Glutathione acts as an important antioxidant in your body. That means it helps combat free radicals, molecules that can damage your body's cells. Glutathione plays a role in many chemical reactions in your body. It also helps detoxify chemicals, including some that your body creates naturally, as well ... Read more
Glutathione acts as an important antioxidant in your body. That means it helps combat free radicals, molecules that can damage your body's cells. Glutathione plays a role in many chemical reactions in your body. It also helps detoxify chemicals, including some that your body creates naturally, as well as pollutants and drugs. Your supply of glutathione seems to drop as you get older, possibly because your body can't create as much. Lower glutathione levels seem to go hand-in-hand with poorer health. For instance, lower levels may play a role in many conditions that are more likely to develop in older people. Your glutathione levels may also fall if you have certain conditions, such as:
- Cancer
- HIV/AIDS
- Type 2 diabetes
- Hepatitis
- Parkinson's disease
Modern lifestyle habits like poor dietary choices, lack of sleep, abundance of stress, exposure to chemicals, and exercise extremes can incur physiologic changes. Our bodies were designed to handle stress, detoxify chemicals and preserve cell function, but when the burden increases, those naturally built-in systems can't keep up with demand. One of the most common physiological changes seen is the depletion of the body’s most powerful antioxidant, reduced glutathione. Glutathione has been termed "the master antioxidant" because of its ability to quench free radicals and protect cells from damage. It has long been thought that humans were unable to utilize preformed glutathione, but recent research proves otherwise. Glutathione has a molecular structure that effectively increases glutathione blood levels when taken orally. It is the only supplemental glutathione backed by a recently published human clinical trial that shows significant uptake of this critical nutrient.