Boost your Immune System with Glutathione – your body’s most powerful protector and healing agent
The importance of Glutathione (also known as GSH) Yes, that's right, glutathione is being continually, and very naturally, produced by your body... assuming that is... it's getting the proper ingredients to do so.
Production is critical to your daily health. Every moment Glutathione is defending you against attacks from disease, viruses, free radicals, bacteria, dangerous toxins, poisons, oxidation, pollutants, and radiation.
All the cells of your body make this single molecule to help protect them against common pathways to disease.
However, until now... Doctors could do little to increase your Glutathione.
It is quickly broken down in your
digestive tracts and eliminated.
in every cell of your
body.
manufacture GSH for itself. It carries out many crucial functions in our body, of which three stand out. GSH is:
These vital roles are now beyond doubt and considerable research is underway to uncover the full range of clinical applications for the preventative and therapeutic roles of elevated GSH levels.
It’s the master antioxidant How does GSH work with other antioxidants?
They all have their advantages and disadvantages. You should never stop using established supplements like vitamins C and E. These substances act synergistically with GSH – i.e., they enhance each other’s effectiveness. Ø Specialists call GSH the master antioxidant because it replenishes the action of many other antioxidants. When vitamins C and E pick up an oxyradical they must hand it off to the GSH system so they are free to go back and get others. GSH similarly neutralises peroxide and lipoic acid. In fact, all of these antioxidants help to neutralise each other, and Glutathione is at the centre of cellular antioxidation. It is GSH – not the vitamin – that ultimately neutralises the radical. A GSH molecule encounters a destructive, positively-charged hydroxyl radical and gives it an electron, turning it into harmless water. The GSH molecule has not a radical but pairs up with another radicalised GSH molecule to form neutral, non-toxic GSSG. Another synergistic antioxidant is selenium. Studies show it to be clinically similar to Glutathione and it is an integral component of the important enzyme GSH peroxidase. For this reason selenium is considered a GSH-booster.
Ø None of these important but lesser antioxidants occur naturally in the cell - only Glutathione. All others are obtained from the food we eat. GSH is a vital, natural component of your cells – an endogenous antioxidant. It is manufactured within from amino-acid precursors. If you want to boost your body’s defences against oxidation, your best bet is to give it the raw materials it needs to produce Glutathione. GSH is at the heart of cellular antioxidation. It works in conjunction with the secondary (exogenous) antioxidants peroxide acid, vitamin C and E, relieving them of destructive charged ions and enabling them to return to the battle.
GSH the Detoxifier Ø The number of toxins our bodies must deal with every day is truly remarkable. To cope with this burden a fit, rested, well-fed person must maintain adequate immunological and biochemical defences. The role played by GSH in these defence systems cannot be overstated. Glutathione detoxifies a large number of pollutants, carcinogens, heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides and radiation. We are exposed every day to toxins like cigarette smoke, automobile exhaust, food preservatives and dental amalgam and our body depends on GSH for their removal. Substances that raise GSH levels are being used with increasing frequency in the field of toxicology with considerable success.
GSH the Immune System enhancer The immune system uses various cells to fight off infection and other threats and the healthy growth and activity of these cells depends upon the availability of GSH . Glutathione is at the heart of all immune functions and low GSH levels are seen in many diseases, especially AIDS which is characterised by a severely compromised immune system. Raising and maintaining GSH levels can minimise the risk of these diseases. Although only very ill people are severely deficient in GSH, those in good or fair health can benefit from GSH supplementation, especially in these days when we are exposed as never before to environmental toxins and drug-resistant bacteria. The use of GSH supplementation to fight specific diseases is discussed on other pages. Athletes and sportspeople can benefit greatly from the added physical performance to be derived from boosting GSH levels, and also from the reduction in those interfering ailments that the very fit suffer. Ø Without question, the best type of preventative medicine is an optimised immune system and a critical strategy to optimise it is by feeding it GSH.
Raising GSH levels For our bodies to sustain healthy Glutathione levels, the limiting factor in our daily intake of food is usually the amino acid Cysteine. It must be in a form that can survive the trip from our mouths to our cells. Ø Unfortunately, merely eating either Glutathione or the amino acid Cysteine does not give the cell what it needs to manufacture Glutathione. Several drugs and natural products can do this efficiently. NAC (N-acetyl-Cysteine) is a powerful drug that is commonly used in critical care medicine, toxicology, and pulmonary medicine. It has been the most researched of all the GSH-promoting modalities, and newer clinical applications are being developed all the time. Many natural products exert some of their positive effects by supporting or directly raising Glutathione levels. Undenatured whey protein isolates are an exciting development and one, brand-named Immunocal®, has been patented to augment Glutathione levels and enhance immune function. Ongoing clinical trials are underway to test it with a number of different medical conditions. _____________________________ GLOSSARY: oxidation: the normal process by which matter is metabolised to energy using oxygen. oxyradical: free radical; a molecule that through the natural process of oxidation is deprived of an electron and rendered toxic NB: Be aware that the sources from which supplements, minerals, and vitamins are derived is critical to health. _____________________________ If you would like more information you are warmly invited to contact me on one of the media listed below. John Bostock Skype: bostock.john ------ o0o ------ |
