# Glutathione deficiency?



## Susan Purry (Nov 6, 2001)

I've been reading about this today and wondering if it's worth looking into futher. There's some evidence that glutathione levels are low or low-normal in people with CFS, and that this is connected to abnormalities in the anti-viral pathway which has been found in people with CFS. Dr Paul Cheney said (see link below) that glutathione deficiency might be the major issue in CFS. http://www.nutritionadvisor.com/cheneymd.html


> quote:What we got interested in... we found out that when you give oral reduced glutathione, it helps a little bit in some people, especially these pressure toxic headaches they get. But when you keep raising the dose, it actually gets sick again, and was never a very impressive response. When we tried NAC [N-Acetylcysteine], we saw some evidence of toxcicity. In the use of NAC--I'm concerned about high-dose NAC in this disease. I think it may be toxic. We tried other methods to affect glutathione. Nothing seemed to be working.Then we got wind of this product [called Immunocal]... it's basically undenatured whey protein, lightly denatured to preserve the peptide action of this milk protein. It's concentrated to about 90 percent protein and it's very, very lightly denatured. In fact, the more lightly they denature it, the better the action appears to be. And the more they denature it, the less active it appears to be. In fact, if you denature it completely, down to its constituent amino acids, it really doesn't work well at all. People who normally have milk protein allergy seem to tolerate this, by and large. Not 100 percent, but by and large....Finally, how did the people feel? Their glutathione functionality improved, though their glutathione levels were marginally improved, and they had significant wipeout of micro-organisms. How did they feel? Five out of six (seven?) felt significantly better. Three of those five thought this was the best thing they had ever tried. They said it was tremendous. In fact one dropped out of the study because he refused to stay on the protocol at only one pack a day. There were a couple of non-responders. But you'll notice that the two packs a day were the best responders. There is a differential issue still imbedded in this--namely the dose. The dose might need to be upped to see maximum benefit in certain individual cases. They're continuing to do well.


*Does anyone with CFS take supplements to increase their glutathione levels, such as Immunocal?*


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## Susan Purry (Nov 6, 2001)

bump


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

I've never even heard of glutathione. Sounds very interesting though!


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