier, NAC is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a
tool to limit liver damage caused by acetaminophen overdose.
: A key antioxidant,
alpha-lipoic acid (not to be confused with alpha-linolenic acid) is both
water- and fat-soluble, meaning it can vanquish free radicals
throughout the body, including in the brain. That’s no small matter,
since oxidative damage is tied to many brain diseases, including
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The best dietary sources of ALA are organ
meats (such as liver) and brewer’s yeast.
: A mineral found in Brazil nuts, meat and
seafood, selenium boosts the body’s ability to recycle glutathione.
“Eating just one to two Brazil nuts daily supplies enough selenium for
most people,” says Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, coauthor of
: One of the most well-known antioxidants,
vitamin C is glutathione’s crime-fighting cohort. In studies, people
with high levels of vitamin C typically have high glutathione levels, as
well. The two antioxidants work in tandem to rid the body of
water-soluble toxins.
Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA): A key antioxidant,
alpha-lipoic acid (not to be confused with alpha-linolenic acid) is both
water- and fat-soluble, meaning it can vanquish free radicals
throughout the body, including in the brain. That’s no small matter,
since oxidative damage is tied to many brain diseases, including
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The best dietary sources of ALA are organ
meats (such as liver) and brewer’s yeast.
It has become more than apparent that detoxification is important, but what about replenishment? Our bodies need nourishment and the best way to take your vitamins is actually through your skin. Thalassotherapy is the layering of raw ocean components onto the skin, so the over 60 trace minerals, plus vitamins, essential amino acids, proteins, omegas, can be absorbed directly into your bloodstream. This gives the body balance; called 'Homeostasis', practiced for over 5000 years and recognized as a treatment of every human ailment at one time. Regular thalassotherapy treatments are essential to us in our modern lifestyles and processed living because of so many reasons. All of us, even those on raw-organic-only diets, are exposed to halogens and synthetic ingredients/materials/waters by simply living in North America, that push important minerals out of our bodies and permanently blocking the re-absorption. Much of our auto immune diseases in Ontario today are related back to the 1920's when there was a huge outbreak of Goitre. Many studies were done and iodine with seaweeds were the common and known treatment for Goitre and Thyroidism for centuries prior to this. In the ocean, seaweeds job is to filter and can convert heavy metal poisoning including cadmium, mercury and Stronium 90 and convert back into the water as a harmless salt. In our bodies it stimulates the lymphatic system to help remove toxins from the body that otherwise have been dormant. But, just like upgrading your nutrition plan, you need to have regular seaweed treatments to gain the important benefits, especially if you need them most. Since seaweeds literally contain everything we need to survive, even the most challenging vitamins and minerals we can find to eat, are easily drawn into the body, including iodine, that is hard to find in regular and even organic raw food. The nutritional benefits anything by 10-100 times in terms of potency. The cosmetic effects alone include soft, vibrant, youthful looking, elastic skin. Any inflammation is calmed or healed. Overall analgesic effects are reduced aches and pains, followed by an overall sense of well-being that can last up to 72 hours. 
