Even if you’re not a health nut that takes a handful of vitamins everyday, chances are you’ve heard of “antioxidants.” These are chemicals that you need to consume (like Vitamin A, B, C & E) because your body can’t make them. After normal chemical reactions take place inside your body, there can be unstable products left over known as free radicals. Free radicals can do lots of damage to the cells, particularly DNA. So antioxidants neutralize free radicals as well as provide the substances for vital reactions throughout the cells.
But did you know there’s an important antioxidant that your body CAN make? It is called glutathione. And glutathione is perfectly adapted for cleaning up toxic elements in your body like mercury, lead and arsenic.
Mercury is considered the most toxic, non-radioactive element in existence (Neuroendocrinology Letters Vol. 26 NO. 5 Oct. 2005 p. 439-446) There is 25 ug of ethyl mercury in each (adult) flu shot (www.fda.gov); all American diphtheria & tetanus shots contain ethyl mercury (www.fda.gov). Arsenic is added to feed for chickens to fatten them up (USA Today 2005). There is considerable mercury released into the air via burning of coal and waste—300% more than before the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. It ends up in the ocean which has caused virtually all fish stocks around the world to be contaminated with varying degrees of mercury (Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution 2007). So you’ve got insidious accumulations of heavy metals in your body.
Glutathione is the body’s #1 detoxifier and targets these pollutants for elimination. However, there is a “rate-limiting” factor for making enough of it. That means, there is one step that doesn’t happen because there isn’t enough quantity of an ingredient to make it happen. “N-acetyl cysteine” (NAC) is that ingredient. When NAC is combined with homocysteine, vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid, then you can boost your production of glutathione. One of my baseline recommendations is for patients to include boosting this antioxidant as a baseline for basic nutrition.
Nutriwest makes two products designed to boostglutathione. One is a tablet (Complete Glutathione, containing NAC) and the other is Complete Whey G, which is a protein powder with the necessary ingredients. You can’t just swallow glutathione, which is why you need the pre-cursors (those ingredients needed to make it.) Usage of Tylenol depletes glutathione. Overdosing on Tylenol for even a few days depletes so much glutathione, that it can lead to liver failure, which can be a grisly death.
Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, MD has reported that NAC is the antidote for Tylenol poisoning—the ingredient for making glutathione! Since exposure to heavy metals and toxins is so prevalent, it’s a very good line of defense for disease to include a supplement like this. It also helps clean up your body if you’ve consumed aspartame or MSG. Together, MSG and apartame are called excitotoxins — they stimulate glutamate receptors.
MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a flavor enhancer that makes the flavor “pop”. Dr. Blaylock says that excitotoxicity from MSG make animals grossly obese—MSG causes you to prefer carbs and sugar over protein-rich foods. (Health and Nutrition Secrets that Can Save Your Life by Blaylock, MD).
Nutrasweet is the brand name for the artificial sweetener,aspartame.
Excitotoxins can cause acute (sudden) stroke, hypoglycemia, trauma epilepsy or chronically can cause neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s Disease, AIDS, dementia, ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease) and Alzheimers [New England Journal of Medicine 1994 330 (9): 613-622)] The authors of this study said excitotoxins literally cause neuronal death. Toxicity can occur within minutes of exposure, thus the acute onset problems just listed.
These authors also note that the SIMPLEST cause of excess glutamate is injury! This definitely has implications for chiropractic patients. In fact, in a study of brain-traumatized rats (yes, it sounds very cruel), NAC was administered after trauma and it significantly reduced neuronal decay, improving survival of the nerves. It only took a single dose within 15 minutes of the trauma for this improvement. The group that DIDN’T get NAC had extensive neuron degeneration. (Neurochemistry May 9, 2006) This supports my current recommendation for new patients to include Complete Glutathione as part of their protocol. I take it daily in one form or the other—tablet or powder—since I
might not have a bottle handy within 15 minutes of a new trauma or after unknowingly consuming MSG products.
I think it would be pretty handy as a preventative for future traumas because there would be
a steady supply of NAC in the system to prevent neuronal degeneration.
As for the chemical-induced
trauma from excitotoxins, you should know what ingredients are MSG-in-disguise. The following
ingredients that you find on food labels always contain MSG: hydrolyzed protein, plant protein extract, calcium caesinate, textured protein, hydrolyzed oat flour, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.
Other ingredients that FREQUENTLY contain MSG include: malt extract, bouillon stock, natural flavoring, seasoning, broth, beef or chicken flavoring, spices.
The following MAY contain MSG: carrageenan, soy protein, whey protein, enzymes. (The Taste that Kills by Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD)
Dr. Blaylock says he’s gotten lots of people off of their seizure medications just by getting them off of MSG and giving them magnesium; he says that most neurologists don’t know about this. His tips for blocking absorption of excitotoxins include the use of the following supplements: leucine, isoleucine, lysine, curcurmin, gingko, most flavonoids, magnesium, vitamin E as succinate (very powerful), antioxidants and B vitamin combos.
Complete Glutathione by Nutriwest contains Vitamins B1, B2 , B6, B12, Vitamin E as succinate, magnesium and zinc as chelate, alpha lipoic acid, folic acid & Vitamin C. I personally experienced brain fog first-hand after (accidentally) consuming a 20 oz. coffee product with Nutrasweet (aspartame). I was away from home for several hours and even had trouble driving home—it was an outright effort to concentrate. Within an hour of taking Complete Glutathione, I normalized!
The bottom line is that boosting glutathione will prevent brain/nerve damage if you have trauma; it will block the absorption of MSG and aspartame–excitotoxins that are known to cause neuronal death; and it targets environmental, medical and nutritional toxins from the body for elimination including mercury exposure from air, water, fish and vaccines; arsenic in chicken; and cadmium that is used in the hydrogenation of processed foods/oils.
Call our office to get Complete Glutathione and start protecting yourself from these chemical and physical assaults on the nerves!
drericaapproved 