Glutathione Deficiency and Correction
I have several blogs about glutathione and will no doubt write others as well. The more you understand this essential component of your health, you will want to take steps to ensure that your levels are in a healthy range.
Glutathione is found in somewhat high levels in most cells. Compounds found in similar concentrations are glucose, potassium and total cholesterol. Given such high concentrations, you might ask what is the big deal?
Glutathione is a fairly simple molecule and is made from three amino acids, cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. Glycine and glutamic acid are fairly common in most foods leaving cysteine to be the limiting factor for many people.
Low glutathione, then, can be associated with a host of conditions. I am going to list many here. Increasing glutathione will take care of some of these conditions, that will relieve or eliminate symptoms of the disease. For example, in one good study years ago had found that 100% of tested subjects with autism had deficient glutathione levels. Also, some studies have indicated that lead poisoning is not an issue until glutathione levels drop below a healthy level. The bottom line is that increasing glutathione levels will almost always improve outcomes of many conditions. It is a good place to start.
Most autoimmune and degenerative diseases of aging
Acetaminophen poisoning / toxicity
ADD
Addison's Disease
Aging
AIDS
Alopecia Areata
ALS
Alzheimer's Disease
Anemia (hemolytic)
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
Arthritis (rheumatoid)
Asthma
Autism (ASD)
Autoimmune disease
Behcet's Disease
Blepharitis
Buerger's Disease
Burns
Cachexia
Cancers
Candida infection
cardiomyopathy (idiopathic)
cardiovascular disease
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Colitis
COPD
Coronary artery disease
Cystic fibrosis
Diabetes
Crohn's disease
Eczema
Emphysema
Epstein Barr Viral Syndrome (EBV)
Fibromyalgia
Free Radical Overload
Goodpasture Syndrome
Graves' Disease
Heavy Metal Toxicity
Hepatic dysfunction (liver disease)
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Some day to be added to the list...
- Hepatitis D
- Hepatitis E
- Hepatitis G
- Hepatitis I
- Hepatitis TT
- Hepatitis SMA1
Hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol)
Herpes
HIV Aid's
Huntington's Disease/ Huntington's Chorea
Infections (bacterial, viral, fungal)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Influenza
Liver Disease
Lyme Disease
Lupus
Macular Degeneration (diabetic macular degeneration)
Malnutrition
Meniere's Disease
Methylmercury poisoning
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Myasthenia Gravis
Neurogenerative diseases
Noise Induced Hearing Loss
Nutritional Disorders
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Parkinson's disease
Pemphigus Vulgaris
Polycystic kidney disease
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Primary Billary Cirrhosis
Progeria
Psoriasis
Rheumatic Fever
Sarcoidosis
Scleroderma
Shingles
Stroke
Surgery
Thalassemia
Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling)
Toxic poisoning
Trauma
Unverricht-Lundborg Disease
Vasculitis
Veisalgia (when combined with vitamin C and B1)
Vitiligo
Wegener's Granulomatosis
How to Test for Glutathione Levels
Glutathione direct measurement isn't often used it can fluctuate throughout the day with morning being the lowest in general. We can understand your glutathione levels by looking at related factors. The easiest one to check is your GGT (gamma-glutamyl transferase) that is part of a routine liver profile. Even slight elevations (30-40) in GGT have been associated with a doubling of risk of mortality from whatever people die from. A GGT level of 40-50 us associated with a 20-fold increase in risk of diabetes.
Another way to measure is to run an Oxidative Stress profile. Genova Diagnostics (https://www.gdx.net/nutrition#additional-testing) is a favorite source for this test. I am not aware of similar profile by Quest or LabCorp at this time. We can run a Genova test for you with a California or Nevada address. You will have to call the lab to get a reference to a local doc to run this profile in other states.
Tips To Increase Glutathione
The first step would be to try to eliminate oxidative stressors in your environment and diet. It probably isn't possible in a modern world to eliminate all of these factors, but you can make a difference by watching out for the big risk items.
Try to eat free-range and organic. Avoid harsh cleaners in your home. Filter your water if possible, for drinking and for baths and showers too. You can add under sink and shower filters for a reasonable price if a whole-house filter isn't possible for whatever reason. Avoid herbicides and pesticides.
High sulfur foods like broccoli can help. Also, alcohol intake will put more stress on your glutathione system.
Glutathione can be administered via an IV drip. That is appropriate for serious conditions and for those with the resources.
Supplements can also be used. You will find glutathione in one form or other in capsules, but the research is mixed to show that this can increase intracellular glutathione. We don't recommend this unless it is in liquid, liposomal form.
A better bet to raise intracellular glutathione is NAC (n-acetyl cysteine) along with ALA (alpha lipoic acid). Many people will want to take 2000 mg per day or so of NAC and 1000 mg or so of ALA. Again, each person will have their own requirements. We can help if you have questions. BetterGenix NAC.
For those that react adversely to NAC (haven't seen this myself but anything is possible) you can use SAMe.
Interestingly, 500 mL of alcohol-free beer per day can raise RBC glutathione by 29%. That is a lot of calories. 83 g/day of almonds can increase glutathione by 16%. That is a lot of almonds that is, 83 g of almonds is about 3+ ounces or 80 almonds, nothing I would recommend in most situations. It is easier to take NAC and ALA.
We also use LifeWave Glutathione Patches. These patches help increase your body's own production of glutathione. I still recommend taking the NAC and ALA just to give your body its best glutathione production. This link comes and goes depending on LifeWave company policies about these being on our site. You can always call to order.
Side note: Vitamin C is part of the glutathione recycling process so here is another reason to keep your C levels at a decent level. 2000 mg/day in divided doses is recommended for maintenance. Ecological Formulas Vitamin C
Note on ALA
Alpha lipoic acid is a potent antioxidant. Although healthy young humans can synthesize enough α-lipoic acid to scavenge reactive oxygen species and enhance endogenous antioxidants like glutathione and vitamins C and E, the level of α-lipoic acid significantly declines with age and this may lead to endothelial dysfunction. Furthermore, many studies have reported α-lipoic acid can regulate the transcription of genes associated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory pathways. NuMedica AlphaCU
Mercury and Glutathione
Mercury exposure is the second-most common cause of toxic metal poisoning. Public health concern over mercury exposure, due to contamination of fish with methylmercury and the elemental mercury content of dental amalgams, has long been a topic of political and medical debate. Although the toxicology of mercury is complex, there is evidence for antioxidant protection in the prevention of neurological and renal damage caused by mercury toxicity. Alpha-lipoic acid, a coenzyme of pyruvate and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, has been used in Germany as an antioxidant and approved treatment for diabetic polyneuropathy for 40 years. Research has attempted to identify the role of antioxidants, glutathione and alpha-lipoic acid specifically, in both mitigation of heavy metal toxicity and direct chelation of heavy metals. This review of the literature will assess the role of glutathione and alpha-lipoic acid in the treatment of mercury toxicity.
