Category Archives: Glutathione

Strengthen Your Liver with Antioxidants – Glutathione

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The liver is your body’s detoxification center. Think of it if you’d like as your systems washing machine.  It isn’t a particularly glamorous job and the liver is rarely acknowledged along with organs like the brain or the heart for the valuable work it does. The simple fact however, is that without your liver’s cleaning action, countless toxins, including environmental pollutants, chemical food additives, impurities in the water, smoke, bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses will spill into your bloodstream and be free to travel through the body to attack the heart, lungs and brain.

In addition to protecting us from the onslaught of toxins from outside of our body, the liver protects us from toxins that we produce.  Toxins can result from nutritional deficiencies, which are becoming increasing – and truly – inexcusably more common, because of poor eating habits and some of our conventional farming practices that are resulting in nutritionally deficient foods.  Unfortunately, the body has an outstanding storehouse for toxins. We can store toxins in our fat, literally for years and then, in times of stress, or fasting, or dieting or even as a result of what should be healthy exercise, we finally metabolize those fats and release the toxins back into our bloodstream.  The sudden influx puts great pressure on our livers.

It’s also impossible to mention the liver and not also mention Cirrhosis, the name that refers to end stage liver disease where years of chronic inflammation, usually (but not always) caused by one specific toxin – alcohol- have created such an extensive build up of scar tissue that there simply isn’t enough of the functioning liver left to do its job.  The result is death (unless you get a transplant).  Liver Disease is the 4th leading cause of death among 30-50 year olds.

Antioxidants are vital to the health and functioning of the liver in two key ways- to remove toxins from our body and to protect it.

Antioxidants  help the liver cleanse toxins from the blood. In other words they support the detoxification function itself.  During the second phase of detoxification, the liver releases large amounts of enzymes and antioxidants, including glutathione into the body in order to neutralize the toxins that have not already been modified by the liver directly in the first stage.  You see, the liver can only do so much and it (along with the rest of the body) relies on antioxidants to cleanse toxins and free radicals before they can build up.

When the level of glutathione falls, usually as a result of a sustained intake of toxins, the liver is not able to do its job properly. It can become damaged by free radicals, all too soon reaching a state of oxidative stress that, among other things can result in inflammation.  Left too long, in an attempt to protect itself, the liver produces scar tissue and the Cirrhosis cycle begins.

Unfortunately, chronic alcohol abuse is not the only source of toxins that can damage our liver. Let’s face it, our world and our lives are filled with toxins and stressors, so taking steps to protect the health of our liver is vital.

When you boost your level of antioxidants and your production of glutathione you’re helping your liver clean toxins from your blood and you’re ensuring that it can support your other organs by releasing key antioxidants like glutathione throughout your body to prevent systemic damage from oxidative stress. You’re also ensuring the liver has enough glutathione to protect itself from the damage that can be caused by free radicals and the heavy load of toxins we deal with.  A stressed, inflamed liver affects the health of every organ in your body.

Eat a healthy diet, rich in raw fruits and vegetables.  Cut down on stimulants like caffeine and on depressants like alcohol and nicotine.  Drink at least 2 quarts of water a day and in addition to ensuring that your body has a rich supply of antioxidants, you might also with to consider supplementing your diet with digestive enzymes like Protease, Lipase or Amylase to aid in your digestion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.  When your digestive system works effectively it reduces the toxins that your liver needs to manage.

Natural Relief for Chronic Pain

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I’m not an official health practitioner and so you’ll receive a health consultation from this article .   But what you will get is a considered perspective about something you can check into if you’re suffering because of chronic pain.

Chronic pain – by definition – is long lasting and/or recurrent .  It can continue for months or- happens all too often – for years.  Chronic pain isn’t the immediate result of a traceable injury . The fact is that if you severely twist an ankle when you’re out running , it’s going to hurt the for a while .  Pain is natures way of telling you that something’s physically wrong. For lots of injuries and strains , the pain you feel the next day is caused by the inflammation caused in the cells .

Along this line , the immediate pain and chronic pain share a connetcion . That connection   is inflammation.  Inflammation is frequently common chronic condition that lots of people have even if we don’t know about it. But if a result of the inflammation is pain, we will pay attention .

Inflammation is often a result of an out-of-control action of free radical damage inside our cells.  One explanation for the unchecked damage is that there are not enough antioxidants available to clean up the free radicals.  There are lots of types of free radicals and a variety of antioxidants that can fight them, but not all of them are equally useful and one of the most valuable is an antioxidant called glutathione .

