Staying Sharp and Healthy with Glutathione

Let's face it: we live in a fast-paced world that's just brimming with stress from all directions--no matter how hard we try to avoid it. Whether its environmental toxins, like the fumes from the new carpet installed in your house last week, or your daily fast food lunches (often wolfed down and virtually deplete of nutrition anyway), or just the emotional stress of trying to manage a hectic lifestyle, our bodies suffer the consequences of stressors every day. And while we manage to keep up with the pace most of the time, constant stress does eventually take its toll on us, causing serious oxidative damage--without you even realizing it.

Oxidative stress and damage is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen (a product of just breathing and being alive!) and our body's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates and/or repair the resulting damage, in a timely fashion. In humans, oxidative damage is the main reason for plain-old aging, as well as the development of many chronic diseases, such as atherosclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Now we've all heard of the importance of Vitamins A, C and E in fighting oxidative or free radical damage, but one of the central antioxidants used within our cells to protect us is the lesser known, glutathione. Found within each and every cell in our bodies, glutathione is made from 3 different amino acids: glutamine, cysteine and glycine and as part of the enzyme family, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione is involved in making and repairing our DNA, metabolizing toxins and carcinogens, enhancing the immune system and in the prevention of fat oxidation. Because glutathione exists within our cells, it's in a prime position to neutralize free radicals and has potentially widespread health benefits for us because it can be found in all types of cells , including those of the immune system, whose job is to fight off disease.

Glutathione also helps other antioxidants inside us to stay active and is showing itself to play crucial roles in preventing a number of diseases (when glutathione declines with aging, our risk for a number of diseases rises). One study from India , published this year, found that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has potential therapeutic value in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, involving oxidative stress that's mediated by glutathione. Specifically, curcumin has also been found to alleviate the effects of glutathione depletion in vitro and in vivo, which may help in Parkinson's disease, where an important biochemical feature of the pre-symptomatic disease is a depletion of glutathione, which ultimately results in neuronal cell death. Treatment of neuronal cells and mice with curcumin was found to restore depleted glutathione levels, protect against protein oxidation, and preserve mitochondrial complex I activity, impaired due to the loss of glutathione.

Glutathione also plays a significant role in the neurodevelopmental health of children. A 2006 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested the effect of Pycnogenol or pine bark extract (which consists of bioflavonoids, catechins, procyanidins and phenolic acids and acts as powerful antioxidant), on the level of glutathione in children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They found that one month of Pycnogenol administration caused a significant decrease in oxidized glutathione and a highly significant increase in glutathione levels as well as improvement of glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio, in comparison to a group of patients taking a placebo.

And of course, the list of research on as this incredible antioxidant continues to grow...

Fortunately, there are a number of ways we can help keep our glutathione levels high, right now, and one is by consuming plenty of foods which are naturally high in glutathione content, including:

Since glutathione can often be broken down before it reaches your cells, it's probably best to consume foods that promote the production of this antioxidant within your cells as well, so be sure to include the sulfur and cysteine-containing foods in your diet, including:

By the way, cinnamon and cardamom have also been found to significantly raise glutathione levels in animal studies, so may want to up your intake of these delicious spices, too (they're delicious in a cup of tea, for example). Or if you prefer, head to your local c ompounding pharmacist who can up make a topical glutathione cream, which you can apply to thin-skinned areas of the body, such as the top of your hand or foot (though you'll likely need your doctor's prescription for this) and reap the benefits of this incredible antioxidant every day.

References

1. Glutathione in foods: Jones DP, Coates RJ, Flagg EW, et al. (1992) Glutathione in Foods listed in the National Cancer Institute's Health Habits and History Food Frequency Questionnaire. Nutr Cancer 17: 57-75

2. Cinnamon article: Indian J Exp Biol. 1999 Mar;37(3):238-42.

3. Curcumin article: Jagatha B, Mythri RB, Vali S, Bharath MM. Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, 2900 Hosur Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Free Radic Biol Med. 2008 Mar
4. Pycnogenol article: Redox Rep. 2006;11(4):163-72. Department of Medical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University , Bratislava , Slovak Republic .