GLUTATIONIN LISÄÄMINEN ELIMISTÖSSÄ

[Bb]

Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 21.12.2004 11:07

Amerikkalaisen lääkärin näkemys siitä miten glutationin määrää pystyy parhaiten lisäämään elimistössä. Hänen mukaansa suun kautta otettuna mahdollisimman luonnonmukainen, käsittelemätön heraproteiini on siihen parasta.Suun kautta otettuna glutationin määrä nimenomaan maksassa lisääntyy.


"Thanks for your question about building up glutathione. From what I can tell, this is a growing practice in both the multiple chemical sensitivities community and the chronic fatigue syndrome community, and it does seem to be of help to many patients.

My current view on the best way to build up glutathione stores in cases where they are deficient, as seems to be true in many or most cases of chronic fatigue syndrome, is to use a combined approach that includes simultaneous oral supplementation that gives the liver the substrates it needs to synthesize glutathione and a treatment that puts glutathione per se into the blood stream for the other organs.

The oral approach is the best way to raise glutathione levels in the liver, because the liver is not able to import glutathione from the blood or to break down the glutathione in the blood effectively and import the individual amino acids, as other organs do. In the normal function of the body, the liver's role is to be the main producer of glutathione from dietary amino acids. It retains some glutathione for its own use and exports some to the blood and some to the bile. It is thus set up to export glutathione to the blood, rather than to obtain it from the blood.

Other organs and cell types are able either to import glutathione molecules from the blood intact, or to break them down on the external surfaces of the membranes of the cells and then import the individual amino acids into the cells for use in re-synthesizing glutathione inside the cells. Thus, putting glutathione directly into the blood will benefit these other cell types.

I think that doing both simultaneously is the most effective way to restore the body's glutathione stores.

The best oral approach, in my view, is to take nondenatured whey protein, such as ImmunoPro Rx (available from www.immunesupport.com or www.needs.com, among others). The reason it's important to use nondenatured whey protein rather than conventional commercial whey protein is that it's important that the cysteine residues in the protein be in the actual cysteine form, not cystine. The liver is able to absorb cysteine well, but not cystine. I realize that there is advertising material being promulgated that says the opposite, but I believe it is incorrect, based on my study of the scientific literature, and also based on logical chemical reasoning.

For those who have an allergy to whey protein (note that a dairy allergy isn't necessarily a whey protein allergy, since it could be an allergy to casein, which goes into the curd fraction when milk is curdled), taking N-acetylcysteine (NAC) together with either high quality dietary protein or with other individual amino acids (glycine and preferably glutamine (but glutamic acid will also work)) is another approach. Capsules containing the three amino acid precursors of glutathione are available from Jeff Clark at www.cfsn.com. Dr. David Quig recommends that the NAC intake be limited to 300 mg per day if the mercury level in the body is elevated above normal (See below for reason).

Another oral approach is to take a reduced glutathione supplement. There are several issues involved with this. First, reduced glutathione tends to become oxidized readily in contact with the environment, so it's important to find a high quality supplement that has been isolated from the environment during storage. Second, taking reduced glutathione is a relatively expensive way to build glutathione in the body. Third, it is controversial in the literature to what degree glutathione molecules are absorbed intact and delivered to the general blood stream intact. However, whether or not they are delivered to the general blood stream intact, it is clear that ingested reduced glutathione molecules do give direct help to intestinal cells, and it is also clear that they supply the amino acids that can be reconstituted into glutathione inside cells, even if the molecules are broken down during digestion and absorption.

Turning now to the second component, there are several methods of putting glutathione per se into the blood stream. As you mentioned, quite a few clinicians are now injecting glutathione intravenously, particularly for dealing with chemical toxins. Others have been doing so for some time intramuscularly.

There are also glutathione rectal suppositories being used, as well as the sublingual glutathione troches. Aerosol glutathione is being supplied by nebulizer, particularly to people with lung diseases. Some people are using glutathione nasal sprays. There are also transdermal skin creams and lotions containing glutathione. I don't know of published quantitative data that show how much of the glutathione actually gets into the general blood circulation using methods other than intravenous injection, but at least some of it apparently does, based on anecdotal reports.

One of the difficulties in obtaining quantitative results on the ! amount reaching the blood by these methods is that the normal half-life of glutathione in the blood stream is very short. I think the measured time in
humans is 1.6 minutes. Most of it is taken out of the blood by the kidneys, which do make use of it. The second largest importer of glutathione from the blood is the lung. Other tissues take smaller amounts out of the blood.

There appear to be some things to be careful about when building glutathione in a person whose body has been depleted in glutathione for some time:

1. As I mentioned above, some people have allergies to whey proteins. If it is unclear whether such an allergy is present, starting at a low dosage is a good idea.

2. If glutathione has been low for an extended time, and if in addition the person has been exposed to considerable amounts of mercury, either from silver amalgam fillings in their teeth, or from consumption of large predatory fish, including tuna, then it is likely that mercury has built up in the body, since glutathione is normally responsible for removing mercury, among other toxins.

In this case, it is a good idea to test for mercury. I favor use of both a hair analysis (such as offered by Doctor's Data Laboratories in Chicago) and a urine test, preceded by challenge with DMSA (as offered, for example, by the King James lab in Ohio). If high levels of mercury are found, a careful chelation protocol should be considered. This is best done by a clinician with experience in mercury detoxification, since doing it improperly can move mercury from other parts of the body into the brain. Taking too much NAC when elevated levels of methyl mercury are present can cause mercury to be imported into the brain, according to Dr. David Quig.

3. Another problem if mercury is elevated is that mercury is able to inhibit several of the enzymes in the glutathione system, including the rate-limiting enzyme for synthesizing glutathione. Thus, mercury can block the synthesis of glutathione in the body, in a vicious circle mechanism. This is another reason to remove it. If too much cysteine is ingested in nondenatured whey protein, for example, the level of cysteine in the blood may rise too high. At high levels, cysteine is a neurotoxin, so this needs to be guarded against. Testing the blood cysteine level during nondenatured whey protein supplementation is a good idea.

4. If glutathione has been depleted for an extended time, the resulting suppression of the immune system can allow the development of well-entrenched infections. If the glutathione level is now suddenly raised, the immune system may spring into action and produce a large die-off of bacteria or of cells infected with viruses or intracellular bacteria. The resulting release of high levels of toxins can provoke a Jarisch Herxheimer reaction. This is another good reason to start at a low dosage and then work up as it is tolerated."