Glutathione is frequently called the body’s Master Antioxidant for the simple reason that it’s found in each cell of your body.  Since it is meant to always be at the scene of the crime , glutathione is uniquely adapted to remove free radicals everywhere .  It’s too bad that , as we get older we make decreasing amounts of the Master Antioxidant .

So getting to the point , one tactic you can try – which has been effective for people suffering from chronic pain is to increase the level of antioxidants in your system in order to eliminate the free radicals and reduce the inflammation.  You can increase your levels of Vitamins C and E . Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and to enhance your  glutathione production you can take MaxGXL or MaxONE.

Try MaxGXL instead of a Glutathione supplement.

Why Your Heart Needs AntiOxidant Protection

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Elderly man in great shape

The human heart is certainly a wonderous organ .  Even before your first breath , the muscles that make up the heart are working hard , circulating oxygen rich blood to every part in you and drawing oxygen depleted blood back to your lungs.  On average, your heart will beat 37,869,120 times each year , year after year.  That’s around two and a half billion heartbeats in your lifetime .

Clearly , the heart is your powerhouse and deserves protection. You know , nobody can survive without a working heart and   with an average of 2 deaths every 68 seconds ,  forty percent of all the deaths in the United States are the result of heart disease, the leading cause of which is CAD- Coronary Artery Disease

Because it’s the hardest working organ in your body, the heart muscles will produce a continuous supply    of energy and it’s this massive level of energy creation which renders your heart vulnerable to the threat of free radicals. Hence , the heart is one organ with a high demand for antioxidants  and the most important of which is Glutathione.

Producing Energy for the Heart

The heart’s astounding ability to make energy is rooted within each cell’s power plants known as Mitochondria.  Every cell in every organ has these tiny energy producing sites .  On average, most cells will have a few hundred mitochondria, but the cells found in the muscles of your heart have about 5,000! The power that’s made in your cells, is created in the form of a compound called ATP or adenosine triphosphate.  Unfortunately , producing energy has a price .

The by- products of creating energy are free radicals and with so many mitochondria in the cells of the heart , there will also be a matching population of by-products . Without the intervention of antioxidants , free radicals can create a cascading response within the heart cells that can kill them and their components – like cellular DNA.

CAD and Heart Disease

Arteriosclerosis – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) which is generally called hardening of the arteries or loss of arterial elasticity is a leading cause of Heart disease. It’s been linked to a substance called lipid peroxidase. That’s what you get when the lipids in your heart are converted into free radicals.  Lipids, are a large group of molecules which include waxes, sterols, fats and the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K.  In addition to   raised levels of Free radicals, patients with CAD have also been found with depressed levels of antioxidants including Glutathione.  Missing a sufficient supply of antioxidants to scavenge free radicals in your heart, this organ and your arterial system will eventually suffer from oxidative stress.

Our systems are designed to manage free radicals created by normal processes, but most of us are subject to extra stresses that were not part of the original plan . They include environmental chemicals ( like cigarette smoke!), lousy diets, the unhealthy pace and emotional stress of our busy lives and poor conditioning of our muscles from not enough exercise.  We have placed our antioxidant reserves at a terrible disadvantage.

Why You Need More  Glutathione and Other Antioxidants

As we age , our chemistry starts to slow down. The mitochondria in our cells inevitably produce less energy and we also naturally begin to produce less glutathione – which is vital for a healthy heart.  Boosting glutathione supply can’t make us live forever, but given how important your heart is , it only makes sense to  eat better ,  live a healthier lifestyle and take concrete steps to boost our natural production of glutathione.

Oral Glutathione supplements are not effective, but you can increase your glutathione with a glutathione precursor like MaxONE.

Antioxidants and Your Aging Brain – A Few Thoughts

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From your first breath to your last and for each microsecond that happens in the middle , there is a war being fought in every part in your body .  There are easily millions of these battles going on simultaneously and they involve oxyradicals on one hand and antioxidants on the other . These batttles affect how long you live , your susceptibility to a variety of diseases and without question the quality of your life and health as a senior citizen .

A human brain is highly vulnerable to damage from free radicals because although it only represents 2% of the body mass , about 20% of the oxygen you take in is required by your brain.  Oxy or free radicals – unstable oxygen molecules are created by by many different processes , but a major  source is a natural and inevitable by-product of metabolizing oxygen . Since 20% of your oxygen supply is used by your brain, it stands to reason that your brain will be subjected to many free radicals.

