The Most Important Molecule You Have Never Heard Of.
If you have chronic problems you should review this....
1 Glutathione
From Wikipedia:
Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide. It contains an unusual peptide linkage between the amine group of cysteine and the carboxyl group of the glutamate side chain. Glutathione, an antioxidant, protects cells from toxins such as free radicals.[2]
Your body can’t live without Glutathione… The World's Most Powerful Antioxidant
Have you have been feeling more tired, run down, coming down with colds or the flu, have a lack of energy, increased aches and pains that weren't there a couple of years ago, or you’re unable to recuperate as quickly from exercise and physical activity as you once were?
How would you like to get your hands on a naturally occurring substance that acts as a powerful antioxidant, an immune system booster, and a detoxifier? A substance that can help your body repair damage caused by stress, pollution, radiation, infection, drugs, poor diet, aging, injury, trauma, and burns? It’s called Glutathione.
What is Glutathione? Also called GSH, Glutathione is the most powerful, prevalent antioxidant in your body. The most well known antioxidants are vitamins C and E. Glutathione is a tripeptide molecule composed of the amino acids glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine, which exists in almost every cell of our body. Our glutathione level actually indicates our state of health and can predict longevity. Scientific evidence has found that glutathione is needed by the body to enhance the immune system response. There are more than 60,000 published papers on the beneficial effects of glutathione replacement, unfortunately, it is still largely ignored by mainstream medicine. Normal glutathione levels are important for good health because they neutralize free radicals, which can build up in cells and cause damage.
The Bad News.... Your body's cellular supply of glutathione begins to decline 10% to 15% per decade beginning with the age of 20. If you are over age 20, you have a glutathione shortage! Lower levels of glutathione can result in chronic illness such as… lower energy or fatigue, a weakened immune system, cellular damage, accelerated aging, and higher cellular inflammation, which results in increased muscle and joint aches and pains. Free radicals constantly are attacking our cells, which is why antioxidants are so vital to protecting our health. Glutathione has been called the World's Most Powerful Antioxidant, and is found in every cell in the body, but, most people need some help.
The Good News!.... Research shows that increasing your Glutathione levels has the following benefits:
- Increase Your Energy - Slow Down the Aging Process
- Detoxify Your Body and Improve Liver Function - Reduce the Risk of Cancer
- Strengthen Your Immune System - Improve Mental Function and Clarity
- Fight Inflammation of Organs and Muscles - Improve Heart and Lung Function
Uncontrolled inflammation is a root cause of most major health issues ranging from heart conditions to joint and muscular conditions. Abundant glutathione levels will off-set the effects of this inflammation at the cellular level. Because glutathione is in every cell, it can regulate inflammation through out the body.
Adding antioxidants to your diet is a tremendous help, but it is Glutathione.... the world's most powerful natural antioxidant - that is Most Important for Protecting Healthy Cells.
==> So what exactly is glutathione?
Glutathione is a very simple molecule that is produced naturally all the time in your body.
It is a combination of three simple building blocks of protein or amino acids -- cysteine, glycine, and glutamine.
The secret of its power is the sulfur (SH) chemical groups it contains. Sulfur is a sticky, smelly molecule. It acts like fly paper and all the bad things in the body stick onto it, including free radicals and toxins like mercury and other heavy metals.
Normally glutathione is recycled in the body -- except when the toxic load becomes too great. And that explains why we are in such trouble.
In my practice, I test the genes involved in glutathione metabolism. These are the genes involved in producing enzymes that allow the body to create and recycle glutathione in the body.
These genes have many names, such as GSTM1, GSTP1, and more.
So why are these genes impaired in some people?
Well, humans evolved in a time before the 80,000 toxic industrial chemicals of today were introduced into our world, before electromagnetic radiation was everywhere, and before we polluted our skies, lakes, rivers, oceans, and teeth with mercury and lead.
That is why most people survived with just the basic version of the genetic detoxification software encoded in our DNA, which is mediocre at ridding the body of toxins.
We just didn't need more.
Who knew we would be poisoning ourselves and eating a processed, nutrient-depleted diet?
Because of this, almost of half of the population now has a limited capacity to get rid of toxins -- they are missing GSTM1 function.
Nearly all my very sick patients (including me, which is why I became mercury poisoned and suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome) are missing this function. This is the one-third of our population that suffers from chronic disease.
==> So why is glutathione so important?
Glutathione recycles antioxidants.
You see, dealing with free radicals is like handing off a hot potato. They get passed around from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then finally to glutathione which cools off the free radicals and recycles the other antioxidants.
Then the body can "reduce" or regenerate another protective glutathione molecule. And we are back in business.
The problem occurs when we are overwhelmed with too much oxidative stress or too many toxins.
Then the glutathione becomes depleted, leading us toward illness.
We can no longer protect ourselves against free radicals, infections, or cancer and we can't get rid of toxins, leading to further sickness.
But that's not all.
Glutathione is also critical in helping your immune system do its job of fighting infections and preventing cancer. That's why studies show that it can help in the treatment of AIDS.
Glutathione is also the most critical and integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool -- and out of your body.
And lastly, it also helps us reach peak mental and physical function. Research has shown that raised glutathione levels decrease muscle damage, reduce recovery time, increase strength and endurance, and shift metabolism from fat production to muscle development.
If you are sick or old or are just not in peak shape, you likely have glutathione deficiency.
In fact, the top British medical journal, "The Lancet," found the highest glutathione levels in healthy young people, lower levels in healthy elderly, lower still in sick elderly, and the lowest of all in the hospitalized elderly. (i)
Keeping yourself healthy, boosting your performance, preventing disease and aging well depends on keeping your glutathione levels high.
