Affiliations
Sweet Success is a proud partner of Immunotec Inc. Immunocal (glutathione precursor) is promoted by Sweet Success. Visit their website for more information about the product.
Meet Glutathione
Your ultimate defense against aging, stress, and toxins! Elevate your wellness with the master antioxidant and embrace a radiant, resilient you!
Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant naturally produced by our body. It plays a vital role in protecting cells from damage caused by oxidative stress and harmful molecules known as free radicals.
Glutathione supports various bodily functions, including immune system health, detoxification, and maintaining cellular integrity. It’s often referred to as the “master antioxidant” because of its central role in maintaining overall well-being and defending against the effects of aging, pollution, and stress.
In fact, your life depends upon glutathione. Without it, your cells would disintegrate from unrestrained oxidation, your body would have little resistance to bacteria, viruses, and cancer, and your liver would cease functioning from the accumulation of toxins.
The Master Antioxidant: Glutathione
Anti-Aging
Renowned for its anti-aging benefits, glutathione is thought of as a Fountain of Youth. When people think of aging, they always think of their appearance and cognitive function. Amazingly enough, glutathione can help turn back time on both fronts.
Aging is inevitable, but looking ‘old’ is very preventable though. The health and appearance of our skin, hair, and nails deteriorate over time as our body becomes increasingly toxic.
As glutathione levels deplete naturally over time, our body is less capable of dealing with the constant bombardment of toxins. Increased toxicity catalyzes the aging process, impairing cellular health and replication.
Cognitive Function and Health
Maintaining cognitive function is one of our biggest concerns as we age. Nearly everyone has someone in their life who is affected by Alzheimer’s disease or a similar neurodegenerative disorder.
Many people associate old age with impaired cognitive function. This does not need to be the case though.
Chelating heavy metals is one of the most effective measures in order to prevent cognitive decline. These metals and toxins accumulate in the brain and are resistant to many antioxidants.
They are difficult to get rid of because of the blood-brain barrier, a selectively permeable barrier that fends off most toxins and many antioxidants.
The key to fighting cognitive decline is to promote the body’s stores of certain antioxidants with the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and detoxify the brain. Glutathione is one of these antioxidants, capable of chelating the heavy metals in the brain while clearing away harmful toxins.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a trillion-dollar problem! Diabetes represents a heavy health care cost burden in Canada through the year 2022. By 2022, 2.16 million new cases of diabetes are expected, corresponding to $15.36 billion in health care costs related to diabetes.
Patients with type 2 diabetes have been found to have severely deficient glutathione synthesis due to the limited availability of precursors. Immunocal supplies the required precursors to build glutathione levels.
The Liver
The single most important organ in the body when it comes to keeping our body clean. It is a detoxifying powerhouse, constantly cleansing our blood of harmful substances. It is not a big surprise that our most powerful detoxifying organ is home to the highest concentration of glutathione in the body.
Our modern world bombards the liver every day through environmental toxins, highly processed diets, toxins found in our crops and drinking water, as well as most pharmaceutical medications. Putting the onus of clearing the exorbitant amount of toxins on the liver takes its toll.
A characteristic of an overworked liver is severely limited glutathione stores because the liver is using up this glutathione in order to help detoxify the body. Enhancing glutathione levels is one of the best ways to relieve the strain placed on the liver, known as the liver’s natural detoxifier.
Helping to detoxify the body and chelate the heavy metals that inhibit liver function. Allowing this detoxifying organ to work as it should, preventing inflammation and improving the health of every system in the body.
Maintaining high glutathione levels not only relieves the strain put on the liver. It also encourages protein synthesis, resulting in the product of new, healthy liver cells. This truly remarkable organ is able to recover from significant damage if given the proper tools.
Energy
Overall energy levels and stamina are a direct result of cellular energy production. The power plant of the cell responsible for energy production is the mitochondria. The function of our mitochondrion is to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and supply the cell with energy.
The mitochondria are involved in more processes than producing energy though, such as cell signaling, differentiation, cell death, and controlling the cell cycle and growth. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a large contributing factor in many diseases due to its direct relationship with cellular metabolism.
Often manifesting as neurological disorders, myopathy, diabetes, and a wide variety of other disorders. Due to glutathione’s integral role in not only cellular health but also DNA health, it is a key factor in repairing and mitigating damage caused by mitochondrial dysfunction.
