Glutathione is often referred to as "the body's master antioxidant." But that description doesn't do justice to the health benefits of glutathione and how it affects your wellbeing and longevity.



In this article, I'll address the following. To jump to a specific section, click on the link.







What Is Glutathione?



Glutathione is tripeptide made from the amino acids cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid. A tripeptide is a compound made with three amino acids.



Peptides and proteins are similar in that they're both made of amino acids. However, proteins are much, much larger. It's like the difference between our grandson's half-ounce Tonka Tiny dump truck, and a 700,000 pound Caterpillar dump truck.



All three amino acids - cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid - are necessary to build glutathione. But cysteine is the rate-limiting amino acid, meaning that if you're supply of cysteine is low, your glutathione levels will fall.



Glutathione is found in two forms in the body: reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG). Oxidized glutathione is made from two reduced GSHs bonded together by sulfur atoms. Not surprisingly, this makes sulfur another key component of glutathione function.



Sulfur is the third-most abundant mineral in the body. If you recall from Do Detox Diets Work, sulfur plays a critical role in detoxification. No sulfur, no GSSG.



Healthy cells contain about 100 times as much GSH as GSSG. However, under significant oxidative stress, the ratio of GSH:GSSG can drop from 100:1 to 10:1 or even 1:1.



What Does Glutathione Do?



Glutathione plays a number of important roles in maintaining health, many of which are still being discovered.



Detoxification



Glutathione protects the body from heavy metals, and toxins like alcohol and persistent organic pollutants.



It also helps transport mercury out of cells and out of the brain. If you have mercury-filled fillings, which can leach mercury into your body, you will use glutathione as part of Phase I detoxification to remove it.



Though glutathione can help remove many of these toxins, if your demand for glutathione exceeds supply, you may not have enough for other roles it plays in the body.



Combats Free Radicals



Glutathione acts as a powerful antioxidant. It also helps regenerate the antioxidants vitamins C and E.



In fact, lower GSH levels are thought to be one of the main causes of the acceleration of degenerative diseases. When glutathione isn't available to squelch free radicals, free radicals spread faster and inflict greater damage.



I think of it like a California wildfire. As long as there's enough nearby water and other stuff to stop a fire, you can end the blaze it before it does much damage. But, if all the water was being used to water homes in Las Vegas, there won't be enough flowing to California to stop the blaze.



In your body, if you need to squelch the free radicals caused by your elevated blood sugar, but you're using up most of your glutathione to deal with heavy metals you're unknowingly consuming in your "greens drink," three scenarios could play out.




You handle the heavy metals, but don't deal with the free radicals caused by your high blood sugar



You deal with the free radicals from the high blood sugar, but don't handle the heavy metals



You do a mediocre job at handling both, and they both cause long-term damage




By the way, I'm trying to simplify this as much as possible so you understand the concept, rather than leave your bored by writing about "the reduction of disulfides, hydroperoxides, sulfenic acids, and nitrosothiols, the detoxification of aldehydes, xenobiotics, and heavy metals, and the synthesis of eicosanoids, steroids, and iron–sulfur clusters." (Deponte M)



Enhances Skin Health



As an antioxidant, glutathione protects the skin from the damage of ultraviolet light. Maintaining higher glutathione levels may slow the development of wrinkles and improve skin elasticity.