Protect your ageing brain with glutathione, the master antioxidant

The best way to defend your cognitive function against free radical damage

Photo by Vlad Sargu on Unsplash

It is becoming increasingly clear that official recommendations for protein intake are woefully inadequate. That’s a problem for us all, and not just for those whose goal it is to build or maintain muscle. It’s a problem for anyone aiming to maintain healthy brain function.

Low protein means low glutathione, and glutathione, frequently referred to as the ‘master antioxidant’, is head of defence against hostile elements that threaten the brain.

You need the right amount of protein to maximise glutathione in the brain. You also need the right nutrients to play a supporting role.

That means a good supply of the raw materials. You don’t eat glutathione – you make it.

The mitochondria of every cell in the body is where energy production takes place and it is also where glutathione is made and stored. To make energy, oxygen is burned, and this combustion produces reactive oxygen species (ROS), a type of free radical.

This is not a problem, when you have an abundant supply of protective antioxidants, like glutathione. But if you don’t, and the scales tip towards excessive ROS production, you are in oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress (OS) damages fats, proteins and DNA, leads to inflammation and causes cell death.

Because the brain has the highest oxygen demand of the whole body, OS could pose a serious threat. Its high energy requirements make it ‘extremely vulnerable to mitochondrial dysfunction and associated ROS overproduction and OS’.

What’s more, the brain is packed with polyunsaturated fats, the type that are highly susceptible to free radical damage.

Like all the best antioxidants, glutathione is endogenous, meaning you make it in the body. Other helpful antioxidants are obtained through diet.

Not only does glutathione function as a key antioxidant, it also increases the effectiveness of other antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, by recycling them once they have been used.

Glutathione has many pivotal functions in the central nervous system, with the highest concentrations found in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum.

Deficiency or impairment of glutathione function is linked to ageing and several neurological diseases, including Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It is also involved in the development of other neurological disorders, including autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis and even obsessive-compulsive disorder.

‘Thus, glutathione plays an important role in the onset and progression of neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases and may serve as a biomarker for diagnostic screening for these disorders.’

How to make more glutathione