Glutathione

Glutathione (GSH) is an antioxidant in plants, animals, fungi, and some bacteria and archaea. GSH is capable of preventing damage to important cellular components caused by reactive oxygen species such as free radicals, peroxides, lipid peroxides, and heavy metals.

Despite GSH’s water solubility, it is still poorly bioavailable.  Powdered glutathione metabolism cleaves it into the three amino acids it is made up of (glycine, glutamine and cysteine.)  This digestive cleaving process is so effective that nearly all of the glutathione stated on the original supplement label would never make it into circulation.

As a result of the poor bioavailability, the evidence for standard oral GSH as a means of improving glutathione status, reducing oxidative stress or for improving other markers of health, have been mixed and largely disappointing. In contrast, liposomal GSH has been shown to not only increase blood levels of GSH effectively and significantly but also increases the GSH to GSSG ratio, reduce other oxidative stress markers and improve markers of immune function in healthy adults to a significant degree.