When we talk about antioxidants in the body, there’s one compound that rises above them all. Glutathione is the body’s most potent antioxidant molecule and is also known as the Master Antioxidant. It plays several important roles in your body. Here are the functions of this compound and how you can boost your your levels.
What is Glutathione?
Glutathione is a key antioxidant in the body. It’s a tripeptide, non-protein molecule that’s created from 3 amino acids: cysteine, glutamate and glycine. This compound is found in all organ systems in the body, but it is produced in the liver. It has several important functions in the body. However, it’s biggest and most important role is capturing reactive oxygen species (ROS), or free radicals, to prevent cell damage.Â
This job is particularly relevant for autoimmune diseases when chronic inflammation is present. Inflammation produces high levels of ROS in the body. Without a healthy level of glutathione in the body, these free radicals destroy tissues, cells and may cause long lasting damage. Glutathione is very efficient at capturing ROS to prevent this damage from happening.
Detoxifying Agent
Glutathione can also help detoxify the body. As we all know, your liver is your main detoxification organ. The detox process involves 2 phases. Phase 1 helps convert toxins into less harmful substances, and phase 2 converts the phase 1 byproducts to water soluble, neutral substances that your body can excrete. This antioxidant plays a role in both of these phases. In Phase 1, glutathione helps neutralize the free radicals produced by these toxins, and in phase 2, it combines with phase 1 metabolites to help neutralize and excrete these toxins from the body.
This is important for autoimmune diseases, because one of the root causes of autoimmune diseases is toxicity from heavy metals, mold, chemicals and potentially medications. Glutathione can help your body get rid of these toxins to lower your toxic burden. Also, it has a special affinity towards mercury. It can help shuttle this heavy metal out of cells.
Glutathione & Autoimmune Diseases
There is also evidence that low glutathione levels can trigger autoimmune diseases. If the body gets too overwhelmed with ROS, cellular damage occurs and inflammation increases. Your levels levels may be depleted due to an overabundance of inflammation, which could potentially lead to the development of autoimmune diseases.
How to Increase Glutathione Levels
There are a few ways you can help boost your glutathione levels. Eating sulfur rich foods like broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may raise your levels. Keeping inflammation down also helps take the burden off of the body and supports a higher production of this molecule. Glutathione supplements may also be used. However, they tend to be low in bioavailability. Lipid suspension formulas tend to absorb better than pill form. Some recommend taking glutathione precursors like N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) or alpha lipoic acid, to help boost glutathione production in the body.
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