GLUTATHIONE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ANTIOXIDANT.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE!!!

READ ON...

When asked to choose whether glutathione was the most IMPORTANT antioxidant or the most POWERFUL antioxidant, the answers were split roughly at 50/50. I can understand the confusion, but knowing the right answer is critical in understanding the unique role glutathione plays.

GLUTATHIONE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ANTIOXIDANT. It is NOT the most powerful antioxidant.

Let’s look at this closer, and start with why it is NOT the most POWERFUL antioxidant. Ask the question: Whys did God, Mother Nature, or Evolution (pick one that fits your belief system) to allow for oxidation (oxidants, free radicals, oxidative stress, etc.) to exist in the first place? Because OXIDATION and FREE RADICALS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN OUR HEALTH! Without this force at work, our immune system would crash, cellular signaling would be disrupted and thousands of metabolic processes would be arrested. OXIDATION is a fundamental process of utilizing oxygen! Without free radicals, life would end.

So why is this bad reputation for oxidation and free radicals so dominant. Because the problem kicks in when there is TOO much oxidation and free radical formation. This is a situation referred to as “Oxidative Stress”. Oxidative stress is when the balance between oxidation and antioxidants is tipped to far towards oxidation. Free radicals accumulate because they are not BALANCED by antioxidants, and damage begins to set in - oxidative damage or free radical damage. Starting to make sense?

So this word “Balance” needs to be emphasized. If this balance between oxidation and antioxidation is thrown off IN EITHER DIRECTION, problems will ensue. Too much oxidative stress is bad and too much antioxidant activity is bad too!

IF YOU WERE TO USE THE “MOST POWERFUL” ANTIOXIDANT, YOU MAY THROW OFF THE OXIDATION/ANTIOXIDATION BALANCE. Really doesn’t matter what the most powerful antioxidant is (many claim to be) – you don’t want to use it on a regular basis.

So the next question that comes up is “Why is it that using glutathione precursors to raise glutathione is safer?” In fact, by getting your cells to make its own glutathione, YOU CAN’T GET A CELL TO MAKE MORE THAN ITS OPTIMAL AMOUNT OF GLUTATHIONE – AND NO MORE THAN THAT! Glutathione production in the cell is regulated by negative feedback inhibition or self-regulation. This means that once glutathione gets to its optimal level, the cell stops making more.

So… 1) once glutathione levels are optimized, the OXIDATION/ANTIOXIDATION BALANCE IS OPTIMIZED. That’s just one reason glutathione is the most important antioxidant – when it is optimized, the balance can be optimized.

Other reasons why glutathione is the most important antioxidant? Quite a few, but let’s deal with some basic ones:

2) Glutathione is the most abundant, most prevalent and most active antioxidant MADE WITHIN OUR BODY. Our body makes less than a handful of antioxidants, glutathione is key.

3) Glutathione is the MASTER ANTIOXIDANT. What does this mean? To simplify an explanation, think of how antioxidants might work after they neutralize a free radical. They get neutralized themselves as well? How can an antioxidant continue to work and not just get expelled from the body? Answer – it hands the free radical off to a glutathione molecule, therby liberating itself to do more work. Of the thousands of antioxidants we know of, NONE OF THE KNOWN ANTIOXIDANTS COULD WORK WITHOUR COUNTING ON GLUTATHIONE to perform this function.

4) Glutathione is the only antioxidant which does not itself turn into a free radical after soaking one up. That’s the problem with any molecule that touches a free radical. It becomes “infected” too (by changing its electrical charge). This holds true fro antioxidants too, when they have completed their work, they too are free radicals. All of them, except glutathione. These glutathione molecules after they are done, “join hands” with another glutathione molecule and neutralize the charge. (For the keeners in the audience: { (GSH + OH-) + (GSH + OH-) = GSSH + H2O}.

5) Glutathione plays so many other roles outside the ability of this article to explain. Keep in touch and it all will add up even more!