Asthma. Here's how to see
if glutathione can help.
Hi, I'm Dr. Chris Masterjohn of chrismasterjohnphd.com,
and this is Chris Masterjohn Lite,
where the name of the game is
"Details? Shmeetails. Just tell me what works!"
And today we're going to talk about using
glutathione for asthma.
Asthma is a condition of bronchoconstriction
where you have insufficient bronchodilation.
And the drugs that are used to treat
asthma are bronchodilators and
anti-inflammatory steroids.
Now, if we look at normal lung
function, we have our own endogenous
bronchodilator that we make.
That bronchodilator is called nitrosoglutathione.
It's made when glutathione, a compound
that we make from the protein we eat,
combines with nitric oxide. Nitric oxide
and glutathione make nitrosoglutathione.
And these, or this, once formed,
is our own endogenous bronchodilator.
In asthma, glutathione levels are lower.
In asthma, nitrosoglutathione levels
are far lower in the lungs than in
healthy people. And in fact, in a severe
asthma attack, nitrosoglutathione levels
can drop to zero. This makes me look at
asthma as primarily a condition of
nitrosoglutathione deficiency, which is
largely driven by glutathione deficiency.
When I say deficiency, I don't mean it in a
"technical" way, like a genetic defect
where you can't make any.
I just mean you don't have enough. So one of the most
important things that you can do is
boost your glutathione levels or your
nitric oxide levels. I did a previous
episode on that, and I'll link to it in
the description. But today we're going to
talk about using glutathione. So what I
would do first after, assuming you have
good nutrition in the background,
what I would do to use
supplemental glutathione for asthma
is depending on whether you want
to try to get faster results or you want
to try to be more cost-effective,
I would start with either
reduced glutathione supplements
or liposomal glutathione supplements.
If saving money but potentially taking
a longer time to figure this out is of value to you,
start with the reduced glutathione
at 500 to 1,000 milligrams per meal.
If, on the other hand, your condition
is bad enough or your financial resources
are good enough that you just want faster
results, I would start with the
liposomal glutathione.
The reason is that when in doubt,
I have more faith that liposomal glutathione
will get to the tissues that need it, but on
the other hand, I think it's quite possible
that regular reduced glutathione would work,
and it's a lot cheaper. If liposomal glutathione
doesn't work and reduced glutathione
doesn't work, then the next thing that I
would try is nebulized glutathione.
In order to do that, you need to see an
integrative functional medicine practitioner
or a doctor who specializes in respiratory
disorders and ask them to offer you the
nebulized glutathione.
I'd make one final note that no one has
proven that acetaminophen causes
asthma, but we know that acetaminophen lowers
glutathione levels, and there are
observational studies showing that use
of acetaminophen as in amounts that are
more than three times—three times or more
in the past year is strongly
associated with having current
asthma. I don't know whether three times
per year is actually the threshold at
which acetaminophen might contribute to
asthma. That kind of seems nuts because
it's such a small amount, but I
personally would err on the side of not
using drugs like acetaminophen unless
needed given the potential to lower
glutathione levels and the clear
association of poor glutathione status
with asthma. In the next episode, I'll talk
about some natural nutritional things that you can
do to boost your own production of glutathione.
This episode is brought to
you by Ancestral Supplements. Our Native
American ancestors believed that eating
the organs from a healthy animal would
support the health of the corresponding
organ of the individual.
Ancestral Supplements is a nose-to-tail product line
of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow,
and more. All in the convenience of a capsule.
For more information or to buy any of
their products, go to ancestralsupplements.com.
This episode is brought to you by
Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet.
Everything you could ever need to know to
optimize your nutrition all in one place.
Easier to find and use than ever before.
Get your copy at chrismasterjohnphd.com/cheatsheet.
Use the code LITE5, that's all
capitals, L I T E and the number 5,
LITE5, to get five dollars off.
The audio of this episode was enhanced
and post-processed by Bob Davodian
of Taurean Mixing. You can find more of his work
at taureanonlinemixing.com.
All right, I hope you found this useful.
Signing off, this is Chris Masterjohn of chrismasterjohnphd.com.
And this has been Chris Masterjohn Lite.
And I will see you in the next episode.