The difference between good and bad health is a matter of electrons. The world's foremost Vitamin C expert Dr. Thomas E. Levy explains why and how master antioxidant Glutathione supports electron flow.
By Thomas E. Levy, MD
Glutathione works at the atomic level by helping electrons flow. In your body, proper electron flow is the difference between healthy cells and dysfunctional cells. It's electron flow that neutralizes dangerous substances before they damage tissue, and it's the master antioxidant Glutathione that is often responsible.
The process of how Glutathione works to keep you healthy from the cellular level is simpler than it sounds.
How Glutathione supports electron flow for healthy cells
Each atom that makes up your body is surrounded by one or more electrons — electrically charged particles that orbit the atom’s nucleus like planets around the sun.
Every process in your body that keeps you moving, thinking, and breathing runs, at the most basic level, on the flow of electrons — whether that's giving, taking, or sharing electrons.
Without the proper flow of electrons, your body will die. In less dire terms, your overall health reflects your capacity for electron flow.
- Good electron flow = healthy, energetic, long life
- Poor electron flow = low energy shorter lifespan/healthspan
- No electron flow = death
Anything that impedes the flow of electrons in the body or robs them from the cells and tissues has negative health consequences. Anything that improves flow by donating electrons supports health.
As an antioxidant, Glutathione has extra electrons to maintain the healthy electron flow.
How do antioxidants support electron flow?
When any antioxidant, including glutathione, retains all its electrons (making the number of protons and electrons in the molecule equal), it is in a reduced state. When a molecule has fewer electrons than protons, it is oxidized and unstable.
Oxidants steal electrons
Oxidized molecules are unstable and seek sufficient electrons to become neutral. You've likely heard them called by several terms, including oxidants, pro-oxidants, free radicals, and oxyradicals.
When enough electrons are lost without prompt replacement, this process of oxidation eventually results in cellular, and ultimately tissue, damage. Although a very limited amount of oxidation is a necessary and normal part of cellular metabolism, an excess of oxidation is always damaging and will always accelerate the aging process.
As an oxidized molecule finds the electrons it seeks to achieve neutrality, it goes from a positive charge to neutral charge, thereby returning to the reduced state.
Antioxidants promote electron flow
Antioxidants provide electrons to keep you healthy by addressing oxidative damage in two ways:
- Repairing the damage by supplying electrons to the cell or tissue that was oxidized.
- Preventing damage by supplying electrons directly to the oxidant before it depletes electrons from the target.
An antioxidant stops oxidation and its free radicals by neutralizing them with an infusion of electrons. When you have enough antioxidants around during oxidation (i.e., a high level of Glutathione), those electrons can be supplied back quickly enough and in sufficient quantity that no significant damage will result.
What substances are antioxidants?
Your body has a built-in antioxidant system, which includes, among many others, the following substances:
- Glutathione
- Superoxide dismutase
- Cysteine
- Melatonin
- Alpha Lipoic Acid
- Coenzyme Q10
Foods and supplements provide a bevy of antioxidants. Here's a small sampling:
- Vitamins: A, C, E, K
- Polyphenols: Quercetin, resveratrol, catechins
- Minerals: Zinc, copper, selenium, manganese
But there's a caveat: These substances are only antioxidants when in their reduced state. If they lose an electron, they lose their antioxidant power. Only when they are reduced (contain needed electrons) can they effectively function as antioxidants.
If much of the Glutathione within a cell has been oxidized, it seriously compromises the cell’s entire antioxidant system and ability to protect itself. At that point the remaining free radicals and toxins steal electrons from the cell’s organelles, membranes, and DNA, causing substantial damage and generating even more free radicals. Once this unchecked electron-stealing is sufficiently advanced, it can set off a chain reaction that will ultimately destroy the cell.
Glutathione recycles antioxidants to support longevity
The premier antioxidants in the body work together to keep each other in the reduced form. They “recharge” each other to deal with the ongoing oxidative stresses in the body, both inside and outside the cells.
