Sulfur Is A Master Mineral That Regulates Glutathione Production
Gregory Ciola on Oct 18th 2021
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), also referred to as organic sulfur contains 34% sulfur making it a beneficial nutrient for helping to regulate and regenerate healthy cells. Sulfur has an essential role in the production of glutathione — an important antioxidant in the body that is involved with detoxification and supporting a healthy immune system.
Glutathione is important for scavenging free radicals and activating Natural Killer cells that stimulate white blood cell function. A study published in Frontiers of Immunology found that glutathione’s role in producing NK cells help to fight off infections.
Glutathione is highly involved with eliminating toxins from the body. A study published in a Biometals journal found that glutathione helped to inhibit heavy metal toxicity.
MSM helps to encourage glutathione regulation that is essential to overall health and detoxification, as well as inhibit inflammation and oxidative stress that leads to metabolic dysfunction.
Glutathione: The Master Antioxidant
When it comes to antioxidants and cellular protection none holds more importance than Glutathione. Every antioxidant in the body depends upon the presence of Glutathione to function properly. That’s why scientists call it “The Master Antioxidant”. Glutathione is present in all of the cells and tissues of the body and is the most powerful antioxidant free radical scavenger required for immune system management and detoxification.
When Glutathione production drops in the body you are more susceptible to:
- Autoimmune Diseases
- Chemical Sensitivities
- Heavy Metal Sensitivities
- Inflammatory Disorders
- Intestinal Permeability (leaky gut)
- Other Immune System Disorders and Challenges
Glutathione is a tripeptide constructed from three amino acids – Glycine, Glutamic Acid, and Cysteine. Your body produces its own Glutathione using these amino acids. What we know is that poor diet, digestion, and protein metabolism along with pollution, heavy metals, toxins, viruses, bacteria, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections, radiation, and even the normal aging process can all deplete your Glutathione.
The main function of glutathione is to protect the cell and mitochondria from oxidative and peroxidative damage. Meaning glutathione isn’t just an endogenous antioxidant; it is also an essential factor in energy utilization. Indeed, mitochondrial dysfunction, muscle weakness, fatigue and aging are linked to glutathione deficiency. And low glutathione levels are linked to energy deficiency (low ATP). Evidently, the main mechanism that triggers glutathione synthesis in the body is cellular energy. High cellular levels of energy molecules (ATPs) promote glutathione synthesis. This is one major reason why exercise is so beneficial in boosting glutathione and overall health.” [i]
Glutathione Performs 3 Main Roles in the Body
Master Antioxidant:
Glutathione has been coined with the term “master anti-oxidant” due to its essential role in maintaining exogenous anti-oxidants such as vitamin C & E in their active form. Glutathione is like the cell’s security guard protecting the genetic equipment from outside attack. It is estimated that each cell in the body withstands 10,000 hits by free radicals each day. Glutathione disarms these free radicals before they wreak havoc and cleans up the oxidative stress related damage that has occurred. [ii]
Antioxidants come to the rescue of the body’s cells and usher out free radicals, heavy metals, and toxins if there are enough of them. The liver’s ability to generate or regenerate Glutathione and enable cells to contain Glutathione within them as intracellular Glutathione is largely why it’s called the master antioxidant. Glutathione is clearly understood to be the most powerful antioxidant known to the human body.
Master Detoxifier:
The highest concentration of Glutathione is in the liver, making it critical in the body’s detoxification process. Glutathione is the most integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto Glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool — and out of your body.[iii]
The primary detox pathway in the body is your liver and the liver produces about 60 percent of the amino acids the body needs. Given the fact that three amino acids build Glutathione it is easy to make the connection to insufficient amino acids, Glutathione deficiency, and disease. Amino acids, as many are now beginning to understand, play a crucial role in all areas of detoxification. The liver is the primary site of amino acid metabolism and is the storage center for amino acids derived from the diet and those recycled from other proteins.
One of the first areas of the body where amino acids and Glutathione deficiencies will show up is in the liver with insufficient removal of toxins from the blood. If your diet lacks essential amino acids or your digestive system isn’t breaking protein down properly into amino acids, your body’s detox pathways won’t be working at peak efficiency because it won’t be able to build the Glutathione it needs to cleanse them out. Improper digestion, built up toxins and lack of essential amino acids is a quick and sure recipe to slapping a label of disease on a manifested symptom.
