Raising Glutathione levels
As discussed in prior articles, glutathione is a potent anti – oxidant, working with the body, it supports your own natural anti oxidant system rather than overwhelming, potentially blunting the exercise signals your body needs in order to recover from and improve the response to training. That is the reason we say that glutathione should be the anti-oxidant that is preferrentially chosen by the athlete.
In this article we detail foods and supplements that you can add in to your diet to boost glutathione levels
N-Acetyl-Cysteine raises glutathione levels
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a modified version of cysteine that’s more bio-available and sold in supplement form. It increases glutathione synthesis only when there is a demand, which is possibly why it doesn’t run the risk of blunting training adaptations like some high-dose antioxidants.
Some antioxidants work constantly and can disrupt the signals that are required for training adaptations, NAC works with the body and kicks in when a given level of stress has been reached.
– A dose of 2-3 g of NAC consumed during exercise has been shown to improve endurance performance by boosting the bodies anti-oxidant system.
– NAC can regulate inflammation, keeping cytokines at levels appropriate to the situation, while also having demonstrated anti-cancer effects in-vitro.
Improving your glutathione levels by dietary modification
Whey Protein
The sulphur rich amino acids that re found in some protein rich foods can improve glutathione levels. The muscular endurance improvements mentioned previously used whey produced supplement to improve muscular endurance. Some scientists have postulated that whey protein that has not been denatured through production processes can promote the body to increase it’s production of glutathione, this is due to the 3 dimensional shape of the constituent sulfur-based peptides in the whey isolates.
Natural foods
Eggs have very high levels of sulpur containing aminos. Additional foods that can assist with glutathione production are , broccoli, avocado, spinach and garlic.
Milk Thistle,
Milk thistle extract is a strong anti-oxidant and provides support to the liver by increasing glutathione levels. Experiments on animal models (rats) have demonstrated glutathione- induced effects that help to protect the liver and kidneys due to milk thistle extract supplements. (Das and Vasudevan 2006) Vessal, Akmali et al. (2010)
ALA-Supplementation has shown to improve levels of glutathione and is another antioxidant that mops up free radicals. ALA supplementation has resulted in increased levels of glutathione and a reduction in stress related to free radicals.
Turmeric Long term consumption has been shown to increase glutathione and reduce oxidative stress in Parkinson’s patients – keeping your brain resisting the ravages of age (Mythri, Veena et al. 2011). These antioxidant effects extend the uses of this spice to helping to improve fat metabolism, blood sugar regulation and chronic disease (Madkor, Mansour et al. 2011).
Selenium Supplementation – The primary enzyme responsible for glutathione production, glutathione peroxidase depends on the presence of selenium for it to exhibit it’s effects. Selenium supplementation has also shown to boost the immune system and reduce illness in children.
Matt Lovell is one of the UK’s leading experts on sports nutrition supplements. Matt works with the England Rugby Team and the UK Athletics team preparing them for the 2012 Olympic games.Matt Lovell is a leading Fat Loss nutritionist. He works with the England Rugby team and UK Athletics team he has written the popular fat loss program Four Week Fat Loss and also contributes to the website Fat Burners Direct.
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