Here are excerpts of the article (the very beginning to introduce where it came from, and the very end where he talks about glutathione:

The Newtown Bee
Newtown CT
No Longer Just Lyme--
Co-Infections Challenge Doctors And Patients
By Dottie Evans
[photo omitted on LymeInfo]
Dr Richard Horowitz, specialist in diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other
tick-borne illnesses, spoke Monday night at the Fireside Inn. --Bee Photos,

------------------
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. http://www.nutritionadvisor.com/web_md.htm

Glutathione: New Supplement on the Block

Cure-All or Snake Oil?

By Alison Palkhivala
WebMD Feature Archive
Find out more about Immunocal

> Email to a friend > Printer-friendly version

July 30, 2001 -- Who wouldn't like to get their hands on a naturally occurring substance that acts as an antioxidant, an immune system booster, and a detoxifier? Something that can help your body repair damage caused by stress, pollution, radiation, infection, drugs, poor diet, aging, injury, trauma, and burns?

A handful of researchers are saying the antioxidant glutathione can do all that and maybe more. But can you believe such sweeping claims? What's the evidence to back them up? Here are what three experts have to say:

What Is Glutathione?

"Glutathione is a very interesting, very small molecule that's [produced by the body and] found in every cell," says Gustavo Bounous, MD, director of research and development at Immunotec and a retired professor of surgery at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "It's the [body's] most important antioxidant because it's within the cell."

Antioxidants -- the most well known of which are vitamins C and E -- are important for good health because they neutralize free radicals, which can build up in cells and cause damage. Because glutathione exists within the cells, it is in a prime position to neutralize free radicals. It also has potentially widespread health benefits because it can be found in all types of cells, including the cells of the immune system, whose job is to fight disease.

Glutathione occurs naturally in many foods, and people who eat well probably have enough in their diets, says Dean Jones, PhD, professor of biochemistry and director of nutritional health sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. Those with diets high in fresh fruits and vegetables and freshly prepared meats are most likely just fine. On the other hand, those with poor diets may get too little.

What Does Glutathione Do?

The strong antioxidant effect of glutathione helps keep cells running smoothly. Bounous and another glutathione expert, Jeremy Appleton, ND, say it also helps the liver remove chemicals that are foreign to the body, such as drugs and pollutants.

Appleton is chairman of the department of nutrition at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., and senior science editor for Healthnotes, a database on complementary and alternative medicine available at newspaper stands and health food stores.

Evidence for the important role that glutathione plays in health comes from studies in people who are severely ill.

"If you look in a hospital situation at people who have cancer, AIDS, or other very serious disease, almost invariably they are depleted in glutathione," says Appleton. "The reasons for this are not completely understood, but we do know that glutathione is extremely important for maintaining intracellular health."

How Should Glutathione Be Taken?

Glutathione is probably not well absorbed into the body when taken by mouth. One way to get around that is to take it by vein. A more practical solution is to take the precursors -- that is, the molecules the body needs to make glutathione -- rather than glutathione itself. While there is no solid proof this works, the consensus among experts is that that doing so will increase the amount of glutathione in the cells.

Bounous has developed a glutathione-enhancing product called Immunocal, which is made up of glutathione precursors, mainly the amino acid cysteine.

Who Does Glutathione Help?

Animal and laboratory studies have demonstrated that glutathione has the potential to fight almost any disease, particularly those associated with aging, since free radical damage is the cause of many of the diseases of old age.

"Theoretically, there are many very strong arguments in favor of a therapeutic use of glutathione," says Appleton. "But when people have actually tried to use glutathione as an oral supplement, nasal spray, or intravenously, the results have been more of a preliminary nature. The amount of research on glutathione as a supplement ... is very limited."

Nevertheless, people have tried glutathione for the treatment of a whole host of conditions, including cancer, high blood pressure, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and male infertility.

The best studies have been conducted in cancer. One study involved women with ovarian cancer who were being treated with chemotherapy. Some of the women were also treated with intravenous glutathione. Those given the glutathione not only had fewer side effects from the chemotherapy but also had better overall survival rates.

