It is well known that this amazing linear tripeptide is often referred to as the body's master antioxidant. Once generation of free radicals exceeds the body's capacity to neutralize and eliminate them, oxidative stress occurs, and primary function of glutathione is to alleviate this oxidative stress. Low Glutathione levels are associated with health diseases such as Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Atherosclerosis, Pregnancy Complications, Cataracts, Asthma, Autism, Bronchitis, Fibromyalgia, Insomnia, Male infertility, Migraines, Osteoporosis, Pain, Poor Eyesight, PMS, Psoriasis, Wrinkles, Low Sex Drive, Chronic Fatigue, Balding and Cirrhosis. So can inhibition of GSH breakdown in stomach or a induction of GSH synthesis be a step towards the fountain of youth?
Dear Rodgoun,
I am afraid looking for the (or even an) elixir of youth is no more promising now than it was in The Middle Age, but what am sure of is that with enhancing the GSH biosynthesis (e.g. with administering its precursor) one can attenuate toxicity and genotoxicity of some toxics. You may find two examples in "Contributions" of my RGprofile : see papers "Comparative in Vivo Assessment of Some Adverse Bioeffects of Equidimensional Gold and Silver Nanoparticles and the
Attenuation of Nanosilver’s Effects with a Complex of
Innocuous Bioprotectors* and
"Attenuation of Subchronic Formaldehyde Inhalation Toxicity With Oral Administration of Glutamate, Glycine and Methionine*.
Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation increases GSH synthesis, at least in rats.
Suh, J.H., Shenvi, S.V., Dixon, B.M., Liu, H., Jaiswal, A.K., Liu, R.M., Hagen, T.M., 2004. Decline in transcriptional activity of Nrf2 causes age-related loss of glutathione synthesis, which is reversible with lipoic acid. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 101 (10), 3381–3386 (Epub 2004 Feb. 25).
For the effects of ALA supplementation in humans you may find this recent paper by Vidović interesting. A free full text is available on PubMed.
Vidović, B., Milovanović, S., Dorđević, B., Kotur-Stevuljević, J., Stefanović, A., Ivanišević, J., Miljković, M., Spasić, S., Stojanović, D., Pantović, M., 2014. Effect of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on oxidative stress markers and antioxidative defense in patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatr. Danub. 26 (3), 205–213 (Sep).
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