July 30, 2001 -- Who wouldn't like to get their hands on a naturally
occurring substance that acts as an antioxidant, an immune system
booster, and a detoxifier? Something that can help your body repair
damage caused by
stress, pollution, radiation, infection, drugs, poor diet, aging, injury, trauma, and burns?
A handful of researchers are saying the antioxidant glutathione can do
all that and maybe more. But can you believe such sweeping claims?
What's the evidence to back them up? Here are what three experts have to
say:
What Is Glutathione?
"Glutathione is a very interesting, very small molecule that's [produced
by the body and] found in every cell," says Gustavo Bounous, MD,
director of research and development at Immunotec and a retired
professor of surgery at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "It's the
[body's] most important antioxidant because it's within the cell."
Antioxidants -- the most well known of which are vitamins C and E -- are
important for good health because they neutralize free radicals, which
can build up in cells and cause damage. Because glutathione exists
within the cells, it is in a prime position to neutralize free radicals.
It also has potentially widespread health benefits because it can be
found in all types of cells, including the cells of the immune system,
whose job is to fight disease.
Glutathione occurs naturally in many foods, and people who eat well
probably have enough in their diets, says Dean Jones, PhD, professor of
biochemistry and director of nutritional health sciences at Emory
University in Atlanta. Those with diets high in fresh fruits and
vegetables and freshly prepared meats are most likely just fine. On the
other hand, those with poor diets may get too little.
What Does Glutathione Do?
The strong antioxidant effect of glutathione helps keep cells running
smoothly. Bounous and another glutathione expert, Jeremy Appleton, ND,
say it also helps the liver remove chemicals that are foreign to the
body, such as drugs and pollutants.
Appleton is chairman of the department of
nutrition at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., and senior science editor for Healthnotes, a database on
complementary and alternative medicine available at newspaper stands and health food stores.
Evidence for the important role that glutathione plays in health comes from studies in people who are severely ill.
"If you look in a hospital situation at people who have
cancer,
AIDS, or other very serious disease, almost invariably they are
depleted in glutathione," says Appleton. "The reasons for this are not
completely understood, but we do know that glutathione is extremely
important for maintaining intracellular health."
How Should Glutathione Be Taken?
Glutathione is probably not well absorbed into the body when taken by
mouth. One way to get around that is to take it by vein. A more
practical solution is to take the precursors -- that is, the molecules
the body needs to make glutathione -- rather than glutathione itself.
While there is no solid proof this works, the consensus among experts is
that that doing so will increase the amount of glutathione in the
cells.
Bounous has developed a glutathione-enhancing product called Immunocal,
which is made up of glutathione precursors, mainly the amino acid
cysteine.
Who Does Glutathione Help?
Animal and laboratory studies have demonstrated that glutathione has the
potential to fight almost any disease, particularly those associated
with aging, since free radical damage is the cause of many of the
diseases of old age.
"Theoretically, there are many very strong arguments in favor of a
therapeutic use of glutathione," says Appleton. "But when people have
actually tried to use glutathione as an oral supplement, nasal spray, or
intravenously, the results have been more of a preliminary nature. The
amount of research on glutathione as a supplement ... is very limited."
The best studies have been conducted in cancer. One study involved women with
ovarian cancer who were being treated with
chemotherapy.
Some of the women were also treated with intravenous glutathione. Those
given the glutathione not only had fewer side effects from the
chemotherapy but also had better overall survival rates.
Myriam Abalain of Montreal, Canada, is one of the many people who have
taken Bounous's Immunocal to combat cancer. In 1996, at age 33, a
routine
PAP smear revealed she had precancerous cells on her cervix, which is one step away from having
cervical cancer. The three specialists she visited all told her that a
hysterectomy was her only option, but she hesitated to have such major, life-altering surgery.
Instead, she waited. For more than two years, her condition remained
stable. Then a friend suggested she try Immunocal. After eight months of
taking the supplement, her physician could no longer detect any
precancerous cells. Does this mean Immunocal cured her? It's hard to say
based on just one case like hers. It is possible her body went into
remission naturally.
Even Bounous acknowledges there's no real proof his product cured her
cancer, but he's working on conducting good clinical research, comparing
individuals with cancer taking glutathione to those who are not.
What Are the Risks?
Overall, taking glutathione or its precursors in reasonable amounts
appears to be quite safe, although it should be avoided in people with
milk protein allergies and in those who have received an organ
transplant. There is also some concern, however, about the safety of
taking glutathione for the one condition for which there is the greatest
evidence of its usefulness: cancer.
"People don't get concerned about these health-promoting [supplements]
until they're in their 50s and 60s," says Emory's Dean Jones. At that
point, they may already have the initial precancerous [cells].
Therefore, the supplements, just like they promote health in normal
tissues, might promote health in the precancerous tissue."
Appleton recognizes this possibility but says "there's no evidence that
supplementing with glutathione, even intravenously, is in any way going
to make any cancer worse. In fact, the evidence we have suggests the
opposite. It suggests that glutathione and other antioxidants, far from
interfering with the activity of chemotherapy, appear to reduce side
effects without decreasing efficacy and may, in fact, improve the
efficacy of the chemotherapy in fighting cancer."
Bounous says his research has demonstrated that taking Immunocal
actually lowers glutathione in cancer cells while increasing it in
normal cells. As a result, the cancer cells are more vulnerable to
chemotherapy, and the normal cells are protected.
The upshot? The experts disagree on who should take glutathione or its
precursors. Bounous says everyone should take it in order to optimize
overall health. Appleton would reserve it for people with cancer. Jones
says it might only prove beneficial for those who eat poorly and are
thus unlikely to be getting much glutathione or its precursors in their
diet.
They all acknowledge that people with severe diseases known to be
associated with low glutathione levels, such as AIDS, may well benefit
from the supplement, although there is no proof to this effect.
For her part, Myriam Abalain is still taking Immunocal and feeling fine.
"I'm doing pretty good now," she says. "I'm in better shape than ever!"
