Glutathione and N-Acetylcysteine

Glutathione is arguably the most important antioxidant in the cells of the body.[13] It plays an important role in protecting the cells in your body by neutralising harmful “free radicals” formed constantly in the body.[14]

Glutathione is a tripeptide, which means it is a combination of three amino acids; glutamine, glycine and cysteine.

Glutathione has many other functions within the body. It helps to maintain other antioxidants within the body, such as vitamin C and E, by replenishing them.

Glutathione is essential for life

It is essential for maintaining the immune system at its optimum strength. It both enhances the immune response to disease by stimulating lymphocytes to attack, and also increases the number of them that the body produces.[15]

It also plays a vital role in processes that are essential for the life, such as DNA synthesis and repair, amino acid transport, the nervous system and the lungs.[15]

As you can imagine, glutathione is an essential substance in the body, and therefore maintaining levels in the body is important. Unfortunately, you cannot simply take glutathione itself as a supplement, since it cannot be absorbed by the body on its own.

NAC boosts the bodies levels of Glutathione

The only cheaply available dietary supplement available proven to boost cellular levels of glutathione is N-acetylcysteine (NAC). It is far more effective than attempting to take glutathione itself as a supplement. This is because NAC acts a better source of cysteine for the body than that found in the diet. Since the two amino acids glutamine and glycine are common in the body, the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of gluthathione in the body is the amount of cysteine present. NAC acts as a form of cysteine which is absorbed by the body far more readily, and is more readily utilised by cells so that they can increase the production of glutathione.

Read about N-Acetyl Cysteine here

NAC is so well known to boost glutathione that it is used as the antidote for paracetamol poisioning.[1] You can read more about the reason why here, but the quick version is that a paracetamol overdose rapidly destroys the livers glutathione reserves, whilst NAC restores them and protects the liver from damage.

Glutathione and N-Acetylcysteine

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