Health

COVID-19 has plagued our world with not only the sometimes-fatal virus, but also with fear, confusion, anxiety, depression, loneliness, addictions, lost income, and numerous other human impacts that haven’t even been calculated. As we begin a new year, we’d like to focus a series of articles on glutathione.

Glutathione deficiency has been shown to be one of the most significant common denominators in determining who gets the virus and how sick someone may become. This article series will illuminate how glutathione (GSH) impacts every single cell and organ in our body. Our hope is that you are better prepared to deal with, not only COVID, but whatever virus or physical insult may come your way!

The Coronavirus – What’s Glutathione got to do with it?

Gluta what? “Gloo-ta-thigh-own”—have you ever heard of it?  When I was introduced to glutathione (GSH) 15 years ago, I really didn’t know much about it, despite having two master’s degrees in Nursing. However, I would soon learn that it was connected to the health of every single cell in our bodies. It recycles and helps restore other antioxidants, earning it the title of Master Antioxidant. It is the first line of defense against our cells’ most violent attackers—namely free radicals, chemical toxins, radiation, and heavy metals—that enter our bodies through the environment and the foods and liquids we consume.

Glutathione (GSH) is a Tripeptide – three amino acids tied together. The amino acids Cysteine, Glutamic acid (or Glutamate), and Glycine attach together to make up this miraculous molecular super-cellular protector. However, 40% of Caucasians and 80% of Asians¹ have a genetic variance that reduces GSH function to 30% of normal function from the start.  When it comes to health, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s a really big deal!

Everyone has heard of Vitamin C and been taught by our mothers, grandmothers, and even our doctors that it is important for our immune system. In fact, if you search www.PubMed.gov, you will see there are almost 65,000 articles on the importance of Vitamin C. Finally, western medicine has realized that high-dose IV Vitamin C can heal serious medical conditions, including treatment of the coronavirus. Glutathione, on the other hand, has over 157,000 articles on the same website, yet it is seldom talked about in health care! Clearly, the importance of glutathione cannot be understated, so, let me share more about it.

Glutathione levels are decreasing

As noted, glutathione is the master cell protector. Unfortunately, after age 20, GSH drops by about 10% every decade. When you’re 50, you’ve lost approximately 40% of your GSH. Diet and lifestyle have a significant impact on how fast glutathione declines. Stress, sleep deprivation, poor diet, environmental toxins, excessive exercise, and substance abuse can all accelerate the decline.

The more your GSH drops, the faster you have the diseases of aging—such as decreased stamina, auto-immune disorders, arthritis, cancers, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia, diabetes, etc. However, the symptoms of GSH decline begin more insidiously—such as feeling fatigued, reduced athletic performance and not bouncing back from exercise, brain fog in the afternoon or decreased clarity, toxicity build-up, weakened immune systems, and catching almost every cold that seems to come around. Yes, aging and death are a part of God’s plan; however, many people experience the effects of low glutathione levels very prematurely.  As a result, men and women can suffer health challenges for decades, struggling to maintain some sort of normal function in their various roles.

As you know, evidence shows that COVID-19 fatalities rise sharply with age. Why? Lower levels of glutathione and poor immune function may play a key role in this. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition that looks at the influenza virus, which is similar to coronavirus, provides insights into how GSH impacts the immune system. The study states “GSH is essential for…mounting successful immune responses when the host is immunologically challenged. Further…evidence shows that GSH inhibits infection by the influenza virus.”²  

Lynne McTaggert, arguably one of the best investigative journalists in the field of health, recently wrote about glutathione being the “superhero virus hunter”³. In her article, she goes into depth on how GSH supports the immune system in attacking any virus. The point of her article is to educate all to the possibility of supporting ourselves, in spite of a vaccine role out. Her response to the thought of vaccinating seven billion people for COVID is:

“…there is another, potentially safer, magic bullet out there, something the pundits aren’t talking about, something that already has more science to show its effectiveness than any drug or jab. You won’t read it in the newspapers or hear it on TV, but plenty of evidence shows that a simple supplement already in plentiful supply is a powerful, lethal virus hunter. I’m talking about that lesser known antioxidant (at least to the public) called glutathione. This critical substance is needed by the immune system to fight foreign invaders, and it is positively brilliant at rendering dangerous viruses relatively harmless.”