I'll say it again.
Glutathione is so important because it is responsible for keeping so many of the keys to UltraWellness optimized.
It is critical for immune function and controlling inflammation. It is the master detoxifier and the body's main antioxidant, protecting our cells and making our energy metabolism run well.
Now, the good news.
==> You can do many things to increase this natural and critical molecule in your body.
You can eat glutathione-boosting foods.
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You can exercise.
You can take glutathione-boosting supplements.
FOODS
* Sulfur-rich foods. The main ones in the diet are garlic, onions, and the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, etc.).
* Bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis. As you know I am not a big fan of dairy. But this is an exception -- with a few warnings. The whey protein MUST be bioactive and made from non-denatured proteins (denatured means the breakdown of the normal protein structure). Choose non-pasteurized and industrially produced milk that contains no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Immunocal is a prescription bioactive non-denatured whey protein that is even listed in the Physician's Desk Reference.
EXERCISE
* Exercise boosts your glutathione levels and thereby helps boost your immune system, improve detoxification, and enhance your body's own antioxidant defenses. Start slow and build up to 30 minutes a day of vigorous aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, or play various sports. Strength training for 20 minutes 3 times a week is also helpful.
SUPPLEMENTS
It would be easy just to take glutathione as a pill. But the body digests protein -- and you don't get the benefits. The production and recycling of glutathione in the body also requires many different nutrients.
Here are the main supplements that need to be taken consistently to boost glutathione.
(In fact, besides taking a multivitamin and fish oil, supporting my glutathione levels is the most important thing I do every day for my health.)
* N-acetyl-cysteine. This has been used for years to help treat asthma and lung disease and to treat people with life-threatening liver failure from Tylenol overdose. In fact, I first learned about it in medical school and while working in the emergency room. It is even given now to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.
* Alpha lipoic acid. This is a close second to glutathione in importance in our cells and is involved in energy production, blood sugar control, brain health, and detoxification. The body usually makes it, but given all the stresses we are under, we often become depleted.
* Methylation nutrients (folate, vitamins B6 and B12). These are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione. Methylation and the production and recycling of
glutathione are the two most important biochemical functions in your body (see my blogs on methylation for more details). Take folate (especially in the active form of 5 methyltetrahydrofolate), B6 (in active form of P5P), and B12 (in the active form of methylcobalamin).
* Selenium. This important mineral helps the body recycle and produce more glutathione.
* A family of antioxidants including vitamins C and E (in the formed of mixed tocopherols), work together to recycle glutathione.
* Milk thistle (silymarin) has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels.
So follow this plan, and see how it works for you.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
(1) Nuttall S, Martin U, Sinclair A, Kendall M. 1998. Glutathione: in sickness and in health.? The Lancet 351(9103):645-646
April 3, 2005
Study Links Free Radicals to the Spectrum of Autism
A metabolic flaw may account partly for the range in severity shown in
children with the developmental disorder, scientists report.
By Robert Lee Hotz
Times Staff Writer
Many autistic children share a chronic flaw in the body's natural
defenses against oxygen free radicals - corrosive molecules in the body
that can severely damage developing brain cells, scientists said
Saturday in San Diego.
The molecular havoc caused by free radicals - natural byproducts of
metabolism - is believed to be a major factor in the cell damage that
underlies aging.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little
Rock found that a single breakdown in the body's metabolism might
underlie many of the puzzling symptoms of autism, a complex
developmental disability with a spectrum of behaviors.
"This is a very promising thing to look at because it gets at the actual
metabolic processes in the brain," said UCLA neurologist George
Bartzokis, who did not participate in the research. "The brain is
especially vulnerable to damage from free radicals."
Those with autism typically have difficulty communicating and
interacting with other people. It strikes some in infancy. Other
children may develop normally for several years before falling into a
private world where normal social interaction and behavior becomes
impossible.
The new findings also may help shed light on the condition's range in
severity because maturing neurons and synapses are especially vulnerable
to this biomolecular bombardment. Autism could therefore cause different
symptoms and degrees of severity in children depending on when the
disorder is triggered.
Normally, the body shields itself from such damage with a chemical
produced by every cell called glutathione, which neutralizes oxygen free
radicals. It binds to them, altering their electron balance and sees
them safely expelled from the body.
By analyzing blood samples from 95 autistic children and 75 healthy
ones, researchers led by biochemist S. Jill James at the University of
Arkansas determined that levels of this protective antioxidant were
abnormally low in many autistic children.
They presented their work at the Experimental Biology 2005 conference in
San Diego.
The finding is suggestive, several experts said, because glutathione
also is crucial for neutralizing toxic heavy metals such as mercury,
which is found in food, the air and, at one time, a vaccine preservative
called thimerosal.
"When glutathione is less available, then it is easier for things to get
out of balance and the free radicals can cause more damage," James said.
"One interpretation of this finding is that children with autism would
be less able to detoxify and eliminate these heavy metals."
The researchers cautioned that they do not know whether this metabolic
flaw precedes the disorder or is one of its symptoms. Indeed, no one
knows what causes autism, which has increased in prevalence 10-fold
during the last 15 years. So far, there is no medical test that can
identify it reliably.
Most experts agree that autism most probably involves the interaction of
many genes that together predispose a child to the condition, combined
with some outside factor that triggers the disorder. No one has
identified any genes for autism, nor is there any consensus on what
environmental factor is involved.
"We have added now the fact that there may also be a metabolic component
that reflects both the underlying genetics and the environment," James said.