If you are about that #Ageless life, or simple want optimal health…Get your Glutathione up!
Glutathione is of the most powerful antioxidants in the body – your body makes it from three amino acids: glutamine, glycine, and cysteine, and you also get it from your diet. The highest concentration of it is actually found in our intestines and is necessary for our body to properly absorb calcium. Some of the key benefits: Prevents damage to cells, slows aging, detoxifies the body including helping with removal of heavy metals, balances and boosts immunity, reduces inflammation.
Glutathione gets depleted as we age, with excessive stress, poor “junk food” diet, exposure to environmental toxins, within chronic inflammatory diseases or specific conditions like autoimmune diseases, and also with over-exercise. Being exposed to or taking a lot of medications can also deplete glutathione.
Chile, so how do we boost the levels we have? To start where possible reducing your exposure to environmental toxins, remove processed and junk foods from your diet, get adequate sleep, exercise regularly, and take steps towards healing any chronic conditions. Consume sulfur containing foods cabbage, garlic, onions, spinach, all the cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, watercress and mustard greens.
Increasing your intake of vitamin C is important, as vitamin C helps reprocess glutathione by converting oxidized glutathione back to its active form. One Canadian research study showed that when subjects consumed 500–1,000 mg of vitamin C daily for 13 weeks, this lead to an 18% increase of glutathione in white blood cells. Supplementation can also help to boost glutathione – but you cannot supplement it directly, you need to supplement building blocks that help the body create it like N-acetyl-cysteine, alpha lipoic acid, L-glutamine, or Silymarin (from milk thistle). Other important nutrients to support production include: B vitamins and selenium. -XO Raw Girl
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References:
Jones DP, Coates RJ, Flagg EW, Eley JW, Block G, Greenberg RS, Gunter EW, Jackson B. Glutathione in foods listed in the National Cancer Institute’s Health Habits and History Food Frequency Questionnaire. Nutr Cancer. 1992;17(1):57-75.PubMed PMID: 1574445.
Lenton KJ, Sané AT, Therriault H, Cantin AM, Payette H, Wagner JR. Vitamin C augments lymphocyte glutathione in subjects with ascorbate deficiency. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jan;77(1):189-95. PubMed PMID: 12499341.
Mårtensson J, Jain A, Meister A. Glutathione is required for intestinal function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Mar;87(5):1715-9. PubMed PMID: 2308931; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC53553.
Moine, L., Rivoira, M., Díaz de Barboza, G., Pérez, A., & Tolosa de Talamoni, N. (2018). Glutathione depleting drugs, antioxidants and intestinal calcium absorption. World journal of gastroenterology, 24(44), 4979–4988. doi:10.3748/wjg.v24.i44.4979