The Master Antioxidant

The Master Antioxidant


Antioxidants are extremely important for the health and maintenance of our bodies. For those who are not aware, antioxidants protect us from free-radicals.Free-radicals are unstable atomsin our bodies that cause major damage to cells, tissues, and even our DNA. They come from bad food, environmental toxins, stress, and are generally highly destructive. Without any sort of defense, these can build up and contribute significantly to all manner of chronic illness

Thankfully, we do have a defense against free-radicals in the form of antioxidants. Antioxidants are the front-line defense against free-radical damage and one of them stands above all others:glutathione.

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What is Glutathione?


Glutathione is a natural compound that is produced by your body, primarily in the liver and kidneys, and is made up of the amino acids glutamine, glycine, and cysteine. Unlike most antioxidants, this is produced by your own body, though there are vegetables and herbs that go a long way to helping your body produce and maintain this powerful compound.

Why is it Important?


Antioxidants are able to deactivate free-radicals and mitigate their damage by lending them one of their electrons to stabilize them. Glutathione, "the master antioxidant", has over 100,000 peer reviewed studies done on it because it excels at this but it also does much more than that. It also has the ability to regenerate and maintain exogenous (from outside the body) antioxidants such as Vitamin C and E and it also has the ability to absorb toxins such as alcohol, pesticides, and carcinogens. This makes it an extremely powerful compound for detoxing the body as well as maintaining the supply and health of its antioxidants.

Even further than this, glutathione has its fingerprints all over key bodily processes such as:

  • making DNA, the building blocks of proteins and cells

  • supporting immune function

  • forming sperm cells

  • helping the liver and gallbladder deal with fats

  • assisting regular cell death (a process known as apoptosis)

How Do I Get Glutathione?


Glutathione is extremely potent and luckily, our body produces it on it's own. Our liver and our kidneys in particular are able to produce it. However, as we age we begin to produce less of it naturally and if we are in a state of heavy-toxicity we may need a lot more than our body can normally produce. This is where herbs and vegetables come in that can greatly improve your body's ability to produce it at the level you need.

Our favorite way of increasing glutathione is with the super herb dandelion, and we plan to cover that in our next Years Restored article.

More Than an Antioxidant


The effects of glutathione on the body are stunning, as it has such a wide-ranging ability to contribute to our health. It can combat free-radicals, it can maintain the presence of other anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, it can keep our immune system strong and fully functional, it can detox pollutants in the body, it contributes to the building of new cells and DNA, it's incredible just how much it does. You can make sure your glutathione levels stay high and your health stays strong with a plant based diet, especially when you add dandelion.

God Bless,
Mercy Ballard

Mercy Ballard