You ever hear of free radicals?

They are nasty little byproducts we end up with after our cells use oxygen to create. Free radicals cause damage by destabilizing the molecules in your body. They create an erratic chain reaction that may end up breaking cell membranes and causing all sorts of disease.

Anti-oxidants are substances that can help your cells protect themselves from this process.

The little molecule I want to share with you is the "mother of all antioxidants." Some doctors and nutrition experts call it one of the most powerful and potent free radical fighting antioxidants you can find.

This detoxifier is called glutathione.

Your body makes it on it's own in your liver. It's found in fruits, veggies, and meats. Doctors even give it by injection to help treat some diseases and illnesses.

We'll talk about where you can find glutathione (from food sources...not doctor injections) in a minute.

But first, let's talk about what it actually does inside your body...and what free radicals are doing in there anyway...

What is Glutathione?

I'd go as far as saying glutathione is the most powerful antioxidant in your body.

It's a "tripeptide" that contains 3 amino acids (cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine).

It works as something called a free radical scavenger, helping protect cells against unstable free radicals. It reacts with unstable crazy reactive free radicals to make them stable and nonreactive.

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that your body's own glutathione levels (remember, it's actually produced by your body) decline as you get older. With lower levels of glutathione, free radicals can cause chaos in your body. That brings me to this point...

Ever Wonder What Free Radicals Really Are?

Everyone talks about free radicals.

But you know what I've noticed?

Very few people actually say what they are!

Sure, we know free radicals are bad. But have you ever wondered what they are doing inside your body?

Free radicals are a natural by-product of using oxygen.

Let's quickly go back to chemistry class for a second here, ok? (this will totally make sense in a minute).

Oxygen has two atoms. And the two atoms in oxygen share two electrons. We call these paired electrons. Electrons like to be in pairs.

Oxygen in your body can split up. The two atoms in oxygen become single atoms. But now they have unpaired electrons. Because electrons like to hang out in pairs, these atoms with unpaired electrons run around your body looking for another electron to pair with. These are free radicals.

Free radicals are actually necessary (and good in some cases!).

You need them. A chain reaction of free radicals is actually what helps your body turn the air you breathe and the food you eat into energy your body can use! They can also help your immune system by traveling through your blood and attacking things that shouldn't be there.

The Dark Side of Free Radicals

Free radicals work in a type of chain reaction.

Remember: They are going around in your body looking for electrons to pair with the single electron they have. So they can actually pull electrons off of existing molecules that have two electrons.

**When this happens, it starts a chain reaction...**because now you have a molecule that's missing an electron (it becomes another free radical). This process repeats over and over again.

Back in the 1950s, doctors started to look at this process and began to develop a theory of aging based around free radical damage caused by this reaction. What they found was this chain reaction can damage cell calls, change the structure of fats so they can be more easily trapped (and become clots), or even mutate cells and so they become cancerous. Many studies have even said that free radical damage can change your DNA!

This is called oxidative stress and it's a life-long process that contributes to the "free radical theory of aging."

And the idea is that the damage adds up over time, your DNA can mutate, and new cells grow incorrectly. It's a way many explain why we get older and look older.

So, How Do Antioxidants Help?

Now again...

...antioxidants are something everyone talks about, but no one explains. Right?

Well let me quickly explain them:

Your body has all of these molecules with unpaired electrons (free radicals) floating around and causing damaging chain reactions by stealing electrons from your cells...

...antioxidants come in and give these molecules an electron to pair up with.

That's it.

Once the free radicals take an electron from antioxidants...the chain reaction stops because free radicals stop looking to steal electrons from your cells!

Free radicals are formed all the time because of the way our metabolisms work. They are a byproduct of using oxygen. Antioxidants are necessary to stop the damage caused by these free radicals. Antioxidants stop free radical chain reactions by giving them an electron.

Glutathione is a Superhero Antioxidant

This is where glutathione comes in.

I call it a "superhero" because it is super capable of keeping cells from becoming damaged by free radicals and a TON of other reactive oxygen species (short story: these are other potentially damaging byproducts of using oxygen).

Glutathione is a very effective electron donor for these damaging molecules.

Your body makes glutathione, but sometimes it doesn't make enough.

One of the reasons I look for foods with a ton of glutathione is because it's essentially your body's preferred antioxidant. Your body already makes it!

Glutathione is produced in your liver. But sometimes, your liver is overloaded.

How to Get More Glutathione

One way to maintain your glutathione levels is by consuming foods and supplements high in vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and alpha lipoic acid. These can all help your body naturally boost glutathione leves.

Taking milk thistle can assist in protecting the liver from toxicity, which is one way that glutathione levels decrease. Another product to consider is whey protein, which rebuilds glutathione when it is depleted.

If adding those supplements to your diet isn't really your thing, then you could eat sulfur-rich food items. These foods not only keep your glutathione levels up, but they're also items that your family may like.

Consider adding these sulfur rich, glutathione increasing foods:

• Broccoli

• Brussel sprouts

• Cabbage

• Cauliflower

• Collard greens

• Kale

• Mustard greens

How Worried Should You Be about Free Radicals?

Look...

Free radicals are a fact of life.

We can't avoid all of them and they are going to cause some damage. But, glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that scavenges for these nasty little buggers and helps neutralize them. It's one of the most powerful antioxidants your body uses. In many cases, even doctors give glutathione injections to fight diseases and infection.

That's why you should eat a balanced diet with plenty of antioxidants and sulfur-rich, glutathione increasing foods. They are healthy and youth-enhancing!

And of course, make sure you get plenty of exercise! 😉

Free radical damage may contribute to aging, but it's not the ONLY theory of aging out there. Protecting against free radical damage with superhero antioxidants like glutathione is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.