Why do I remember: fatty liver, smiling glutathione, and broccoli sprouts?

We had an important project briefing in the office.
Our team was working on the scale up of one of the API molecules for a pharmaceutical company.
API means active pharmaceutical ingredient which later becomes the drug molecule which we use as a medication for a specific disease.
I didn’t see my colleague Natasha who was supposed to give an update of the project that we were handling.
Her manager came and said “Natasha can’t make her update today because her grandfather is hospitalized.”

After three days, Natasha came into the office and she told us what’s going on in her family.
She told me about her grandfather, a retired car mechanic, no alcohol habit, but still suffers from fatty liver and his liver is almost non-functional.
Her grandfather is taking glutathione supplement to improve liver function but he is not getting satisfactory results.
After hearing this I immediately remembered the glutathione molecule from my graduate school, our only master antioxidant in our body, and how crucial this chemical is for us.

At one point in our conversation, Natasha said, “when I hear the word liver, the only thing that comes to my mind is my grandpa.”
This answer penetrated so deep down in my head that I couldn’t stop mentioning this here.
Sometimes, we don’t know what triggers us to do things in life.
She didn’t say that the liver is one major organ in our body that filters our blood and produces hormones.
To be honest, I became very emotional when she connected liver and her grandpa together and I realized how much we care about the people whom we love.
And, most importantly, how much our life is affected by it.

So the question is, what is the connection between liver and glutathione?

When there is imbalance between the amount of fatty acids absorbed and disposed of by the liver, generally non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) appears.
This imbalance increases a buildup of fat in the liver leading to inflammation and fibrosis.
Glutathione is a very strong antioxidant that our body makes and uses every single day.
It helps to reduce cell damage in the liver.
Its deficiency can contribute to fatty liver disease.

Dr Robert H. Keller , MD, a pioneer in glutathione research who is first to receive a US medical patent for glutathione, says “ We are oxygen based organisms. We live on oxygen, and oxygen creates a fire. That fire is called an oxidant. In order to put it out, we need a very good antioxidant. Many antioxidants work for one thing, or two things, or three things. Glutathione works for everything.”

Liver disease and glutathione

Approximately 2 million deaths occur each year worldwide due to liver disease.
The most common liver disease-related deaths are cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The most common causes of cirrhosis are viral hepatitis, alcohol, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

So now let’s see, what is the biochemistry of glutathione?
Glutathione is made from three amino acids: glycine, cysteine and glutamine acid.
It is a tripeptide and produced by enzymatic reactions using these three amino acids.
It is produced by our liver and plays a major role in tissue building and immunity development by attacking damaging free radicals.

Free radicals are very reactive molecules and are produced in the body by mitochondria due to various reasons.
The most probable factors are poor nutrition, pollution, stress, processed foods, fast aging, heavy metals and toxins exposure, and over consumption of alcohol.

Dr. Gustavo Bounous, MD, says “It’s the body’s most important antioxidant because it’s within the cells.”
His research indicates that a deficiency in glutathione is linked to several diseases and a lack of innate cysteine inhibits glutathione production.

Glutathione is anti-inflammatory in its action so it relieves the symptoms associated with autoimmune disease.
This antioxidant is important for the metabolism of vitamins C and E including many minerals.
People with severe stress due to chronic disease have less glutathione to protect their liver from damage.
Many times liver damage becomes really bad and all the cells die.

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, author of “Young Forever” says “Glutathione is the mother of all antioxidants.”
His book “Young Forever’ teaches to reduce inflammation and support the health of our immune system, especially how to exercise, sleep, and destress for healthy aging.

After reading “Young Forever”, I believe there is a very simple rule in life: we don’t need a doctor with MD or scientist with PhD to know what makes us sick and what we need to do.
We don’t need dieticians and nutritionists to follow diet rules; we just need to be a little bit more conscious in the kitchen about what we are making and eating and what we are drinking throughout the day.
I recommend watching Dr. Mark Hyman’s TedTalk.