Myriam Abalain of Montreal, Canada, is one of the many people who have taken Bounous's Immunocal to combat cancer. In 1996, at age 33, a routine PAP smear revealed she had precancerous cells on her cervix, which is one step away from having cervical cancer. The three specialists she visited all told her that a hysterectomy was her only option, but she hesitated to have such major, life-altering surgery.

Instead, she waited. For more than two years, her condition remained stable. Then a friend suggested she try Immunocal. After eight months of taking the supplement, her physician could no longer detect any precancerous cells. Does this mean Immunocal cured her? It's hard to say based on just one case like hers. It is possible her body went into remission naturally.

Even Bounous acknowledges there's no real proof his product cured her cancer, but he's working on conducting good clinical research, comparing individuals with cancer taking glutathione to those who are not.

What Are the Risks?

Overall, taking glutathione or its precursors in reasonable amounts appears to be quite safe, although it should be avoided in people with milk protein allergies and in those who have received an organ transplant. There is also some concern, however, about the safety of taking glutathione for the one condition for which there is the greatest evidence of its usefulness: cancer.

"People don't get concerned about these health-promoting [supplements] until they're in their 50s and 60s," says Emory's Dean Jones. At that point, they may already have the initial precancerous [cells]. Therefore, the supplements, just like they promote health in normal tissues, might promote health in the precancerous tissue."

Appleton recognizes this possibility but says "there's no evidence that supplementing with glutathione, even intravenously, is in any way going to make any cancer worse. In fact, the evidence we have suggests the opposite. It suggests that glutathione and other antioxidants, far from interfering with the activity of chemotherapy, appear to reduce side effects without decreasing efficacy and may, in fact, improve the efficacy of the chemotherapy in fighting cancer."

Bounous says his research has demonstrated that taking Immunocal actually lowers glutathione in cancer cells while increasing it in normal cells. As a result, the cancer cells are more vulnerable to chemotherapy, and the normal cells are protected.

The upshot? The experts disagree on who should take glutathione or its precursors. Bounous says everyone should take it in order to optimize overall health. Appleton would reserve it for people with cancer. Jones says it might only prove beneficial for those who eat poorly and are thus unlikely to be getting much glutathione or its precursors in their diet.

They all acknowledge that people with severe diseases known to be associated with low glutathione levels, such as AIDS, may well benefit from the supplement, although there is no proof to this effect.

For her part, Myriam Abalain is still taking Immunocal and feeling fine. "I'm doing pretty good now," she says. "I'm in better shape than ever!"

FDA http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/00/slides/3652s1_05/tsld017.htm

My doctor has been using this for a few months, though I haven't tried it. Too hard to get into my veins, I end up all black and blue.

I've heard mixed results, like other treatments for this illness. Some do great, others don't notice much.

HIs office reopens in a few minutes. I'll leave a message adn they'll get back to me today...

Glutathione has to be refrigerated to avoid oxydization. So one needs to be careful especially in summer.

Of course, it's best to be energy tested (ART in my case) before using it. It if works, it works. It does not work for everyone.

He \s unsure what the long term effects will be, adn also would like to see what he could supplement with after about 6 motnhs since there is really no effective form orally....He says there is still alot to work out.

HOwever, for the patients that are on it , it has helped with joint pain, brain fog and muscle aches quite a bit. He adn his patients have been pleased with the IV results. He says we can discuss it more when I come in June to see him. He knows I don't have these problems anymore though...but I told him I"d like to learn more, adn hear more...

HOpe this helps,

But I'm still on a lot of abx, herbs and supplements, and these are probably helping the N-A-C along.

you're right..he takes so much time explaining things to me too..I feel blessed to have him for my doc adn give him total kudos for my getting well so quickly..
I"m glad it's working out for you though....hopefully you'll be one of his success stories!!

I must say that I don't like the way it is marketed. I hope that will stop. Or I hope there will be a competitor that sells something similar through normal channels.

Kind of seems like it would be a waste of money ...no?

