If you’ve ever strolled through the supplement aisle of the health food store, chances are you’ve seen a lot of products marked as antioxidants. Lipoic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E quercetin, beta-carotene… there are a lot of options that are backed by sound research. But of the bunch, there’s one that’s claimed the title as the “master antioxidant.”
We’re talking about glutathione. It’s one of the most abundant and powerful antioxidants in the human body, and virtually every cell contains it. Whether it’s immune health, detoxification, or protecting the gut, this guy does it all.
We’ve done the research for you, and we’re giving you our favorite glutathione supplement that supports a strong and healthy immune system even through the toughest of challenges. It’s an ultramodern, comprehensive immune formula unlike any other on the market—and it’s packed full of this antioxidant powerhouse.
Let’s dive in.
Best Glutathione Supplement: Performance Lab® PL-Immune™
If you’re looking to kick colds before they start, there’s only one supplement you need. Performance Lab® PL-Immune™ is the most dynamic and comprehensive broad-range immune support for complex immune challenges. The immune system is one of the most important systems in the body, and if you want it to protect you, you have to protect it.
PL-Immune™ is one supplement designed to address all immune concerns. It restores weakened defenses first, then activates five different types of immune cells to enhance coordination, multiplication, and performance body-wide.
PL-Immune™ supplies broad-range support that keeps your immune system healthy to fight, adapt, and evolve in any situation to best defend you.
Benefits:
- Fortifies first-line immune defenses and long-range immune responses
- Formulated to help increase the number and activity of immune cells
- Replenishes antioxidants for immune system offense and defense
- Maintains work productivity and performance via overall immune wellness
- Helps fight immune challenges and fatigue associated with exercise
Key features:
- Unique probiotic LC-Plasma (IMMUSE™) activates five types of immune cells, priming both the innate and adaptive immune systems for more dynamic and robust responses
- Setria® Glutathione provides antioxidant support, immune cell support, and protects gut lining integrity
- Restores foundational immune support with NutriGenesis® Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, and Selenium
- 100% plant-based, prebiotic-infused NutriCaps® from pullulan (fermented tapioca)
What Is Glutathione And What Does It Do?
While there are several antioxidant compounds present within the body and obtained through food, there’s one that we prize over most others—glutathione (GSH). It’s an essential antioxidant and sulfur compound formed from three precursor amino acids—cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid 1.
Glutathione is also the main non-protein thiol in most organisms. It functions as the major antioxidant in humans, hence its name as the “master antioxidant”, and is found in high concentrations in many body tissues. It plays a critical role in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, maintaining redox balance, enhancing metabolic detoxification processes, and regulating immune function 2.
What’s more, it also plays important roles in:
- DNA synthesis
- Spermatogenesis
- Enzyme support
- Antioxidant regeneration
- Heavy metal removal
- Fat metabolism
- Regulating apoptosis
With that said, low glutathione levels have been linked to several chronic, age-related conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, mitochondrial dysfunction, diabetes, and certain types of cancer 3, 4.
However, there’s a lot of individual variability in GSH status between people that’s largely dependent on an individual’s capacity to actually produce glutathione, which may be dictated by genetic variability in the enzymes needed to produce and/or regenerate it 2.
As such, excessive stress, diet, oxidative stress levels, and the like can all interfere with how much glutathione someone is producing and, therefore, how well their antioxidant defenses are working.
Benefits Of Glutathione
1. Reduces Oxidative Stress And Inflammation
As one of the most powerful antioxidants in the body, glutathione plays a major role in supporting antioxidant defenses, boosting immune function, and protecting cells against free radical damage and oxidative stress.
A healthy immune system relies on antioxidants, which play a role in immune cell activation, immune responses, and protecting healthy cells and immune cells.
Glutathione is found in nearly every cell in the body and plays a critical role in neutralizing free radicals and mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation. It’s a highly effective scavenger of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) such as the hydroxyl radical, lipid peroxyl radical, superoxide anion, and hydrogen peroxide, both directly and indirectly through enzymatic reactions 5.
The other key function of GSH as an antioxidant is in its interaction with other non-enzymatic antioxidants. Glutathione is the most important antioxidant produced in cells, but several other antioxidants obtained through diet—namely vitamin C and vitamin E—are critical for maintaining defenses.
In the process of neutralizing free radicals, antioxidants themselves become oxidized. However, GSH acts like a helper cell to restore antioxidants back to their reduced forms and allow them to continue to fight free radicals 6.
2. Supports Immune Cells
When we think about immune function, we generally go to things like vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, and maybe even selenium, but we often forget that antioxidants play a significant role in supporting immune defenses.
Studies show that glutathione has an essential role in several aspects of immune functions, including the formation, multiplication, and function of specific immune cells.
Immune cells are a little bit like Goldilocks—the amount of glutathione needs to be just right; lymphoid cells require a balanced intermediate level of glutathione for optimal performance 7. Even small changes to glutathione levels can profoundly affect the function of lymphocytes.
Other research suggests that thiol status plays an important role during the onset and progression of inflammatory and autoimmune states 8. Cellular levels of glutathione are known to affect T helper cell maturation, T-cell proliferation, viral replication, and susceptibility to reactive species secreted by inflammatory cells. As such, maintaining the health and function of T cells is critical for mounting an appropriate immune response.
There’s a fair bit of evidence suggesting that high levels of oxidative stress are a common feature in many immune dysfunctions and glutathione helps to quench these oxidant species, therefore protecting cells from damage.
