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Glutathione: Your Body's Guardian Angel

From the Show: Naturally Savvy
Summary: Glutathione: learn why this nearly "miracle" compound is so essential to your health and wellness.
Air Date: 12/10/14
Duration: 10
Host: Andrea Donsky, RHN and Lisa Davis, MPH
Guest Bio: Cheryl Myers, RN
Cheryl Myers, RN, is an author and expert on integrative health and natural medicine. She is a nationally-recognized speaker and a well-known advocate for bridging the worlds of mainstream and natural medicine for effective interventions for patients, and has been the subject of interviews by both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Glutathione: Your Body's Guardian Angel
Glutathione: it certainly takes a bit of practice to pronounce, but this nearly "miracle" compound is so essential to your health and wellness.

Glutathione is made naturally in your body; specifically in your liver and within every single cell.

Cheryl Myers, RN, likes to think of glutathione as your "guardian angel" or "master protector," because it protects you from the dangers of oxidative stress and damage.

In fact, glutathione is so powerful that there are certain free radicals that can be squashed by no other compound.

It's also crucial for your liver and for optimal detoxification.

However, in the presence of certain diseases or environmental stressors, and as you age, your body's ability to make glutathione diminishes. Every decade after the age of 20, there is a fairly significant slow-down of glutathione production. But, if you're a very active, healthy person who lives a clean life, that slow-down isn't as impactful.

How can you combat this and optimize the glutathione in your body?

Unfortunately, you can't just go to your local health food store and get a supplement of glutathione. You can't consume it orally, because it goes into its inactive form (which is actually somewhat unhealthy).

One way to get more glutathione, then, is to have it administered intravenously.

This has actually been shown to be incredibly effective. A four-week study performed on Parkinson's patients revealed that with everyday injections of glutathione, the subjects' disabilities were reduced by a whopping 42 percent.

The problem is, many states don't even have clinics that approve this intravenous method and it can get rather expensive and time-consuming. Plus, it's still considered "experimental," so your insurance company is not going to cover it.

Another method is to take something called N-acetyl Cysteine (NAC), which is a raw material your body uses to make glutathione. While this method does help, there's also a drawback. If your body -- your "machine" -- isn't turning the NAC into glutathione effectively, you cannot raise your levels.

One more recent option is to administer glutathione sublingually (under the tongue) in a special form that's protected from oxidation and keeps glutathione in its active state. This method has been used in France and just recently was introduced in the U.S.

Where can you purchase the sublingual glutathione? In the U.S. it's called "Clinical Glutathione," and you can find the location closest to you by going on the europharmausa.com website and entering your zip code. 

Some of the chronic conditions that can be helped by glutathione include AIDS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, and almost every form of cancer.

Tune in as Cheryl shares more about the amazing benefits of glutathione, as well as the best ways to get more of it into your system.