Guest guest Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 Hi , I am not sure but you can ask the expert Mom on Glutathione Hudson or Dr Bishop who is the Doc she is hooked up with at the Utah Valley Institute of Cystic Fibrosis through their web site. http://members.tripod.com/uvicf/index.htm glutathione question HI all I want to start Liam on oral glutathione, now is this the same as glutamine tablets?? Thanks mum to Liam 10 months and Lily in heaven wcf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 Glutamine is different from glutathione. ~ > HI all > I want to start Liam on oral glutathione, now is this the same as glutamine tablets?? > > Thanks > mum to Liam 10 months and Lily in heaven wcf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 Hi , No, glutathione and glutamine are not the same things. Glutathione is an antioxidant produced in the body, glutamine is an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and enzymes; they are needed for growth, repair and maintenance of the body. There are 20 amino acids -- nine are called " essential " amino acids because the body cannot make them, you must get them from your diet. The other 11 are called " nonessential " because the body manufacturers despite diet. However, *all* 20 are very essential to health! Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid; it's a nonessential (the body makes it) amino acid with many functions, one of which is anti-inflammatory. Also, in the body glutamine combines with n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) to help synthesize glutathione (GSH). NAC has antioxidant activity, and it helps thin mucus. NAC also has some detox properties. Hospitals use it to detox after acetominophen overdose and to protect the liver from certain toxic medical agents, such as dye used in angiograms. People who inhale NAC (also called Mucomyst) often complain of it's rotten egg smell, which is due to its sulfur component. Glutathione (GSH) is made from three other nonessential amino acids: cysteine, glycine -- and this is the part that confuses me: I've read the third amino acid is glutamic acid (also known as gluatamate), but also read that it's gamma-glutamic acid. So I'm not sure if glutamate is another name for gamma-glutamic acid or not. Anyway, that glutamatic acid (or gamma-glutamic acid) is not to be confused with the amino acid glutamine -- though remember, glutamine helps synthesize GSH when combined with NAC. GSH prevents oxidative stress (antioxidant properties) and helps trap free radicals that damage RNA and DNA, and it helps remove toxins from the body. Because we often talk about sulfur and how it helps CF, it might help you to understand that cysteine (mentioned above as a component of GSH). Cysteine, a nonessential amino acid, is one of the few amino acids that contain sulfur. The body needs cysteine to produce taurine. Some call taurine an amino acid, but others call it an amino acid compound, or amino acid-like compound. These discrepancies don't help my understanding of all this! Anyway, taurine has many roles but to stay on the CF topic, taurine is found abundantly in chenodeoxychloic acid, a bile acid that emulsifies fats in the intestine and helps digestion. Back to cysteine -- cysteine is also necessary for the metabolism of lipoic acid and biotin. Biotin (found abundandly in eggs) is also called Vitamin H; it's a co-factor in the utilization of essential fatty acids. Funny how eggs and sulfur keep popping up as I write this... Cysteine gets it's sulfur from the essential amino acid, methionine. My understanding is that cysteine is " nonessential " only as long as it has enough methinonine, and methinonine being " essential " means you must get methionine from food. Which I guess that's why it's helpful in CF to eat high sulfur foods or take MSM (methyl-sulfylmethionine) to ensure you have enough methionine to be sure the body can manufacture enough cysteine so that it can make enough of everything else related to it. Glycine (a nonessential amino acid also mentioned above as a component of GSH) is necessary for the synthesis of other amino acids, bile acids and nucleic acids. And if the word glycine is ringing bells, for those of you taking Solgar's magnesium glycinate -- this is magnesium chelated to glycine. Tah dah! That's my oversimplified nutshell view on this. But someone please jump to help if I've gotten the sequence wrong! Kim --- " & O'Neill " <smoneill@x> wrote: I want to start Liam on oral glutathione, now is this the same as glutamine tablets?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 28, 2003 Report Share Posted June 28, 2003 The CFF has issued a statement on the subject glutathione. You can find it by going to http://www.cff.org and clicking on the link, " A Letter to CF Patients and Their Families Regarding Glutathione. " There is mention of Hudson and her study in the letter. ~ mommy of 3, 1 with cf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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