While detoxification using amino acids may sound foreign to a lot of readers, it is one of the most important things that you need to ensure proper elimination of toxins from the body. Studies have shown that low levels of Glutathione lead to poor liver function. When the liver suffers, the entire body suffers from an increased toxin load.
Master of the Immune System:
Glutathione is called “Food for the Immune System” because it is the essential food your immune system needs to fuel all of the body’s white blood cells that protect it. It is becoming increasingly apparent that natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in innate defense mechanisms against all types of bodily infection. NK cell functions are entirely dependent on adequate levels of Glutathione. Natural killer cells are the front line troops our bodies utilize to battle infections.
“Glutathione plays a significant role in immune function. Studies have shown that glutathione strengthens T cells, which are critical for modulating the immune system appropriately. These are the cells that coordinate the attack against pathogenic bacteria, viruses, etc. while keeping tissue damage and auto-immune responses in check. An overactive immune system can trigger allergies and auto-immune disease processes.” [iv]
When your body has sufficient levels of Glutathione, it will fight off illness better than if your levels are deficient. Clearly, Glutathione is perhaps one of the most important components of overall health yet discovered. When our levels of Glutathione are sufficient or elevated, we are better able to prevent illness, disease, and many of the degenerative processes of aging. When our Glutathione levels are deficient, we become much more vulnerable to pathogens, toxins, cellular damage, carcinogens (cancer causing agents), radiation, and virtually every other threat known. [v]
One of The Best Ways to Increase Glutathione Levels in Your Body
Take MSM Sulfur Twice a Day
Glutathione is the general term used to describe Glutathione Sulfhydryl (GSH). The secret of Glutathione’s power is the sulfur (SH) chemical groups it contains. Sulfur is necessary for the production of Glutathione and without enough organic sulfur in the body Glutathione is rendered almost useless.
Sulfur is becoming more widely appreciated as a really significant nutrient. Surprisingly, a significant percentage of the population isn’t getting enough sulfur from their diet anymore due to depleted soils, pesticides and an overload of toxins we are taking into our bodies regularly. Sulfur is a key nutrient that many chemicals in the body are built upon and it also plays a crucial role in detoxification, delivery of nutrients, and inflammatory related conditions.
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is a natural source of organic sulfur (34%). It is a naturally occurring essential nutrient which is lost through the refining and processing of our food and the use of pesticides and chemicals with our crops. Interestingly enough, the sulfur-containing amino acids (SAAs) are methionine, cysteine, cystine, homocysteine, and taurine. Increases in serum sulfate may explain some of the therapeutic effects of MSM, DMSO, and glucosamine sulfate. Organic sulfur, as SAAs, can be used to increase synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), glutathione (GSH), taurine, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). MSM may be effective for the treatment of allergy, pain syndromes, athletic injuries, and bladder disorders. Other sulfur compounds such as SAMe, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), taurine, glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate, and increased glutathione may also have clinical applications in the treatment of a number of conditions such as depression, fibromyalgia, arthritis, interstitial cystitis, athletic injuries, congestive heart failure, diabetes, cancer, and AIDS. [vi]
Conclusion
If you want your body to produce more Glutathione naturally you need to work on repairing your digestive system so it breaks protein down into amino acids effectively. You will also need to focus heavily on the quality of your protein intake, and obtain sufficient amounts of organic sulfur every day. Consuming a high quality protein such as organic whey from grass fed cows will help ensure your body is getting essential amino acids from diet that can be used to build Glutathione. Consuming high amounts of sulfur containing foods will ensure that there is enough organic sulfur in the body to support the essential amino acids the body needs and Glutathione production.
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[i] http://www.emeraldessentials.com
[ii] http://www.naturalnews.com/033569_glutathione_antioxidants.html#
[iii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/glutathione-the-mother-of_b_530494.html
[iv] http://www.naturalnews.com/033569_glutathione_antioxidants.html#
[v] http://www.emeraldessentials.com
[vi]http://www.reboundhealth.com/cms/images/pdf/MSM/msm%20all%20pmid%20link%20id%2015411.pdf