Glutathione is the main endogenous inhibitor of protein glycation
Glycation is the cause of diabetic complications and contributes to the development of other diseases and aging.
Only glutathione was found to protect significantly against glycation at physiological concentrations. Glutathione depletion increased the rate of hemoglobin glycation in erythrocytes incubated with high glucose concentrations. These results indicate that the level of glutathione is the main determinant of glycation of intracellular proteins.
Glutathione food sources
The rest of glutathione is produced by cells using glutathione precursors – amino-acids glutamate, glycine and cysteine, the latter being the limiting factor of how much glutathione your cells are able to produce.
Select Glutathione Foods, mg per 100g (3.5 oz.)
|Red bell pepper||5.5|
|Green bell pepper||3.4|
Certain chemicals (cyanohydroxybutene, diindolylmethane, glucoraphanin, sulphraphane, indole-3-carbinol, betalains and chrolophyll) found in foods and spices are known to contribute to glutathione production in the body, assist in recycling oxidized glutathione back to its reduced (non-oxidized) form, and also boost the synthesis and the activity of important glutathione enzymes – glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione S-transferase (GST).
These foods are:
- Brussels sprouts
- Black seeds (black cumin)