She also states:  

“Certain researchers are tentatively suggesting that the COVID virus cannot replicate when the body has high levels of glutathione, which is why they’re seeing lower viral loads and so milder cases in these patients.
But that’s not all. This antioxidant is so important for the smooth functioning of the body that one doctor went as far as to call death a ‘glutathione deficiency disease.’”

A review of over 120 scientific papers was published in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences entitled, Could glutathione depletion be the Trojan horse of COVID-19 mortality? powerfully “confirms that Glutathione has antiviral activity towards a wide range of viruses,” that “GSH may have a protective affect against end-organ damage, especially acute respiratory distress syndrome.” Additionally, “Glutathione is the most important endogenous (inside the cell) antioxidant and is fundamental in detoxification of the reactive oxygen species, which are culprits to be blamed for the lung damage and inflammatory conditions.”  (Italics added.)

To summarize this preclinical study, the authors stated, “Glutathione (GSH)

depletion may have a central role in COVID-19 mortality and pathophysiology (abnormal changes in the human body). (Italics added.) Therefore, elevating the GSH level in tissues may decrease the severity and mortality rates of COVID-19.“⁴

From what these 120 scientific articles reveal, raising our Glutathione levels is paramount, regardless of when or if you get the COVID vaccine. But how?

Raising our Glutathione levels

Dietary sources

There are, of course, hundreds of reasons to eat a healthy diet, and supporting your GSH is one of them. Some dietary suggestions to increase your GSH levels naturally may include eating sulfur-rich foods like mushrooms, eggs, fish, and garlic as well as cruciferous veggies like broccoli, kale, and cabbage.  While all of these sources may indeed be good, they only raise your GSH about 20 to 30%, on average. Eating organic is optimal, as the pesticides and herbicides and other toxins found in our food today can actually use up our Glutathione via its detoxification process. Even whey protein, thought of an excellent way to increase GSH, has been shown in studies to increase GSH only by 24% when taken in high doses of 45 grams a day.  If our GSH levels have been dropping 10% a decade, we need bigger boosts than that.⁵

Dietary supplementation

Vitamin C – 500 to 1000mg per day for 13 weeks “led to an 18% increase in lymphocyte Glutathione levels compared to placebo.” In one study, Vitamin E “significantly raised GSH 9%.” For me and my health, 9% is way less than optimal.⁶

Alpha Lipoic Acid – (ALA) is another dietary supplement that has also been shown in clinical studies to have some effect on raising GSH, but again only minimally.⁶

N-Acetyl Cysteine – NAC or N-Acetyl Cysteine has been used to raise overall Glutathione levels.  A “review of the data indicates its use may be inconclusive or equivocal.” This older technology for some has even proven to be toxic.⁷

Glutathione IV or Liposomal – While some health care providers recommend taking glutathione itself as a supplement, there are a few problems with this. First, because GSH is a Tripeptide (three amino acids hooked together), it’s a very big molecule and cannot get into the cell nucleus where it actually needs to do its magic work. If you take Intravenous (IV) GSH or even liposomal (under the tongue) GSH, it is immediately broken down into the component individual amino acids. Studies do show dietary supplementation with the glutathione precursors cysteine and glycine fully restores glutathione synthesis and concentrations and lowers levels of oxidative stress and oxidant damages.⁸

To boost glutathione, we require the building blocks (or recipe) of cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. While the glutamic acid and glycine are in adequate supply in our food, cysteine is the amino acid we lack, and it’s difficult to get as much as we need because it is broken down in the gut. Cysteine is regarded as the “rate-limiting” factor in glutathione synthesis. If you don’t have enough cysteine, you can’t make GSH, regardless of the amount of the other two component parts. The dilemma is how do we get cysteine into the blood stream and then into the cell? In fact, this dilemma has been the “holy grail” of glutathione research for decades!  How can we easily and inexpensively increase glutathione synthesis intracellularly?

