Cellgevity: Vitality and Wellness depend on Cellular Health

A Layman's Guide to Build & Maintain Cellular Health

Often too concerned with the aesthetic results of weight loss and anti-aging, most dieters don't explore the deeper connections between food and cellular performance. The benevolent tripeptide glutathione, for example, combines cleansing and anti-inflammatory traits with an antioxidant to improve the body's immune response. Without a sufficient supply of nutrients such as this one, the body is more likely to produce cancerous cells while effectively weakening its own defenses. Before delving deeper into the vital nutrients that prevent this from happening, however, one must understand the conditions and factors that determine cellular health. So what is cellular health, and how can nutrition improve it?

What is Cellular Health?

Cells are the smallest medically recognized components of human tissue. Through cell division, they create new cells, allowing for tissue growth. They also metabolize energy through various processes, distributing it throughout the body. Protein synthesis is the manufacturing of essential amino acids that facilitate the actions of all cells. Finally, cells are highly mobile, which allows them to target problem areas and rebuild damaged tissue after a wounding occurs.

None of these seemingly immaculate feats can be accomplished if the body's cells are not properly nourished. So what do our cells eat? Often overlooked, trace elements like magnesium, zinc, and even tryptophan are vital to many of the processes of cells. Also, vitamins C and B as well as the omega fatty acids found in fish are required to maintain a defensible, yet permeable cell membrane. Most importantly, however, as it is most deficient in the American diet, is glutathione. No matter its structure or function, every single cell is united in its requirement for this tripeptide. Cysteine, glycine, and glutamate, the three amino acids that comprise glutathione, combine their properties to fight disease and aging by preventing the body's “typographical” errors in cell production and propagation. These errors, often invited by the oxidative stress caused by free radicals and nutritional deficiencies, are the ones that cause problem cells to form and proliferate, resulting in major diseases and disorders like cancer and autism.

Glutathione and Autism Prevention

Researchers conducting a University of Arkansas College of Medicine study have correlated low glutathione levels to autism in children. In the study, the group of autistic children involved were found to have much lower levels of glutathione than the group of children that didn't have the disease. The researchers surmised that the lack of glutathione in the autistic children caused too much oxidative stress, which then informed the disease. Oxidative stress refers to a disproportionate increase of oxygen levels in a cell, resulting in compromised performance or even death. This can be caused by exposure to harmful metals and chemicals, but is most commonly a result of too many free radicals and not enough glutathione.

By maintaining appropriate levels of glutathione, then, children as well as adults can build a powerful antioxidant defense. True to their name, antioxidants directly target and reduce the over-oxidation of cells, preventing not only autism but also Sickle Cell Disease, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue, Parkinson's and many more. Even cancer has a more difficult time penetrating cells with sufficient levels of GSH.

Glutathione as an Anti-Carcinogenic Supplement

Sharp increases in cancer rates are beginning to expose the latent backlash of the industrial revolution: increased toxicity levels in the environment. Noxious emissions from commercial factories and automobiles, irritants in cosmetic and household products, cigarette smoke, waste dumping, and the millions of radio waves that constantly coarse through our bodies have increased everyone's chance of being afflicted by the disease. All it takes is one cancerous cell to spread throughout tissue, affecting millions of other cells as it does so. It would appear from many testimonials that Cellgevity boosts the body's normal anti-cancer activity.

By boosting the body's natural glutathione production, cancer patients can dramatically dampen the spread of cancerous cells to vital regions of the body. The tripeptide has been exposed by researchers to contain the disease in tumors, and is highly likely to prevent it for those who don't have cancer. This goes back to its application as an antioxidant, which in itself prevents a myriad of serious conditions while improving organ function.

Improving Liver Performance

The performance of the liver, which basically serves as the body's filter, is streamlined by glutathione supplementation. Akin to the rest of the body's cells, liver cells are protected from disease and environmental toxins when glutathione is in adequate amounts. The tripeptide also cleanses already present toxins, whether they are environmental or cellular waste, to detoxify the liver and maximize its performance.

The benefits of glutathione supplementation are such for the rest of the body, as all anatomical systems are driven by cellular processes. By targeting immune system weaknesses at their source, glutathione users can holistically improve their health and minimize regression into conditions or diseases. An exceedingly efficacious protector, antioxidant, and cleanser, glutathione is the pinnacle ingredient for maintaining cellular health.

