The Brain
Last month I discussed how researchers have linked the use of the painkiller acetaminophen (Tylenol) to both asthma and rhinitis. This month I will expand that list. If you use Tylenol or any other acetaminophen product, this should interest you.
As such, with our increased exposure to environmental pollution, we want our glutathione levels to be high enough to handle the detoxification. Acetaminophen doesn't help. The ingestion of acetaminophen depletes both glutathione and cysteine in the liver, lungs and kidneys.
Three groups of animals were evaluated for glutathione after being given acetaminophen. Each group represented a different biological stage of life--growth, maturity and aging. At the beginning of the study, glutathione levels were already 30% lower in the aging animals than in the other two groups.
Four hours after administering acetaminophen the glutathione levels dropped 70 to 80 percent in each group. After 24 hours the glutathione levels in the first group (the growing animals) had recovered to 94% of their original value and to 66% of the original value in the mature group. In the aging group, glutathione levels only returned to 41% of their original level.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned from the above study is that young individuals are better equipped to replenish their supplies of glutathione and this probably accounts for their having fewer health problems. Lower levels of glutathione would also help explain increased drug sensitivity in the elderly. In mature individuals and especially those in older age groups, certain drugs like acetaminophen reduce your capacity to detoxify harmful chemicals, which in turn increases your susceptibility to disease.
Increasing Your Glutathione Levels
First, let me reiterate that although raising glutathione levels will help protect against developing cancer, it is not recommended that you attempt to raise levels during the active phases of cancer.
Ideally, before attempting to raise your glutathione levels, it would be nice to know your current levels. Some people have the innate ability to maintain high levels throughout their lifetime and enjoy extremely long, healthy lives. Increasing levels would not be harmful but, if you're lucky enough to fall into that category, you may not need to go to the expense of taking additional glutathione.
Unfortunately, testing for glutathione levels really isn't very feasible. Glutathione is very sensitive to heat, light and air which has made it almost impossible to measure before it oxidizes. This has made developing a simple test for measuring glutathione difficult.
We don't yet have the full story on glutathione. There are no definitive studies indicating the best method of raising glutathione levels to correct a deficiency. Research is currently underway that should shed more light on this topic in the future. However, although we don't know the best method, we do know there are several methods you can use now to increase your glutathione levels.