Among its many functions, Glutathione donates electrons to your body’s antioxidant pool, including four important antioxidants — Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Alpha Lipoic Acid — so they can continue to contribute to proper electron flow throughout the body.
Glutathione and vitamin C
Vitamin C can readily convert oxidized Glutathione back to Glutathione just by donating electrons. Glutathione is now free to distribute those electrons to vital areas inside the cells, including the energy-generating mitochondria, that Vitamin C alone can't reach as effectively.
Inside the cells, where Glutathione maintains its highest concentration, it returns the favor by playing a prominent role in recharging (reducing) oxidized Vitamin C. The two most important water-soluble antioxidants in the body, Glutathione and Vitamin C can do much of the work for the other when one is deficient.
Vitamin C has even shown an ability to alleviate the severe and even lethal effects of Glutathione deficiency. Research with mice shows that relatively large doses of Vitamin C not only prevent the otherwise inevitable cellular damage of an induced Glutathione deficiency, but the Vitamin C also raised Glutathione levels inside the cell.
These two antioxidants are powerful on their own, but together they provide even more protection at the cellular level.
Glutathione and vitamin E
Similar to its relationship with Vitamin C, Glutathione is important in keeping Vitamin E in an optimal range by recharging oxidized Vitamin E. In some studies, Vitamin E supplementation has been shown to normalize depleted Glutathione levels.
How to Raise Glutathione Levels
As you age, your body produces less Glutathione, so it’s important to limit behaviors that further deplete levels of the master antioxidant. That includes smoking, drinking alcohol, exposure to toxic substances in the environment, and having excess body fat.
Exercise has been shown to raise Glutathione levels, as has drinking green tea.
Several foods support Gluathione1, including:
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Avocado
- Green beans
- Spinach
- Cucumber
Glutathione Supplements
It’s tricky to supplement Glutathione directly because pills break down in the digestive system. That’s why IV Glutathione is so popular. Liposomal Glutathione supplements offer an easy way to supplement larger doses of Glutathione at home — no needles necessary. These supplements, which you swallow as a goo in a shot of water, bypass normal pathways to deliver Glutathione for absorption in the cells where you need it.
Summary: Glutathione is key to electron flow
Virtually every substance that enters the body through respiration, absorption, or ingestion will ultimately be broken down, or digested, into components that are antioxidant or pro-oxidant. Except for the rare chemically inert substance, everything entering the body will ultimately give or take away electrons at the cellular and sub-cellular level.
How readily something is digested and relieved of its electrons is the ultimate determinant of how nutritious it is. The more readily something ingested depletes cells or tissues of electrons is the direct measure of how poisonous or toxic it is.
No matter what food or supplement you ingest, as long as it has some nutritional value and is not poisonous or toxic, it will ultimately supply electrons to the cells. A robust flow and supply of electrons is essential for achieving and maintaining optimal health. And a robust flow of electrons is possible with sufficient Glutathione levels.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does liposomal Glutathione work?
Liposomal Gluthatione uses tiny spheres made of essential phospholipids (liposomes) to deliver Glutathione through the digestive system and bloodstream to the cells. Because it’s made of the same material as your cell membrane, the liposomes merges into the cell and the Glutathione absorbs inside where it does it work.
How does Glutathione work on skin?
Glutathione works in the cells — in your skin, liver, immune system, water-based tissue in the body — by preventing or repairing oxidative damage. In the skin, this often comes from excessive UV exposure.
How does Glutathione work as an antioxidant?
Glutathione works as an antioxidant by providing electrons to stabilize electron-short, unstable molecules (free radicals) and by providing electrons to tissues in the body that have been damaged (oxidized).
Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD is a board-certified cardiologist. He is the leading vitamin C expert in the world, and he frequently lectures about the proper role of vitamin C and antioxidants in the treatment of a host of medical conditions.
1Minich DM, Brown BI. A Review of Dietary (Phyto)Nutrients for Glutathione Support. Nutrients. 2019 Sep 3;11(9):2073. doi: 10.3390/nu11092073. PMID: 31484368; PMCID: PMC6770193.