As such, low levels of GSH may influence the immune system by perpetuating reactive species signaling events and increasing levels of free radical-rated damage.
Research suggests that glutathione also:
- Increases numbers and function of T-cells (white blood cells)
- Stimulates production and activity of natural killer (NK) cells
- Supports immune cells’ normal antibody responses
3. Protect Gut Barrier Integrity
The gut barrier functions much like a bodyguard for your GI tract. It picks and chooses what’s allowed into your gut and what’s not. But when the gut lining becomes compromised, things that shouldn’t pass through do, and it sets off a major immune cascade that can lead to a number of health problems, including inflammation, food sensitivities, and autoimmunity. While things like L-glutamine are great for supporting the health and integrity of the gut lining, glutathione is, too.
Glutathione is abundant in the mucosal cells of the gastrointestinal tract in humans and is found in the highest concentrations in the duodenum (an area of the small intestine) 9. The detoxifying properties of GSH are directly related to its thiol group and its function as a substrate for enzymatic activity.
Glutathione regulates the actions of glutathione-peroxidases and glutathione-transferases, and there’s research suggesting a direct relationship between glutathione concentration and mucosal damage—when one goes up, the other goes down.
Studies also show that the glutathione antioxidant system plays an essential role in protecting the integrity of the gut barrier by attenuating enterocyte death 10. This may be due to its ability to intercept and neutralize toxins in the GI tract before they are absorbed.
So, having sufficient glutathione levels is essential to maintain a strong and healthy gut lining that protects the immune system and maintains gut health, as over 70% of the immune system resides in the gut.
5 Natural Ways To Increase Glutathione Levels
PL-Immune is one of the best ways to increase glutathione levels and protect your immune system against whatever may come its way, but it’s not the only way.
Diet and lifestyle play a big part in maintaining immune health, and there are several other things you can do to boost glutathione levels:
- Eat sulfur-rich foods: Sulfur is required for the structure and activity of various proteins and enzymes in the body, including for the synthesis of glutathione 11. It’s found in things like onions, garlic, and shallots, cruciferous vegetables, as well as some animal proteins like beef, fish, and poultry.
- Boost your vitamin C intake: Vitamin C not only supports GSH levels by attacking free radicals first, but it may also help reprocess glutathione by converting oxidized glutathione back to its active form 12.
- Eats foods rich in GSH: That’s things like spinach, avocados, asparagus, and okra.
- Try milk thistle: This herb is composed of three compounds collectively known as silymarin, which has been shown to increase glutathione levels and prevent depletion 13.
- Get enough sleep: It may seem like an odd link, but studies show that sufficient sleep is critical for supporting glutathione levels. One study found that compared to people with insomnia, healthy people had significantly higher levels of glutathione peroxidase activity 14.
Final Thoughts
The takeaway message here is that although we constantly hear about vitamins and minerals for supporting immune function, glutathione ranks right up there with them. It’s one of the most powerful endogenous antioxidants in the body that is required to maintain health and well-being, along with immune system performance.
So, whether you choose to get it through food or supplements like PL-Immune, ensuring your levels are up to par will keep your immune system strong and healthy through intense exercise, stress, and the biggest immune challenges.
References
- G Noctor, G Queval, A Mhamdi, S Chaouch, CH Foyer. Arabidopsis Book. 2011;9:e0142.
- DM Minich, BI Brown. A Review of Dietary (Phyto)Nutrients for Glutathione Support. 2019;11(9):2073.
- R Franco, OJ Schoneveld, A Pappa, MI Panayiotidis. The central role of glutathione in the pathophysiology of human diseases.Arch Physiol Biochem. 2007;113(4-5):234-258.
- N Ballatori, SM Krance, S Notenboom, S Shi, K Tieu, CL Hammond. Glutathione dysregulation and the etiology and progression of human diseases.Biol Chem. 2009;390(3):191-214.
- K Aquilano, S Baldelli, MR Glutathione: new roles in redox signaling for an old antioxidant.Front Pharmacol. 2014;5:196.
- HJ Forman, H Zhang, A Rinna. Glutathione: overview of its protective roles, measurement, and biosynthesis.Mol Aspects Med. 2009;30(1-2):1-12.
- W Dröge, R Glutathione and immune function.Proc Nutr Soc. 2000;59(4):595-600.
- N Ballatori, SM Krance, S Notenboom, S Shi, K Tieu, CL Hammond. Glutathione dysregulation and the etiology and progression of human diseases.Biol Chem. 2009;390(3):191-214.
- C Loguercio, M Di Pierro. The role of glutathione in the gastrointestinal tract: a review. Ital J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1999;31(5):401-407.
- N Kelly, K Friend, P Boyle, et al. The role of the glutathione antioxidant system in gut barrier failure in a rodent model of experimental necrotizing enterocolitis. 2004;136(3):557-566.
- RF The effects of sulfur amino acid intake on immune function in humans. J Nutr. 2006;136(6 Suppl):1660S-1665S.
- KJ Lenton, AT Sané, H Therriault, AM Cantin, H Payette, JR Wagner. Vitamin C augments lymphocyte glutathione in subjects with ascorbate deficiency.Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;77(1):189-195.
- PV Kiruthiga, SK Pandian, KP Devi. Silymarin protects PBMC against B(a)P induced toxicity by replenishing redox status and modulating glutathione metabolizing enzymes--an in vitro study. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2010;247(2):116-128.
- M Gulec, H Ozkol, Y Selvi, et al. Oxidative stress in patients with primary insomnia. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2012;37(2):247-251.
