The Power of Redox Signaling Molecules

Morbus Crohn and Redox Signaling Molecules

How Glutathione, Superoxide Mutase (SOD) and Catalase influence your body's well-being on a cellular level.

Glutathione
By Dave Carpenter, N.D., C. Ac.

In my opinion, glutathione stands head-and-shoulders above all of the other antioxidants. I think of it as the body’s “master antioxidant!” Glutathione is fundamental to a wide range of metabolic and regulatory functions throughout the body. Glutathione is a tripeptide created in the body from the amino acids glutamine, cysteine and glycine.

It is not only the body’s most important antioxidant but it is known to be one of the best detoxifiers in the body. Most health experts know that healthy levels of glutathione strengthen the body against heavy metal toxins. Glutathione is used to treat lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium poisoning. 

In today’s world it is very easy to become depleted in glutathione. Exposure to sunlight, environmental toxins and pollutants, household chemicals, pharmaceutical drug use, recreational drug use, heavy metals, surgery, inflammation, burns, viral or bacterial infections, and intense physical exercise can all diminish the body’s glutathione reserves. And of course aging has an effect on these levels as well. 

From my research I’ve learned that a deficiency in glutathione has been linked to a number of diseases including anemia, neuropathy, HIV/AIDS, cirrhosis, hepatitis, COPD, asthma, Crohn’s Disease, gastritis, duodenal ulcer, pancreatitis, heart attack, coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, cystic fibrosis, cancer, seizure disorders and autism. It protects the skin, the lens of the eyes and the retina from radiation from the sun and is the best detoxifier the body has in its arsenal.

In fact, autism researchers have found that 100% of the kids studied had “unusually low concentration of the antioxidant glutathione in their cells” while none of the normal kids showed this problem. Jill James, director of biochemical genetics at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, notes that “This pattern is consistent with an inability to detoxify poisons, especially heavy metals, such as mercury or lead. That’s because glutathione normally binds to heavy metals and the body then targets the molecular complex for elimination.”