Glutathione--for Jim. was Re: Digest Number 106

[Guest guest]

Hi, Jim.

Thanks for posting this.

I hope these things you've added turn out to help you.

I appreciate reading what Dr. Holtorf said about glutathione

depletion in his patients. Dr. Cheney said that glutathione

depletion was almost universal in his patients, also, back in 1999.

I sent Dr. Holtorf a copy of my AACFS poster paper on glutathione in

CFS several months ago. I also gave a copy to Dr. Larry Sharp, who

runs the Fort Worth branch of the F & F Centers. I think it is true

that depletion of glutathione is more common in CFS, but there are a

couple of papers in the literature reporting on elevation of

glutathione in some PWCs, as I discussed in my earlier message.

I agree that I.V. glutathione infusions can be helpful in CFS. Many

PWCs say they feel better for about a day or so after receiving

one. I think it may take quite a while to restore the liver's

production of glutathione by the use of I.V.s alone, though, so I'm

glad to hear that you are doing the other things as well. The other

issue with the I.V.s is the cost. At least one person has reported

that getting the compounded 250 mg reduced glutathione suppositories

from Wellness Pharmacy (by prescription) is more cost effective. He

said that he can use them every day, and a month's supply cost him

the same as one I.V. infusion.

I don't believe that the liver can benefit directly from glutathione

that is put into the blood, because it is set up to make glutathione

from dietary amino acids that it has first access to via the portal

vein from the gut, and to export some of this glutathione into the

blood, rather than to make use of glutathione from the blood. Other

organs do benefit from glutathione put directly into the blood,

however. The half-life of glutathione in the blood plasma has been

measured at 1.6 minutes in one human. The majority of it is taken

out and reused by the kidneys, based on work in animals. The lungs

are the second most prominent importer of glutathione from the

blood. Other organs receive lesser amounts.

My current view is that the combined use of one of these direct

glutathione-into-the blood methods, such as I.V., I.M. or

suppositories, or maybe transdermal or aerosol--nebulizer

approaches, combined with one of the oral amino acid or protein

methods, such as RenewPro, or NAC combined with good quality dietary

protein may be the best approach to building glutathione. If a

nondenatured whey protein or undenatured whey protein approach is

used, and elevated mercury is suspected to be present, I think it is

wise to check the blood plasma cysteine level such as by

http://www.gsdl.com

to make sure it is not getting too high, perhaps a couple of weeks

into it. A few people have reported that this can be a problem.

Cysteine is known to be a neurotoxin if it gets high enough in

concentration, and some people's pathways for utilizing cysteine

either to make glutathione or to be oxidized to sulfate, appear to

be inhibited. I think that mercury is responsible, and a deficiency

of molybdenum may also be involved in some cases. If a person with

such inhibited pathways takes in a lot of cysteine, the level in the

blood may rise too high. I encourage people to be cautious about

this. I don't think that the methods that involve NAC, or the

oxidized form of cysteine (cystine) as in regular commercial whey

protein, or glutathione molecules per se will raise cysteine, but I

think that the nondenatured or undenatured whey protein products do

have this potential in some people.

The new product Lipoceutical Glutathione from Wellness Health may be

able to accomplish the whole job of helping both the liver and the

other organs with glutathione depletion, because it seems to have

the potential to enter all types of cells by passing right through

their phospholipid membranes and carrying glutathione inside. Not

much experience has been reported yet with this product in CFS,

though it seems to be helping people with autism, Parkinson's and

cystic fibrosis. This approach is also fairly expensive at present.

Rich

> Rich-

> Been following your glutathione comments with

> interest. Does certainly seem to be at the nexus of a

> lot of functions and has lead me to add some things

> into my CFS/ Cpn regime, including NAC, slowly ramping

> up undenatured whey, looking to see if there has been

> any resulting (from glut depletion) mercury

> accumulation, etc.

>

> Interestingly, just had a phone consult with Ken

> Holtorf MD (the medical director for the

> Fibromyalgianand Fatigue Clinics) for my daughter who

> is also being treated for CFS and immune dysfunction.

> When I asked him if he's found it worthwhile to do red

> cell or other measurement of glutathione levels, he

> said, " No, because when we did, everyone tested

> depleted, so we stopped testing for it and just assume

> it's the case. " They use glutathione push in a lot the

> IV treatments he's developed.

>

> Jim