Glutathione: More Than An Antioxidant

Glutathione’s Benefits: The Usual And The Unique

Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that does all the things we might reasonably expect an antioxidant to do, plus some beneficial quirks of its own.

We do make glutathione in our bodies, but we can also get it from our diet, and of course, we can also supplement it.

What foods is it in?

It’s in a lot of foods, but some top examples include:

• turmeric
• avocado
• asparagus
• almonds
• cruciferous vegetables
• watermelon
• garlic

For a fuller list and discussion, see:

Glutathione for Food and Health Applications with Emphasis on Extraction, Identification, and Quantification Methods: A Review

What does it do?

Let’s start with the obvious; as with most things that are antioxidant, it is also anti-inflammatory. Increasing or decreasing glutathione levels is associated with decreased or increased inflammation, respectively. For example:

Glutathione S-transferase theta 1 protects against colitis through goblet cell differentiation via interleukin-22

It being anti-inflammatory also means it can be beneficial in calming autoimmune disorders:

Glutathione: a key player in autoimmunity

And to complete the triad of “those three things that generally go together”, yes, this means it also has anticancer potential, but watch out!

❝Although in healthy cells [glutathione] is crucial for the removal and detoxification of carcinogens, elevated [glutathione] levels in tumor cells are associated with tumor progression and increased resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs❞

~ Dr. Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf et al.

Read in full: Role of Glutathione in Cancer: From Mechanisms to Therapies

So in other words, when it comes to cancer risk management, glutathione is a great preventative, but the opposite of a cure.

What were those “beneficial quirks of its own”?

They are mainly twofold, and the first is that it improves insulin sensitivity. There are many studies showing this, but here’s a recent one from earlier this year:

The Role of Glutathione and Its Precursors in Type 2 Diabetes

The other main “beneficial quirk of its own” is that it helps prevent and/or reverse non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as in this study from last year:

Glutathione: Pharmacological aspects and implications for clinical use in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Because of glutathione’s presence in nuts, fruits, and vegetables, this makes it a great thing to work in tandem with a dietary approach to preventing/reversing NAFLD, by the way:

How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver

Anything else?

It’s being investigated as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease symptoms, but the science is young for this one, so there is no definitive recommendation yet in this case. If you’re interested in that, though, do check out the current state of the science at:

Potential use of glutathione as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Is it safe?

While there is no 100% blanket statement of safety that can ever be made about anything (even water can kill people, and oxygen ultimately kills everyone that something else doesn’t get first), glutathione has one of the safest general safety profiles possible, with the exception we noted earlier (if you have cancer, it is probably better to skip this one unless an oncologist or similar advises you otherwise).

As ever, do speak with your doctor/pharmacist to be sure in any case, though!

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!