Reduced glutathione (Setria) is a supplement that is attracting more and more interest as it can increase the levels of glutathione in our body. In recent years the interest for anti-aging medicine or slow-aging has increased, this has moved a lot towards the study of antioxidant elements able to fight oxidative stress in our body. But oxidative stress is not only an enemy as a pro-aging factor, it is also a negative element in the management of the athlete as it can slow recovery, reduce performance and reduce the ability of the body to better assimilate and manage micro and macroelements due to the incentive to a sub-clinical inflammation situation.

In this article we will see what is glutathione, what are its benefits and why the reduced glutathione is able, compared to other supplements in the market, to increase the concentration in the body.

What is glutathione

Glutathione is a tripeptide formed by the amino acids cysteine, glycine and glutamate. It represents the strongest antioxidant that our body is able to produce. It has an action towards benzoates, free radicals, nitrites, nitrates. This defensive action extends, for example, to red blood cells, protecting them from oxidative damage potentially able to develop complications in our body.

For glutathione to perform its function there is need of the molecule NADPH, a derivative of vitamin PP that acts as a cofactor oxide-reductive enzyme glutathione reductase (GSR). Thanks to GSR, reduced glutathione (GSH) is regenerated from oxidized glutathione (GSSG).
It has therefore been seen that what is important is not only the level of glutathione in our body but also and above all the relationship between GSH and GSSG. This should be about 9:1 in healthy cells.

Bioavailability

The bioavailability of glutathione is extremely poor when taken orally. This is mainly for two reasons:
- Being a tripeptide it is metabolized by peptidase and protease enzymes. For this reason only a small part is able to reach intact in the plasma.
- The peptide cannot penetrate as such into the cell membrane because it does not have a specific carrier.

For this reason the supplementation of GSH has an important role to increase its concentration in our body.

Benefits

The benefits of glutathione are manifold:

- Improvement of recovery times of our body
- Improved performance through stimulation of nitric oxide
- Improvement of skin quality
- Incentive for the immune system
- Slower ageing processes

Reduced glutathione, how to use it and how much to take

Reduced glutathione is the most important form of glutathione. For a healthy and sedentary subject we recommend 250mg a day but, in the case of the athlete, to combat oxidative stress and the damage that result, the daily dosage can reach 1000mg a day.

Conclusions

Glutathione is therefore an extraordinarily important supplement that is increasingly attracting the interest of sports nutrition. The integration of this molecule into our food plan is an excellent aid and incentive to our performance but also, and above all, to health.