Health Benefits of Glutathione

Glutathione the most promising antioxidant available today is a power-packed tripeptide of three amino acids cysteine, glycine and glutamate that work together to fight toxins, free radicals and dangerous substances. It's potential to assist the body keep itself healthy and vital naturally is almost unlimited. Essentially this article is intended to be a Layman's Guide to the benefits of Glutathione and Cellular Health.

Finding the Building Blocks to a Healthier You

Many of us live in a world of constant health advisories, awareness of toxins in our earth, water, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. This makes obtaining an optimum level of health a constant concern, which can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. It is far from realistic to devote most of your time and attention to troubleshooting health issues via diet and exercise. While these are two important components of any healthy lifestyle, most individuals must put the demands of daily subsistence first, which can cause them to neglect those aspects.

Arming yourself with knowledge regarding what to eat, what to avoid, and how best to allocate time to health concerns can help you to streamline your approach and maximize the effectiveness of your efforts. While the average person is now more in command of educational resources regarding their own health, one of the little-known facts about the human body may provide the answers many of us seek. Glutathione has become the subject of keen intellectual interest in the medical, nutritional, and general health industries in recent decades, and the findings of long-drawn inquiry are proving more surprising and beneficial than anyone thought possible.

What Glutathione Is and What It Does in the Body

Glutathione (pronounced glu-ta-THIGH-own) is what many health professionals term the "master antioxidant". It is produced in the human liver, but is also found in many fruits, vegetables, and some meat products. It is a small protein built of three component amino acids, cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine which together comprise one of our bodies' most potent detoxifying, reparative, and defense building tools. It stimulates genetic expression of immune response, and is often used to treat heavy metals poisoning, chemotherapy side effects, and regulate many autonomic functions in those who experience chronic autoimmune disorders.

It is found in two forms within the body. A monomer, or single protein structure, known as "reduced glutathione", is the active form of the protein. The dimmer, or two conjoined monomers, is known as oxidized glutathione. Essentially, this latter form represents the substance after it has performed its role and carries a load of toxins, free-radical electrons, or other pollutants. It must be renewed by the body or expelled as waste. That's one of the most amazing things about this antioxidant, it renews itself within the body. An enzyme, known as glutathione reductase, breaks apart the dimmer molecule and recycles the oxidized glutathione back into a single molecule of "reduced" glutathione. As well as the body producing fresh supplies from the component amino acids, it constantly cycles within the body systems via the bloodstream and within the tissues themselves, seeking out impurities and pollutants that cause oxidative stress to our systems.

While its specific benefits are still the subject of intense study and scholarly scrutiny, many claims have been made about the wondrous powers of glutathione. Current studies include its effects on Parkinson's disease, its possible mitigating factors on the side-effects of some harsh AIDS medications, its role in preventing certain cancers or reducing the bodily stress brought on by chemotherapy, and its regulatory powers in terms of autonomic functions such as blood pressure and vessel wall integrity in sufferers of chronic disorders such as type one diabetes. What is absolutely certain is that its major role is preventing oxidative stress in the body.

Oxidative stress is generally understood to be the cumulative damage caused by an imbalance of what are known as "oxygen species" in the body. A more familiar term for these molecules is free radicals, which are particles with extra or missing electrons. These free radicals are thrown out of balance by their added or missing negatively charged particle, and have been directly linked to the formation of abnormal cell growth in a number of bodily systems in other words, cancers. It also functions to maintain our general immune system functions, which will be discussed later in tandem with vitamin C.

Reported uses for glutathione are the treatment of poisoning, in particular that associated with the introduction of heavy metals, treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Parkinson's disease, lowering diabetic blood pressure levels, aiding effectiveness and reducing harmful side-effects of certain chemotherapy treatments, combating liver cancer and sickle cell anemia, and increasing the sperm count in both human and animal subjects. While a high blood serum level of glutathione is associatively linked to better overall health in elderly patients, its connection to the aging process is not yet well understood.

A deficiency of this antioxidant has been identified by some physicians in patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, cancer, diabetes, autism, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases, chronic infections, autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, arthritis, kidney and liver dysfunctions, and asthma.

