Glutathione is considered the “best-kept secret” of the immune system. So, what exactly is glutathione, and how does it benefit your body?
This content is shared by Dr. Sam Bailey (USA).
During my time in medical school, I was fortunate to have one of the most fascinating professors of pathology. His name was Robin Fraser, and his passion was the liver. Today’s video is a small tribute to him, as I discuss one of nature’s truly remarkable compounds: Glutathione.
Glutathione protects us from toxins and plays a crucial role in our immune defense system. Although glutathione is present throughout our body, the liver contains the highest concentration of this miraculous substance.
What is Glutathione, and What Role Does it Play in the Human Body?
Glutathione is a naturally occurring molecule found in humans, animals, plants, and even some single-celled organisms. Like vitamins C and E, it is an antioxidant, meaning it prevents oxidation. I won’t give you a chemistry lesson today, but essentially, in an oxidation reaction, compounds lose electrons. The problem for humans and other organisms is that oxidative reactions can lead to the formation of free radicals, which are toxic to cells. Free radicals are troublemakers in our bodies due to their highly reactive nature, stemming from their unpaired electron configuration.
While free radicals can sometimes be useful—such as when mammals neutralize harmful bacteria with free radicals produced by defense cells like macrophages and neutrophils—these free radicals are quickly consumed once the bacterial cells are destroyed.
However, serious problems can arise when our bodies fall into a state of oxidative stress, where the number of free radicals exceeds the body’s ability to detoxify them and repair the damage they cause. Oxidative stress is thought to contribute to various conditions, including heart disease, infections, aging, male infertility, neurological diseases, autism, and even cancer. In fact, cancer researchers Roberto La Signora and Vincent Castronovo noted that reduced glutathione (GSH) is a key factor in several human diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Its involvement in oncogenesis has led to new strategies for both cancer prevention and treatment.
So where does glutathione fit into this equation? Glutathione exists in two forms: reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG). When oxidative stress increases, GSSG accumulates in cells as GSH is consumed.
The diagram below illustrates the free radical toxicity pathway. There are three parts to the pathway: reduced glutathione, free radical detoxification, and the conversion of these radicals into non-toxic products. These non-toxic products are then safely processed by the body.
Nature never ceases to amaze us. In a healthy individual, there is usually a balance between reduced glutathione and its oxidized form. If free radicals increase due to harmful factors like smoking, heavy metal exposure, medication use, stress, etc., the reduced glutathione levels in cells can drop. If this continues, reduced glutathione deficiency occurs, allowing harmful free radicals to cause unchecked damage.
This is often seen in cancer patients, where chemotherapy and radiation therapy can exacerbate the condition, something doctors should consider during treatment. The life-protecting qualities of glutathione have been demonstrated in animal studies. Knockout mice, genetically engineered to be unable to produce glutathione in their livers, showed clear signs of hepatitis by 21 days old, and by one month, they usually died from liver failure.
An interesting point for doctors who may be watching: you may have used the glutathione detoxification pathway to save a life without realizing it. In cases of poisoning by the common pain reliever paracetamol (acetaminophen), its metabolite, NAPQI, can be toxic to the liver. Glutathione detoxifies NAPQI, but in cases of paracetamol overdose, the liver’s glutathione stores become overwhelmed, and NAPQI destroys liver cells. Glutathione deficiency can lead to liver failure and even death. Emergency physicians often administer high doses of the amino acid cysteine, usually intravenously, to stimulate glutathione production and detoxify the cells.
For those who regularly use paracetamol or acetaminophen, you might want to consider increasing your intake of sulfur-containing amino acids like cysteine. But more on that later.
Glutathione and the Immune System
Regarding our immune system, researchers have suggested that our cellular immunity can be divided into two main responses: Type 1 (Th1) and Type 2 (Th2) immune support systems.
To be clear, this is not a simple division, and there is ongoing debate about how these systems interact. However, an imbalance between the two systems has been linked to various diseases. This is an area of particular interest to medical professionals, especially in environmental medicine.
In his 2009 book Healthy Instead of Chronically Ill, Yokim Muta pointed out that one of the weapons of the Th1 system is nitric oxide, which can be used to destroy cancer cells and other harmful elements. However, when nitric oxide is produced, it must be detoxified by the body’s cells through reduced glutathione or sulfur groups. Otherwise, it will also destroy our healthy cells if glutathione levels and other antioxidants are insufficient. The immune system may switch to a Th2 response, reducing the Th1 immune response. The result of suppressed Th1 activity is that not only can chronic infections with bacteria or fungi occur, but also cancer, as cancer cells are destroyed by nitric oxide through the Th1 immune response.
To compensate for the suppression of the Th1 system, the Th2 immune system can easily become overstimulated. In fact, the Th2 system is often overactive, while the Th1 system is shut down, not only in people with allergies or autoimmune diseases but especially in cancer patients. This means that in people with cancer or other chronic diseases, the body’s production of glutathione should be increased by detoxifying the mitochondria and consuming certain substances. This will help balance the Th2 system.
The significant rise in chronic diseases over the past few decades suggests that populations in industrialized countries are facing increasing glutathione deficiencies or mitochondrial dysfunction due to higher exposure to toxins, harmful radiation, and poor-quality food lacking essential nutrients due to industrial farming practices on depleted soils.
So What Can You Do to Ensure Adequate Glutathione in Your Body?
Unfortunately, we cannot absorb glutathione directly because the digestive system will break it down. Instead, glutathione is synthesized in the body from the amino acids glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine. These are known as non-essential or conditionally essential amino acids, meaning the body can produce them internally.
However, glutathione levels in the human body can be boosted by consuming raw vegetables, wild herbs, durian fruit, as well as wild and cultivated garlic, all of which are good sources of sulfur compounds. High levels of sulfur-containing amino acids are also found in egg products, with egg whites containing around 8%. Make sure the eggs come from truly free-range chickens living in a healthy environment.
As for supplements, milk thistle extract has shown benefits in glutathione levels in both animal and human studies.
Lastly, healthy sleep is believed to help replenish the liver’s glutathione stores. To optimize this, you need to combine it with regular exercise, breathing fresh air, maintaining healthy social relationships, and getting enough sunlight to ensure adequate vitamin D levels. You also need to get enough sleep and eat a healthy, nutritious diet rich in fresh foods with low toxin levels.
Content edited from the video “Glutathione – The Immune System’s Best Kept Secret” on Dr. Sam Bailey‘s YouTube channel