RiboCeine™: The Holy Grail of glutathione production

A team of researchers (nine PhDs) led by University of Minnesota-renowned Medicinal Chemist, Dr. Herbert Nagasawa, spent 25 years trying to solve this critical dilemma. This team of scientists finally created a patented new technology called RiboCeine™. By attaching D-Ribose, a sugar molecule, to L-cysteine, they were able to protect the cysteine so it can be taken orally and then absorb easily into the blood stream, and then inside the cell where it can combine with its companion components, glycine and glutamic acid. Voila…the recipe to create intracellular (or endogenous) glutathione!!

In fact, this new RiboCeine compound has been shown in clinical studies to be 70 times more effective than NAC alone⁹ and can raise GSH levels 300%¹⁰. It is safe, NON-toxic (even at very high doses), is a simple capsule that is ideally taken two times a day and can be taken with other medications as well. Now we’re talking!

I have studied Glutathione for a long time, and frankly I’ve never seen anything like this for my health, my families, or for that of my clients.

My RiboCeine™ story

It seemed like my health challenges started almost overnight when I turned 42. I was challenged with heavy metal toxicity at the time, but then finally discovered Epstein Barre (EBV) and Black Mold Toxicity as well. It took several more years before I found a great DNA test. My suspicions were correct—it revealed that I have the genetic variant that affects my glutathione system and inhibits its function by 70%. I have been taking RiboCeine ever since. I have eradicated the heavy metals, EBV, and Black Mold completely.  I now have better health at 60 than I did at 40!

Whether you are concerned about boosting your immune system, detoxifying your body, reducing inflammation, boosting anti-oxidant capacity to protect from the diseases of aging, or you just want to feel like you have your Mojo back, I invite you to learn more about glutathione and do what you can to boost your levels.

Now, before I share with you how you can get access to this magical Riboceine molecule, let me add one thing. A dietary supplement is intended, as the dictionary clarifies, “to supply a deficiency or reinforce.” Even though Riboceine is a scientific breakthrough, it is NOT a “magic bullet.” Riboceine will not override a lousy diet filled with fake, fried, dead, sugar-laden foods, sleep deprivation, a crazy stress load, excessive exercise, and exposure to toxins. Managing all of these stressors to the body still plays a critical role in your overall glutathione levels.

Two different ways to get RiboCeine

Meridian Magazine has created an affiliate account with the manufacturer of RiboCeine so that all of their readers have easy access to this amazing technology, without a middleman. max.com/meridian

Max One─ contains just one ingredient Riboceine, the magic Ribose-protected Cysteine molecule that can raise your GSH 300%.

Cellgevity─ includes RiboCeine that promotes natural production of Glutathione with 12 other superfood ingredients and cofactors to increase GSH production and function. It also replenishes cells with what they need to produce Glutathione for effective detoxification of harmful toxins and free radicals. You can click here to learn more about or try these lifesaving products here.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1383574200000508
2. https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/134/3/489/4688681?fbclid=IwAR10knocgxB0e0Q8ncbmFVbTCIV7rS0P8X7DnFCqMVIzbUCcK28_Xu53-TE
3. https://lynnemctaggart.com/superhero-virus-hunter/
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33336769/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3656363/?fbclid=IwAR2FGmw5yFBHJRPxzTlaaRmjLPoyHcZovNReRgZ7f7LNUFBELFmycf9ltcg
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6770193/table/nutrients-11-02073-t002/?report=objectonly
7. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1018/n-acetyl-cysteine-nac
8. https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/94/3/847/4431102
9. https://pubs.acs.org/toc/jmcmar/30/10
10. https://pubs.acs.org/toc/jmcmar/30/10

Footnotes

Here is a comprehensive article that shows you additional benefits of increasing GSH:

https://www.healthline.com/health/glutathione-benefits

You can learn more about RiboCeine here:

https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/134/3/489/4688681

This is an easy-to-read and excellent article posted in USAToday that goes into depth, in lay terms, of what the coronavirus disease process is like: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/03/13/what-coronavirus-does-body-covid-19-infection-process-symptoms/5009057002/?fbclid=IwAR3fhJoFTqF6tRUnIaOW6mF7_V_yGrtynYoqzJiwD-rfemYHMyzhFUNrK7U

If you would like to test your DNA, this is the test that I recommend:

https://www.smartdna.com.au/ublic/