How Glutathione is Produced and How It Can Be Supplemented

Glutathione is part of our genetic structure that adapted to help rid the body of toxins in our evolutionary environment. In other words, during the 99% of the lifespan of our species, when we were practicing hunting and gathering, it was an adequate filter to the environmental toxins we encountered. However, beginning with the advent of agriculture, this began to change. Since the industrial revolution, not only has the global population exploded, but also our individual ability to cope with the additional toxic load produced by the advances of technology has declined. In essence, while we were busy creating new pollutants and environmental toxins, our ability to battle even the most basic of toxins was declining.

Today, we know that glutathione is present in a wide range of foods, and we even add it to many multivitamin supplements. However, glutathione does not respond well to ingestion. Much of the effective load is either neutralized or destroyed in the process of digestion. That means that those advertised supplements that rely on the factual evidence of glutathione's benefits to life processes are also banking on consumers who are unaware of its ultimate ineffectiveness when administered orally. Currently, medical experiments with inhaled glutathione (a powdery white substance) to control airway constriction in asthma sufferers, and carefully monitored, intravenously administered glutathione in patients undergoing chemotherapy offer the most conclusive efficacy for artificially supplemented levels.

Because it is made by the liver, and continuously reprocessed within the body, a diet infused with healthy foods, such as nutrient rich whole fruits, vegetables, high quality protein, seeds, and nuts is still the best way to bolster the body's natural ability to produce glutathione. The genes responsible for the production of this antioxidant are those such as GSTM1 and GSTP1, as well as others. However, because our evolutionary environment did not contain high levels of toxins we regularly come in contact with today, these genes' expressive capability is less than optimal. According to some estimates, as much as half of the world's population possess inadequate genetic equipment for processing the toxicity of their environment food, water, and air. But how can we help our bodies to produce more of this health preserving antioxidant if we cannot ingest it and our bodies are not equipped with the necessary means of production?

Layman's Guide to Cellular Health & Wellness

Antioxidants come in all shapes and sizes, Alphalipoic Acid (ALA), vitamins C, E, A, D, and K, as well as many other substances, like glutathione. As Dr. Mark Hyman has noted, when the body deals with free radicals, it resembles a game of "Hot Potato" in which the free radical is passed off from one antioxidant to another, and with each passing those hot potatoes become a little less dangerous, until they finally reach glutathione, which finishes neutralizing them or disposes of them properly through bodily waste processes. When we consume a diet that is rich in many antioxidants, as well as those component amino acids mentioned earlier, we enable the body to avoid overloading existing glutathione, buy adding players to the hot potato game of detoxification. As well, consuming foods rich in cystein, glutamic acid, and glycine enable the body to produce more glutathione.

Some of the best cystein-rich foods are those found in your dairy case. Ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt, are especially good sources. It is, however, important to exercise care when choosing your favorites. Modern dairy industry practices include the addition of milk late in fermentation of yogurt, which exhausts the live cultures and renders many of the nutrients less bioavailable. Go for organic varieties or those that stipulate live-culture processes, and don't forget to read the ingredients. That can be an indicator of what you're really getting.

Glutamic acid is found in quantity in foods such as cheeses, soy, animal protein and derived products such as gelatin, wheat germ, pasta, tree nuts and peanuts, lentils, buckwheat and many other products. No matter what your particular dietary requirements, it is simple to obtain foods rich in this building block for glutathione. Generally, substances that derive from animal protein or high-quality vegetable protein such as soy, tree nuts, and peanuts will have the highest concentrations of this essential amino acid. However, you can still find plenty of whole fruits and vegetables with a respectable amount, should you need to steer clear of these other foods. Where glycine is most concentrated are sources of animal protein. However, for those with vegetarian or vegan diets, seaweed, spirulina and certain soy proteins will satisfy your daily requirements for this amino acid.

So, if you are seeking improved health, examine the possible path of augmenting and supporting your body's natural system for detoxification. In addition to incorporating these natural, and often highly accessible foods into your diet to build your glutathione supply, you'll find other benefits. Energy increase is a result of a reduced toxic load and improved efficiency of bodily functions, such as digestion and waste elimination. This will lead to a healthy weight, better sleep, and an improved lifestyle on all levels.