Helping to reverse the cycle of mitochondrial mutation by reducing reactive oxygen species and correcting DNA abnormalities in the mitochondria. High levels of glutathione ensure the cell’s powerhouse energy producer is working efficiently and replicating properly.
Improving energy levels, reducing oxidative stress, and slowing down the aging process substantially.
Inflammation
Inflammation is a natural and healthy immune response; however, it is also the key contributor to virtually every disease we know of. It crosses the line between healthy and harmful when it persists longer than necessary.
One small protein complex known as nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-kB) is found in nearly all living cells. It is involved in regulating immune response and responding to inflammatory stimuli like stress, cytokines, free radicals, bacteria, and viruses.
Once activated, NF-kB can start a cascading effect of inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation releases a huge amount of free radicals and causes severe damage to our cells, resulting in further inflammation and free radical formation.
Very few nutrients are capable of switching the NF-kB off once it is turned on, one of these exceptionally important nutrients is glutathione. Not only does it switch off the NF-kB response. It repairs the flood of free radicals and oxidative damage caused by inflammation.
Glutathione’s ability to prevent chronic inflammation and prevent an unhealthy inflammatory response means it is extremely beneficial in the treatment of most health disorders.
This is especially true for the plethora of autoimmune diseases and cognitive disorders that are manifested through an unhealthy inflammatory response.
Immune Function
“The bad news is that our poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections, and radiation all deplete your body’s glutathione levels.” – Dr. Mark Hyman
The direct link between glutathione levels and immune system function is paramount in the discussion of why glutathione is so beneficial for our health and well-being.
One key benefit is the remarkable anti-inflammatory qualities of glutathione, explained earlier, but it is far from the only immune health benefit GSH has to offer. Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is characterized by the progressive failure of the immune system.
Most people have a compromised immune system to a degree. This is due to the exogenous toxins we are bombarded with constantly, impairing liver function and depleting GSH levels more rapidly than ever before.
If enhancing the body’s master antioxidant is capable of aiding in the restoration of the immune system of a patient with HIV, the benefits would translate to an individual without an extreme immunological disorder as well.
Our glutathione levels are depleted when we are combating disease or infections, due to the consumption of cysteine in order to clone T-cells. Glutathione regulates the binding, degradation, and T-cell proliferation by increasing the number of binding cellular receptors.
More receptors mean the body can produce more T-cells simultaneously. Dramatically improving the systemic immune response. The healthy growth and function of immune cells depend heavily on the availability of glutathione.
It both enhances the activity of immune cells and functions by acting as a powerful antioxidant within them.
Meet Dr. Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi
Dr. Luc Montagnier received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 along with his colleague Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, for discovering the HIV VIRUS.
In 1994, Montagnier drew attention to the promising effects of Immunotec’s cornerstone product, Immunocal®, a proven precursor of the major cellular antioxidant glutathione, in his opening address at the 10th International AIDS Conference in Yokohama, Japan.
The anti-HIV and anti-apoptotic activity of Immunocal and its relation with GSH synthesis were further discussed in a presentation at the same conference.
Three years later, Montagnier, Olivier, and Catherine Pasquier edited Oxidative Stress in Cancer, AIDS, and Neurodegenerative Diseases, devoting an entire chapter to a paper co-authored by Immunotec founding scientist Dr. Gustavo Bounous.
Entitled Nutraceutical Modulation of Glutathione with a Humanized Native Milk Serum Protein Isolate, Immunocal: Application in AIDS and Cancer, the paper explored the extremely rare glutathione-promoting components of proteins in Immunocal and noted the implication of cellular glutathione depletion in a number of degenerative conditions and disease states including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, arteriosclerosis, cataracts, cystic fibrosis, malnutrition, aging, AIDS, and cancer.
Summary
To summarize, in order to most effectively enhance glutathione levels, it’s important to supplement with the precursors. Immunocal supplies the building blocks (precursors) to optimize and maintain your master antioxidant.
It becomes especially important as you age, as glutathione levels naturally deplete after the age of 20, leaving us increasingly vulnerable to infection and disease as we age. Support your master antioxidant and you will be supporting your health, well-being, and longevity!