Research also indicates that glutathione helps in the detoxification of xenobiotic and endogenous compounds including carcinogens.
Xenobiotics are foreign substances but endogenous ones are produced within the body.

Glutathione helps to reduce fine lines and wrinkles improving skin elasticity.
It helps with patients with cystic fibrosis, vascular diseases, AIDS, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease.
It improves sperm motility in infertile men.

Low glutathione, obviously, increases risk of many liver diseases: drug induced liver injury, alcohol and non alcohol related fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.

People with low glutathione suffer from breakage of red blood cells, spleen enlargement, gall stone, mental imbalance, and anemia.
People suffering from cancer, AIDS, and chronic disease, all have very low glutathione.
Low glutathione increases risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atherosclerosis.

Glutathione, avocado, asparagus, and broccoli sprouts

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, says, “Methylation ingredients are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione.”

The best way to keep our body producing this antioxidant is to eat enough natural foods containing this antioxidant including methylation ingredients.

Best foods containing glutathione are: asparagus, avocados, spinach, okra, and broccoli.
Similarly, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, mustard green, garlic, mangoes, shallot, onion, fish and poultry are also good supplies for glutathione.
Cysteine is a building block to make glutathione.
So, foods rich in cysteine like avocados, egg, sunflower seeds, beans, whey, citrus fruits, kiwi, pepper, Brazil nuts, fish, cottage cheese, brown rice are extremely helpful.

Foods rich in vitamin C helps to turn on glutathione and helps to reduce toxic damage.
Vitamin C rich foods are citrus fruits, kiwi, and peppers.

Selenium is another key component of glutathione.
Foods rich in selenium like Brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna, halibut, sardines, turkey, cottage cheese, and brown rice are extremely important.
Never forget to folate foods like garbanzo beans, liver, pinto beans, lentils, asparagus for better glutathione.

Remember high levels of selenium from supplements could have negative effects, so it’s always better to take it naturally unless otherwise advised by health care professionals.

We have to reduce the amount of alcohol because it uses the high amount of our glutathione levels.
High quality sleep and regular exercise increase our glutathione level.

Regular consumption of NAC helps to promote production of glutathione.
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), is a precursor to glutathione.

Oral glutathione is not well absorbed and is not the best way to increase our glutathione level.
Research indicates that glutathione supplement can improve liver function for people with non alcoholic fatty liver damage.
This might be the reason that the doctor prescribed it to Natasha’s grandpa.

As a supplement, standard glutathione is poorly absorbed when we take orally so that S-acetyl-L-glutathione, liposomal glutathione, and reduced glutathione are much more absorbable.
It’s always good to look for complementary antioxidants like vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, milk thistle, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), and selenium.

These supplements are expensive to have.
More than that, we have to reflect back and ask ourselves why and how we arrived at this stage in life.
Sometimes, this ‘why’ is very helpful to change our life, maybe, for various reasons we became unable to care about our health, about our foods, and about our lifestyle in the past.

Conclusion

During my conversation with Natasha, I’d asked one more question to her, “Natasha, you are not ill but how much impact does your family experience when your grandpa suffers from chronic illness?”
She didn’t answer in words.
I only saw her tearing eyes.
Our tears speak millions of words.
And, this is not only Natasha’s story, there are millions of households like this.

We store cookies and crackers in our pantry, we don’t walk to Walmart which is less than a mile from home.
We hesitate to purchase fresh avocado and broccoli sprouts regularly because they are not tasty.
And we always complain about no time for exercise, gaining weight and not being healthy.
If you are always sick, then, ask at least a few times why you are always sick.
You will find many answers, write at least three answers.
Pick one and start to work on it, you know what you need to do.

Let me make one statement here, if we hear the word liver, let’s remember avocado, asparagus, and broccoli sprouts; then only glutathione smiles.
Avocado, asparagus, broccoli sprouts, and smiling glutathione.

Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.