Dietary supplement helps to keep immune system balanced

Stanford researchers have found that giving patients who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) a daily dose of a dietary supplement can boost their levels of Glutathione­ a nutrient essential for proper functioning of the immune system. Restoring glutathione levels to those found in healthy people may help HIV-infected patients fight the AIDS-causing virus and fend off other diseases.

"The importance here is that Glutathione is a central component of all cells, and Glutathione deficiency is associated with poor prognosis in many, many diseases," said Leonore (Lee) Herzenberg, PhD, professor of genetics. She is senior author of a paper describing the new study, published in the October 1 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Lee Herzenberg and her colleagues conducted a clinical trial in which 31 HIV-infected patients were given daily doses of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) ­ a substance that is turned into Glutathione in the body. Thirty others were given a benign sugar pill. At the start of the trial all patients had Glutathione deficiency ­ some patients had only half the amount found in healthy people. At the end of the two-month trial, those taking NAC had increased the amount of Glutathione in their bodies to near-normal levels.

"What we've proven is that giving people NAC replenishes the Glutathione stores," said Lee Herzenberg.

At the completion of the eight-week trial, most patients chose to take NAC for the following six months while the researchers continued monitoring the safety of the supplement. They found that patients suffered no ill effects that could be attributed to daily NAC ingestion.

Glutathione is not an anti-retroviral drug, stressed genetics professor Leonard (Len) Herzenberg, PhD. It does not decrease the amount of virus in patients' blood or increase their number of virus-fighting T cells, but it does restore the immune system, the researchers said.
Previous findings by the Herzenbergs and others show that T cells perform better in HIV-infected patients when their Glutathione levels are replenished. Reversal of Glutathione deficiency is also associated with improvement in many other diseases including diabetes, influenza and cystic fibrosis.

"The level of Glutathione is tightly regulated in cells. If nature has gone to the trouble of maintaining those levels, logic says it should be restored to that level if you can," said Lee Herzenberg. "It's like a vitamin deficiency. Any vitamin deficiency would immediately be corrected, and we believe that this is equivalent to a vitamin deficiency."

The Herzenberg team hopes that the benefits of maintaining normal Glutathione levels will encourage people suffering from long-term diseases to avoid lifestyle factors that deplete Glutathione, such as exposure to ultraviolet light and alcohol consumption. They also recommend limited use of acetaminophen ­ the active ingredient in common painkillers such as Tylenol ­ because the risk of liver damage is increased for those with low Glutathione levels.
The Herzenbergs are confident that the new findings will speed the introduction into the U.S. market of medicinal-quality NAC that AIDS patients and others can take to maintain normal Glutathione levels. BY KRISTIN WEIDENBACH

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Chronic Alcoholism Alters Systemic and Pulmonary Glutathione Redox Status

Rationale: Previous studies have linked the development and severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome with a history of alcohol abuse. In clinical studies, this association has been centered on depletion of pulmonary Glutathione and subsequent chronic oxidant stress.

Objectives: The impact on redox potential of the plasma or pulmonary pools, however, has never been reported.

Methods: Plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were collected from otherwise healthy alcohol-dependent subjects and control subjects matched by age, sex, and smoking history.

Measurements and Main Results: Redox potential was calculated from measured reduced and oxidized Glutathione in plasma and lavage. Among subjects who did and did not smoke, lavage fluid Glutathione redox potential was more oxidized in alcohol abusers by approximately 40 mV, which was not altered by dilution. This oxidation of the airway lining fluid associated with chronic alcohol abuse was independent of smoking history. A shift by 20 mV in plasma Glutathione redox potential, however, was noted only in subjects who both abused alcohol and smoked.

Conclusions: Chronic alcoholism was associated with alveolar oxidation and, with smoking, systemic oxidation. However, systemic oxidation did not accurately reflect the dramatic alcohol-induced oxidant stress in the alveolar space.

Although there was compensation for the oxidant stress caused by smoking in control groups, the capacity to maintain a reduced environment in the alveolar space was overwhelmed in those who abused alcohol. The significant alcohol-induced chronic oxidant stress in the alveolar space and the subsequent ramifications may be an important modulator of the increased incidence and severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome in this vulnerable population.
Mary Y. Yeh1, Ellen L. Burnham2, Marc Moss2 and Lou Ann S. Brown1

Alcohol Consumption and Glutathione

Alcohol abuse is known to impair memory and other brain functions and increase brain cell death.

A new study in rats has shown that alchol consumption causes fewer new brain cells to form and results in greater cell death.

But rats that were fed alcohol - a Glutathione peroxidase mimic that acts as a free radical scavenger - showed no similar reduction in brain-cell formation and no increase in cell death.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jun 24;100(13):7919-24. Epub 2003 Jun 05.

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Supplementation may help and prevent the following conditions

Supplementation may prevent, or be helpful with, the following conditions:

Aging
Alcoholism
Asthma
Atherosclerosis (heart disease)
Cancer
Cataracts
Dizziness
Hepatitis
Immunodepression (immune function)
Infertility (male)
Memory Loss (Alzheimer's disease, dementia)
Osteoarthritis
Parkinson's Disease
Peptic Ulcers



Why is Glutathione Essential to Health?

Glutathione's three major roles in the body are summarized by the letters A-B-C.

- Anti-oxidant

- Blood Booster

- Cell Detoxifier

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