In your mind is a major presence of naturally occurring molecules called Lipids. Lipids include waxes, fats, sterols and some fat soluble vitamins like E, A, D and K. Lipids store energy, they are  signaling molecules and are structural components of your cell membranes.  Lipid peroxidation is   free radical Lipid damage and a reason for the importance of antioxidant supplements .

Your defense against Lipid peroxidation in your brain is with antioxidants and in particular a small subset called Network Antioxidants or the Antioxidant Network ,  made up of Vitamins E, C CoEnzymeQ10, Glutathione and Lipolic acid .  Network Antioxidants help each other to clean up free radicals in the brain and they are uniquely capable of repairing each other .  Of the Network Antioxidants, the most important is Glutathione laso known as The Master Antioxidant. Glutathione is naturally manufactured by your body and resident in each and every cell.

Unfortunately , your brain maintains lower levels of   Glutathione than other parts of your body and as you age , the natural supply is even less since the ability to make Glutathione declines by about 10% for each decade after our twenties .  But a brain absolutely requires Glutathione to be healthy.  For example, consider the part that Antioxidants play in connection with Alzheimer’s Disease – or senile dementia.

There is a strong link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease . In a study conducted in 2009 on rats , two same sized groups were purposely fed aluminum toxins, but group was also supplemented with free radical scavengers.  One group had a significant growth in lipid peroxidation and developed oxidative stress – that’s the result of rampant free radical damage.  Reduced glutathione and other network antioxidants were also measured . For the rats that were given the toxins along with the free radical scavengers, none of these changes were found .

With the brain’s vulnerability to the creation of lipid peroxides an abundant store of antioxidants ( in particular Network Antioxidants and most specifically , the master antioxidant Glutathione) is key to sustaining a healthy and functioning brain. While oral glutathione supplements are not considered to be effective, you can take a glutathione precursor like Max One .

Antioxidants and Oxidative Stress

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Elderly man in great shape

Presenting all the connections that exist between aging, DNA damage, chronic pain, inflammation,  oxidative stress, the role of antioxidants and our metabolism and immune systems is a long and very complex process.  However, there is a definite link between the prevention of oxidative stress and the avoidance or at least delayed onset of many degenerative and often painful illnesses that we expect to be a part of normal aging.

Oxidative stress is  a killer- even if it doesn’t sound like one and its associated with many conditions and diseases like  Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, myocardial infarction (a heart attack that prevents blocks the blood supply to a part of the heart muscle causing it to die) other forms of heart failure  and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Oxidative stress is the resulting condition when there is either an uncontrolled increase in peroxides and oxy-radicals/free radicals (collectively referred to as reactive oxygen species)  or a significant shortfall in the body’s antioxidant defense systems, one of which is glutathione.

When your body can’t use its supply of antioxidants to protect itself- at a cellular level- from oxy-radical damage, you have oxidative stress.

Reactive oxidative species originate in different ways – both internally and externally.

Externally, free radicals are caused by; introduced toxins and pathogens, cigarette smoke, pollution, chemotherapy, UV damage, radiation, vigorous exercise and stress.

Internally, oxy-radicals are a standard by-product of your metabolism.   Even our own immune system used oxy-radicals to defend us against toxins and pathogens.  Normally, our natural reserves of antioxidants will scavenge these damaging by-products.   However, when aging and/or poor health and nutrition interfere with our usual ability to prevent oxidative stress the damage builds up and our defenses are eventually overwhelmed.

Oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species are also responsible for damage DNA damage which can lead to mutation.  Unfortunately, just as our production of antioxidants like glutathione decreases as we age, so too does our natural ability to maintain our DNA in good repair. One obvious example of the damage caused oxidative stress is  aged appearance (at best) to the skin of people who have not been protected from the sun’s harmful rays.

According to the Free Radical Theory of Aging , the accumulation of damaged cells caused by the unchecked action of free radicals is a primary contributor to the process of aging and while we cannot stop that, no one will debate that good health practices can contribute to a increased quality of life through what are supposed to be the golden years.  Antioxidants like glutathione which you can support with supplements like MaxGXL® and MAXONE can also play a key role in the avoidance  of chronic inflammation by reducing oxidative damage.