An important molecule that can slow aging and help keep us healthy—glutathione. It is a “magic molecule” at the front line against free radicals, supports the immune system against infection and cancer, and helps the liver detoxify. Happily, our body makes glutathione; sadly, poor diet, air pollution, toxins, stress, trauma, aging, infections, radiation, and medications deplete stores.
In studies spanning more than a decade in patients with chronic disease—heart disease, cancer, chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, chronic fatigue, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, kidney and liver disease, autism, Alzheimer’s, and more—a common finding emerged: severe glutathione deficiency. At first it looked incidental; over years it became clear that the ability to produce and maintain high glutathione levels is central to preventing disease and keeping health and performance optimal.
What is glutathione?
Glutathione is a simple molecule made naturally in the body from three amino-acid building blocks: cysteine, glycine, and glutamine.
Its power lies in sulfur-containing (SH) chemical groups. Sulfur is sticky and unpleasant-smelling—like flypaper for harmful substances: free radicals and toxins such as mercury and other heavy metals bind to it. Glutathione is usually recycled in the body unless the toxic load becomes too heavy.
Genes such as GSTM1, GSTP1 and related ones help enzymes that create and recycle glutathione. These genes are impaired in many people; nearly half the population has limited capacity to clear toxins. That group shows deficient GSTM1 activity—one of the key genes in glutathione metabolism.
How does glutathione help fight and prevent disease?
Glutathione is critical for recycling antioxidants. Handling free radicals is like passing a hot potato around a campfire: radicals move from vitamin C to vitamin E, then to lipoic acid, and finally to glutathione, which “cools” them and regenerates the antioxidants.
Real problems begin when oxidative processes overload the body with too many toxins. Glutathione falls, protection against free radicals, infection, and cancer falls with it, and the body cannot clear toxins. That pathway leads to disease and can progress quickly into chronic illness.
Glutathione is essential for effective immunity and for moving toxins into bile and stool for elimination. It also supports fitness: studies link higher glutathione to less muscle damage, faster recovery, greater strength and endurance, and a metabolic shift from fat storage toward muscle development.
A study in the respected medical journal Lancet found the highest glutathione in young healthy people, lower levels in healthy older adults, lower still in sick older adults, and the lowest in hospitalized elders. To stay healthy, fit, slow aging, and avoid disease, keep glutathione high.
The good news: levels can be maintained and even raised through diet that supports glutathione production, exercise, and supplements.
9 tips to maximize glutathione:
- Eat foods that support glutathione production—sulfur-rich foods such as garlic, onion, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, and other cruciferous vegetables.
- Bioactive protein is an excellent source of cysteine.
- Exercise raises glutathione—about half an hour of daily aerobic activity (walking, running, or similar) plus strength training about 20 minutes three times a week.
- The body digests protein, so a simple glutathione pill is not effective. Support production with supplements that boost glutathione, such as N-acetylcysteine (NAC; also known as Mucomyst, Siran), used for asthma and lung disease, for the liver in acetaminophen toxicity, and to protect kidneys from iodine contrast in CT procedures.
- Alpha-lipoic acid is nearly as important as glutathione in cells—involved in blood-sugar balance, detoxification, and energy production.
- Methylation supporters such as folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12—critical for glutathione production.
- Selenium helps the body make and recycle glutathione.
- Vitamins E and C (antioxidants) help the body recycle glutathione.
- Milk thistle has long been used for liver disease and helps raise glutathione levels.