The Advantages Of Antioxidant Supplements For Glutathione

With all the press that antioxidant supplements for glutathione are receiving these days it can be very difficult to sort out what is fact and what is fiction. Does your body really need to be supplemented with Glutathione, or is it just another clever attempt on the part of the wellness market to sell you supplements you don t really need and encourage you to open your bank accounts to them? Until you understand what Glutathione does and how it can benefit you, it can be impossible for you to determine whether or not Glutathione supplementation is the best course of action to keep your body healthy.

What is Glutathione?

The first question most people ask when they re discussing the benefits of antioxidant supplements for Glutathione is, what is glutathione? Glutathione has made a reputation for itself as the mother of all antioxidants, one of the primary considering factors when it comes to ensuring the wellness and strength of your immune system.

Glutathione, like most proteins, is made up of chains of amino acids that assist the cell in reproducing. The primary function of Glutathione is to help the lymphocytes, the cells responsible for fighting the body s foreign invaders through the annihilation of the foreign substance and the development of antibodies, repair and reproduce to strengthen the immune system and protect the body from infection and disease.

When the body is deficient the doctor usually recommends antioxidant supplements for glutathione. Why? Because when the body becomes deficient in this vital substance several things begin to happen:

1) The body is unable to reproduce cells efficiently and the immune system is dramatically weakened, leaving the body more vulnerable to attack from foreign substances such as viruses and bacterium and more likely to succumb to the abnormalities that lead to cancer and other chronic conditions.

2) The cells begin to age more quickly than they normally would without antioxidant supplements for glutathione, leaving them fragile to the effects of time and free radicals.

3) The body begins to find it more difficult to detoxify organs such as the liver and kidneys, which in turn leads to a build up of toxicity in the rest of the body (since these organs are the body s natural filters).

Physicians for years have been using Glutathione to treat conditions such as cancer and HIV/AIDS in the hope that its regenerative properties will be sufficient to help the body begin to heal itself and fight off the effects of the disease; however, it is only in recent years that their widespread ability to helphealthy patients improve their immune system has truly come to light. Many companies are now offering antioxidant supplements for Glutathione as a part of their regular supplement inventory, but be forewarned, glutathione supplements are not able to be absorbed by your body at a cellular level. What you need for glutathione supplementation is the right natural ingredients to enable your body to produce this master antioxidant at the cellular level.

Antioxidant supplements for Glutathione aren t about making you feel better when you have a disease. They exist to help your body prevent the disease in the first place and you know what they say. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Source: ZingArticles - Faye Brown

Is Lipoic Acid A Powerful Antioxidant?

What has been described as a “universal,” “ideal,” and “metabolic” antioxidant? Lipoic acid or alpha lipoic acid (ALA). It neutralizes free radicals in both the fatty and watery regions of cells. It helps produce the energy for our body’s normal function by converting glucose (blood sugar) into energy. Our bodies produce this fatty acid in small amounts. It occurs naturally in foods like spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, peas, Brewer’s yeast, rice bran and organ meats. ALA is used to treat many serious illnesses.

What makes ALA unique and gives it nutritional value is that it is both water and fat soluble, unlike the more common antioxidants vitamins C and E, and it appears to be able to recycle and extend the metabolic lifespan of antioxidants such as of vitamin C, glutathione, and coenzyme Q10, and it indirectly renews vitamin E. Vitamin C lessens oxidative stress while glutathione helps detoxify the liver. Coenzyme Q10 helps convert food energy into energy inside every cell while vitamin E helps with nerve conduction.

Lipoic acid is used to treat a common complication of diabetes called peripheral neuropathy. It speeds the removal of glucose from the bloodstream, at least partly by enhancing insulin function, and it reduces insulin resistance, the basis of many cases of coronary heart disease and obesity. It significantly and rapidly reduces the frequency and severity of diabetic neuropathy symptoms like burning and sharply cutting pain, prickling sensations and numbness.

Free radical damage is thought to contribute to aging and chronic illness. ALA helps neutralize those harmful chemicals. ALA can cross the blood-brain barrier; a wall of tiny vessels and structural cells, and pass easily into the brain. It is thought to protect brain and nerve tissue by preventing free radical damage and is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Because of those reasons, ALA is also used as a nutritional supplement to treat a myriad of other illnesses and diseases like cataracts, hardening of the arteries, hepatitis, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, high cholesterol levels, and even human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Though very few, a small number of side effects have been reported when using lipoic acid as a nutritional supplement. They include muscle cramps, skin rash, tingling or a “pins and needles” sensation, or headache. Because ALA can improve blood sugar control, diabetics who take medication to lower their blood sugar should be monitored by their health care provider when taking ALA. People on thyroid medications should also be under the supervision of their healthcare provider if they take this supplement as it can alter thyroid hormone levels.

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