How Is Glutathione Produced in the Body?
Glutathione is a common and helpful substance produced naturally within the human body. Responsible for controlling inflammation and assisting in the detoxification process, this material plays a critical role in our overall health. However, while many know what glutathione does, few individuals understand its production process and how this contributes to its effectiveness. Read on to learn how glutathione is produced in the body and the science behind it.
The Building Blocks of Glutathione
Before getting into how glutathione forms, it’s important to know what materials contribute to it. Glutathione is a type of tripeptide, a chain of amino acids that’s made up of three distinct materials: cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid. Each of these ingredients form naturally in the body. However, their quantity depends on your diet as well as certain aspects of your lifestyle. Pollution, smoking, and drinking alcohol can all decrease the number of these enzymes, making it more difficult for your body to create glutathione on its own.
The natural creation of glutathione also requires relatively high metabolic activity. This means you should be doing your best to keep yourself active and promoting proper cardiovascular health. Some additional ways to boost your metabolism include:
- Drinking more cold water
- Getting a full night’s rest
- Eating more proteins
- Standing up throughout the day
The Process of Making Glutathione
As far as how glutathione is produced in the body, the steps can be a bit complex. The production process itself takes place exclusively within the individual cells—specifically, the cytosol area. Here, the previously mentioned enzymes merge into a tripeptide. But this happens in stages.
The first stage combines glutamic acid with recycled cysteine from decomposed glutathione. This creates a substance called glutamate-cysteine ligase (or GCL). Then, in the second stage, this mixture is merged with the remaining glycine to form a tripeptide. From here, the resulting glutathione is pumped into the cell’s mitochondria where it helps a particular region of the body operate properly.
Cysteine is a particularly important material to consider since it’s much harder to come by. However, you can get more of it in your system by eating certain types of protein. Some examples include chicken, turkey, and yogurt.
While glutathione is regularly created by our bodies, this production can slow as we age. This is why it’s important that you have additional methods to getting the glutathione you need in your system. At Flawless Beauty and Skin, we use this substance as a primary ingredient in many of our skincare products. Our glutathione whitening capsules infuse your cells with this regenerative material—lightening your complexion and healing blemishes in the process. For more information, give us a call or visit our website.