Glutathione Enhances Sports Performance

When it comes to intensive exercise, it is important to maintain a balance between what you are capable of and what your body can handle. Several research studies from medical research journals and prestigious institutions as the University of California Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts warn that exercising too much increases how much oxygen you take in, leading to what they call "oxidative stress." This damages cells and turns them into free radicals that damage healthy cells to repair themselves. Oxidative stress is also the reason why people age.

Both top athletes and beginners alike need the strength and endurance to persevere through their training regimens. They also need a balanced diet with the nutrients to help them heal after a strenuous workout. B-vitamins are essential for attaining energy, vitamin D is crucial to keeping that energy during your workout and vitamin C helps reduce inflammation after exercising for the day. But there is one more essential nutrient your body absolutely must have as well. It's called glutathione.

Glutathione is a small molecule made up of three amino acids and is produced by almost every cell in the body. It is required to maintain normal immune system function and is plays a critical role in maintaining lymphocyte numbers. Immune system cells like lymphocytes produce many oxygen radicals as a natural by-product, resulting in a need for more antioxidants than most cells. Glutathione plays a crucial role in meeting this demand.

Glutathione acts as a detoxifying agent by ridding the body of unwanted materials and also helps repair and protect DNA. Glutathione produces and helps to recycle vitamin C and also helps the body produce vitamin E, which can help some people physically move better, and alpha-lipoic acid, which is part of cellular energy production. Glutathione is such a crucial substance to cells that about 6% of the body's energy is spent on glutathione production alone.

It also acts as a medic for cells, seeking out and healing cells damaged by oxidation before they seek out and injure healthy cells. After an intense workout, the number of white blood cells in your blood decreases and your white blood cells' natural "killer" function is suppressed, making the body more susceptible incoming contaminants and diseases. Keeping glutathione levels optimized enables a healthy competitive season.

What is especially fascinating is that glutathione is the only substance in your body that doesn't turn on you after it is depleted. The more glutathione you have in your body, the longer you can continue to exercise safely without harming your body's cells. That is why a supplement that boosts normal glutathione production is vital for any athlete of any skill level.

Where vitamin C reduces inflammation brought on by your workout routine, glutathione contributes to the recovery process your body undergoes. The human body is made up of an estimated 100 trillion cells, and all of them need the same four substances to live: oxygen, glucose, water and glutathione. Where the oxygen, glucose and water help the cell to live, glutathione helps the cell to heal, which is invaluable to cellular longevity. It repairs damaged cells and helps sore muscles to recover more quickly. Because of this same regenerative quality, glutathione can even slow the natural aging process, letting you work out for a long time to come.

Over time, glutathione also has a number of remarkable effects on your body. It can rapidly and safely increase energy, feed your muscles, lessen muscle fatigue, speed recovery time, strengthen your immune system, protect against injury, reduce stress on muscles, speed up the healing process in the event of a training injury, decrease inflammation, improve performance, increase endurance and stamina and maintain your muscles' growth. This makes glutathione a healthy and safe alternative to any kind of steroid. Best of all, it is literally impossible to have too much glutathione because every cell in your body produces it and is in need of it.

Glutathione is a delicate substance, however. Despite all of its importance, the human body actually loses between 8% and 12 % of its glutathione reserves every decade after the age of 20. The only effective way to replenish glutathione in the past was to have it administered to you intravenously through an IV. It was so sought after because increasing your glutathione levels can increase overall energy, decrease overall recovery time and provide your cells with what they need to function optimally. These days we have dietary supplements like N-Acetyl-Cysteine and MaxATP to make our lives easier.

N-Acetyl-Cysteine and MaxATP are both aimed at one thing: increasing glutathione levels in the body. N-Acetyl-Cysteine, or “NAC” for short, is a very old dietary supplement that is also commonly used to treat acetaminophen poisoning. It is also a component in many beneficial medicines for treating everything from angina to kidney failure. The way it works, it basically packages all three amino acids necessary to produce glutathione together and is given orally or injected intravenously to give you the glutathione you need to treat diseases. It is a wonderful and beneficial substance but it isn't practical for the average person, especially since it is most effective intravenously.

Max ATP, on the other hand, focuses on increasing the cysteine in your body since you naturally acquire the other two building blocks through a healthy diet. It is transported into your body where it turns into glutathione and sets to work fixing up your body from the inside. MaxATP also comes with key nutrients such as B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, copper, chromium and more to help your body endure even the most intensive of workout routines. It is built specifically for athletes to keep them going strong for a long time.