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The Anti-Toxin, Anti-Disease Amino Acid

by Dr. David Williams

Published 04/30/09

Get Your Glutathione!

Any steps you take to increase your glutathione levels will be an extremely worthwhile investment. It seems that every disease process begins with a decline in glutathione levels. And when you take a closer look at many of the "miracle" antioxidants that have become popular, much of their therapeutic effect comes from the fact that they help raise glutathione levels.

Melatonin has been found to stimulate the production of glutathione peroxidase, the principle enzyme for controlling free radical damage in the brain. Grape seed extract, bilberry extract, curcumin from turmeric, and Pycnogenol from pine bark all increase glutathione levels.

Low glutathione levels have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cataracts, macular degeneration, age-related brain problems like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and aging in general. We now know that a lack of glutathione in AIDS patients is responsible for the wide-scale free-radical damage that destroys immune cells and suppresses the immune system.

In fact, researchers at Louisiana State University were working with mice genetically engineered to develop inflammatory bowel disease, the same disease that affects over a million people in this country. Five weeks before the mice began to experience intestinal inflammation, the researchers noted a sharp drop in one particular antioxidant: glutathione. When the inflammation appeared, glutathione gut tissue levels had dropped 80 percent. To determine if there was any relationship, the scientists added N-acetylcysteine to the animals' drinking water. As their tissue levels of glutathione increased, the inflammation subsided.

The pharmaceutical companies now realize that most diseases are preceded by a glutathione deficiency, and are working feverishly on the ultimate prevention pill. It would be a marketer's dream come true: a pill that everyone took every single day. I'm not sure when or if it will become a reality, and I'm not sure what side effects a drug like that might have. Fortunately, we don't have to wait-or be their guinea pigs when such a pill becomes available. We already know how to increase glutathione levels, and do it safely and effectively. 

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