Glutathione - Your Body's Own Master Antioxidant

How is glutathione your body's very own antioxidant?

Antioxidants are your solution to oxidative stress.

What is oxidative stress? Very simply, oxidative stress, or oxidation, is best observed by seeing what it does. It is the rust on metal, or a rotten apple left out on the counter too long.

In the human body, oxidation is a byproduct of living and what causes us to age. If we are wrinkling up on the outside, the same damage is going on internally, we just can't see it. This explains why a baby's skin has such a radiant glow, and as we age, we see this damage in our skin, our body's largest organ.

But what we can't see is the damage that is going on inside, to our internal organs, causing a dramatic impact on our health. Think about that for a minute!

The difference between a baby's skin and an old man's skin is oxidative stress! And that makes all the difference in your health as well.

In the human body, each day that we as humans live and breathe, eat and drink, we place continuous stress on every cell in our bodies. Every cell in turn must protect itself or suffer damage. Just like all machines, our cells get their energy from taking in food and air, but when we do this, we cause waste to be produced - what we call free radical production.

If you think of a match lighting up a piece of timber, you get heat and flame, but ash is produced as a byproduct or waste. Oxidation is necessary for us to process nutrients and function, but free radicals are the waste that is generated in our bodies as a result.

Our cells have a big job to do - to neutralize and remove these wastes on an ongoing basis in order to stay healthy. If your cells are healthy, then you too are healthy!

Glutathione is your body's master antioxidant because it recycles all other antioxidants we take in - making them work longer and more effectively. And without glutathione, they would not function at all!

To win the battle for your health, you must know what antioxidants are and where to get them. You can take external antioxidants, like Vitamin C and E, and you can also raise your body's own internal antioxidant, glutathione.

Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon nowadays. 7-Up put some Vitamin E in their soft drink and they now call it "7-Up Antioxidant."  Rice Krispies just came out with a box of cereal that has "Immunity" in big letters across the front because it has vitamins in it.

Remember, glutathione recycles all of these other antioxidants you can and should take on a regular basis.

Glutathione will neutralize free radicals, those waste products of oxidation, and stop the dangerous chain reaction of damage within the cell.

When present in sufficient amounts, glutathione can combat and even reverse some of these harmful effects. So optimized glutathione levels are for two groups of people - sick people and healthy ones. Everyone, young and old, can benefit from high glutathione levels.

There are many ways glutathione can help you as an antioxidant, which we will review in more details in upcoming articles. Here are a few:

• Cell protection from oxidative stress
• Slowing down the aging process
• Boosting immunity and preventing auto-immune disorders
• Healing inflammation in arterial walls, preventing stroke
• Reversing damage done to DNA, reducing risk of cancer
• Preventing lipid peroxidation, reversing heart disease

So how does glutathione accomplish these monumental tasks? By mopping up free radicals, and destroying them as they occur. In this way, they can prevent oxidative damage from pollution, toxins, radiation, drugs, and many other stressors on our bodies from our environment.

Since we are exposed to record levels of these factors, our bodies are having a difficult time keeping up. This is evidenced by the poor state of our health today.

Glutathione - Your Body's Master Antioxidant - Essential for Great Health!

Take charge of your health today - raise your glutathione levels and stop oxidative stress in its tracks. Solve your own health care crisis!

So now you know how glutathione functions as your body's master antioxidant. Stay tuned for the next edition of the Glutathione Report - How does glutathione boost my immune system?

Copyright 2009 Immune Health Solutions: You may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain intact.

Laura McCallum is a teacher, community volunteer, author, and owner of Immune Health Solutions, a wellness health consulting company. She regularly consults with medical professionals and published research, and enjoys publishing the latest information about your immune system and the powerful role that glutathione plays in your health. She believes in giving her readers the information they need to take charge of their own health.

Visit glutathione studies for more information about what the doctors are now saying about glutathione!