Glutathione
Glutathione, Reduced (GSH)
Glutathione (GSH) is classified as a ‘tripeptide’, which means it is composed of three amino acids. The human body produces glutathione from the amino acids Cysteine, Glutamic Acid and Glycine, and it is the key antioxidant compound required for vital functioning of all cells.
Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant essential for alleviating oxidative stress and protecting individual cells and tissues from free radicals. It is also known to enhance healthy growth and activity of immune cells needed for disease resistance and immune protection. In addition it enables the body to rid itself of unwanted toxins and heavy metals, detoxifying the liver, the body’s most concentrated source of glutathione; and protecting the body from today’s environmental pollutants, natural and synthetic toxins, genetically engineered processed foods and toxic waste.
Low levels of glutathione have been implicated in many autoimmune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Autism, HIV, MS Rheumatoid Arthritis etc.
Glutathione is so beneficial in Parkinson’s disease because it has the unique ability to increase the dopamine receptor’s sensitivity making certain areas of the brain more sensitive to dopamine despite the decreased levels associated with this condition.
Raising the amount of glutathione in the blood, it will help bind the heavy metals and remove them from the body and also help brain and immune development for children with autism. Increasing glutathione levels and effectively improving detoxification of the liver has been found to increase language and awareness for these children.
Glutathione has also been used to help treat Aging, Autism, Cancer, Chemotherapy recovery, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for Detoxification, Drug addiction, Emphysema, Fibromyalgia, Glaucoma, Hepatitis, Hypoglycemia, Kydney disease, Liver disease, Liver cancer, Mercury poisoning,Parkinson’s disease, Respiratory problems such as cystic and pulmonary fibrosis, Smoking, Tuberculosis, to name a few.
How to test for Glutathione
Oxidative stress causes a deficiency of intracellular glutathione, therefore making it difficult to measure. The rapid turnover of reduced glutathione makes testing levels in Red Blood Cells inaccurate. Most practitioners will order an oxidative stress panel or amino acid analysis to look at the amino acids that make up glutathione or are involved with the synthesis of glutathione.
How to administer GSH
GSH is a very powerful antioxidant and therefore oxidizes rapidly in the presence of water. Injections and nasal sprays must be formulated correctly to avoid decomposition and must be stored in the fridge to prevent oxidation. If done so they should last for 6 months. Injections will require a doctors prescription for supply.
Creams containing any water should also be avoided as they decompose rapidly. Our laboratory produces a water free oily lotion which contains liposomes to aid transdermal absorption.This lotion bypasses the stomach and liver and thus provides glutathione into the blood stream and throughout the body.
Slow release capsules which minimize the destruction of GSH in the stomach aids absorption and is one of the best ways to concentrate glutathione in the liver for detoxification reactions. If you intend to use it for an overall systemic effect then the lotion, suppositories or nebules would be the preferred option.
Subbuccal lozenges and suppositories, which bypass the stomach and liver, increase levels in the blood to help boost energy levels. As a substantial amount of the lozenges may be swollowed and thus encounter the stomach and liver, therefore the suppositories would be the preferred option.
GSH administered by nebuliser is the best method for increasing GSH levels in the lungs for the treatment of pulmonary conditions. It is also one of the best ways for an overall systemic affect as it is readily absorbed into the blood stream nearly as rapidly as a injection. The dry nebulizer capsule contents are dissolved into 4ml of sterile or boiled water prior to being administered by a nebulizer. Once the capsule contents are dissolved the resulting solution is buffered and isotonic with a pH of about 6 which eliminates the irritation causes by acidic GSH. A 125mg capsule should be nebulized twice daily for maximum benefits.
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July 4th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Dr Serafin:
I have just found your web site and have downloaded a number of your articles. I am always on the look for people who understand physiology/biochemistry…and are not married to the medical model.
With that said, in the article on glutathione….
You only suggest taking some form of formed glutathione.
Would it not be a better idea, cheaper, more readily available to take the pre-cursors??
With precursors the body can make what it needs as it needs it, with no hassles of breaking down.
I think that some writers have a tendency to cater to the pharmaceutical/supplement approach rather than…how can we synthesize this hormone or compound from readily available materials. yes?
With best wishes,
Earl Conroy
July 4th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
In regards to using precursors (of any kind) it is very unpredictable as to weather or not there will be any significant conversion of it into the desired end compound. As we all vary greatly the degree of conversion of any precursor will vary greatly due to a whole variety of reasons such as presence of cofactors, protein intake, enzyme efficiency and numbers, to name but a few. The more conversion steps required to achieve the end product the more chance of failure to produce sufficient amounts of it to produce a therapeutic effect therefore making the use of precursors ineffective in many cases. In addition the more conversion steps required a far greater dose of precursor is required to produce a relatively small amount of end product as a great deal of loss will occur through side reactions, alternative reaction pathways, liver metabolism and elimination, etc, etc. With this unpredictable nature I feel it is more effective to use the compound in question so you know for a fact that you are actually getting a therapeutic dose of the desired end product rather than assuming you may be getting it through conversion of a precursor. A great error is to assume anything including that there will be significant conversion. If you can measure the end product through some form of accurate and proven testing method such as blood tests, say, then you will know for sure if the end compound in question is being formed from the precursor and if proven to be so well and good. However in this example glutathione cannot be practically measured due to its reactivity so you have no way of knowing if significant amounts of conversion is occuring to produce a therapeutic effect. Therefore the use of precursor therapy is questionable in individual cases.
In addition what is the difference in the end if you use a precursor or the compound itself? In this example assume you take N-acetylcysteine to increase glutathione and assume it actually works in this particular individual. The end result is an increase in glutathione levels. If you use glutathione itself the same end result occurs without any assumptions or guess work. As both these agents are considered safe I do not see any benefit using a precursor for a therapeutic effect. In addition if several conversion steps are required then you will need to take a far greater amount of N-acetylcysteine to produce only a small amount of glutathione as you will never get 100% conversion (or anywhere close to it) so in fact you could argue that it would be a disadvantage to use a precursor in most cases as a greater dose is required and arguably placing more pressure on your liver and system in general.
As most of the information I present is for the treatment of various disease states and as such the treatments suggested must achieve a therapeutic effect I prefer to use predictable and reliable treatments that I can confidently say will work in a majority of cases. Hence I do not generally recommend prescursors. Obviously in cases where achieving therapeutic doses is not as critical, such as supplements for well being, precursors may be used because if insufficient amounts of the end product is produced it will no have any major detrimental effects on the patient.
I hope this explains my reasons for doing so.