I'm not sure how cost-effective this method is, but at least it's a way around the problem of not having access to the injectable form of glutathione. It an also be given by IM (intramuscular) injection, instead of by IV. The LLMD in the Houston clinic has prescribed it this way. It's very affordable.

dr. H states that the oral form, even sublinqually isn't small enough to be of any benefit at all..must be in iv form to be of benefit at all in order to cross the bbb...however, this is just his opinion at this point, and only 6 motnhs of his own research....I"m sure we'll hear mmore about it in the future..this was just the info I got from him re: his research...

Lisa

I get IM glutathione/ATP shots every other week. 1 cc per shot. $10 a pop, no copay.

so , oral will not be effective. Iv will be.

A website that might have some info to answer your question is http://www.cfsn.com. I haven't visited there in a while but the president of the co., who is studying to be a naturopath, wrote an article on why, if we're going the oral route, we must take glutathione precursors like ALA, L-glutamine, L-cysteine (which is an excitotoxin and should be avoided by those with gluten/MSG sensitivity). Also, Vit. E and selenium are necessary for the body to make/use glutathione.

Since I can't handle excitotoxins, I'm sticking with non-oral glutathione.

he starts slowly, as he says it's powerful...but that's all he said. He said we'd discuss more when I came in June, and since I was going off abx at that time, he felt it wasnt' appropriate for me, especially with minimal symtpoms left..he felt it was really for people with strong brain sytmoms of brain fog, joint pain etc...

I know anytime you detox metals you have to be careful to go slowly. It can be dangerous to your body to go too quickly. My acupunturist went very slowly when she gave me herbs to help with this...VERY SLOWLY...so be careful not to jump on in with this without your llmd's permission....pulling the metals out of your brain or body too quickly could really screw up your treatment....

always check with your llmd first....that's what I always say...when doing anything..that is what i've done with everything from herbs to acupuncture etc...it's really helped make my treatment complete and holistic....he was aware of all parts of me being treated and worked with it...I think that's what worked to get me better....

hope this helps,

Lisa

[This message has been edited by lla2 (edited 14 May 2004).]

I had an appointment with Dr H today and he told me about using the glutathione. He gave me an injection today of 1000 mg (5cc). This is what he would normally start someone on. I did not see a difference, but I have been very resistant to everything through the years, so he told me before the injection that it may take me some time of playing around with the right dose to see a difference.

He has been putting people on it once three times a week. While I was in the office he got a phone call from a woman who had received the shot earlier that day to say that she was having less joint pain.

He uses Dr Kane and Dr Permutter's (sp?) protocols. Dr H just finished reading his book Brainrecovery.com (also his website). He said that so far about 75% of people who try this have seen an improvement. Sound promising.

Glutathione

The conversion of T4 to T3 appears to require glutathione (GSH) (Sato et al., 1982), and involves (and may indeed be rate-limited by) the active transport of T4 into liver cells by a process dependent on intracellular ATP (De Jong et al., 1994).

Healthy humans fed very-low carbohydrate diets for 4 days experience a substantial decrease in T3 levels (Fery et al., 1982). The decreases in circulating T3 concentrations under such dietary conditions, and with fasting, result primarily from alterations in T4 deiodination (Danforth, 1986).

T4 deiodination cannot be restored simply by providing additional T4. However, studies of the regulation of hepatic 5-deiodination during nutritional alterations reveal that glucose and insulin (via different mechanisms) are capable of reversing the effects of fasting on T3 production.

Provision of a carbohydrate diet stimulates hepatic 5 deiodinase activity by increasing the tissue enzyme content (Gavin et al., 1981).

Glutamine also serves as precursor to the antioxidant glutathione, participates in glycogen synthesis (the storage form of carbohydrate), and provides nitrogen compounds for the manufacture of nucleotides which are used to make DNA and RNA.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=122.

Glutathione (glue-ta-thigh-own)
A tripeptide made of glutamic acid, glycine and cysteine. Glutathione is an extremely powerful antioxidant that is involved in the detoxification of natural and man-made toxins.

The amount of cysteine in your diet is the most important factor related to glutathione production. People who include aspirin with their thermogenic stack should be aware that aspirin, as well as other anti-inflammatory drugs, deplete liver glutathione levels. Whey protein or cysteine (NAC) supplements can be taken to boost glutathione production.

IL-2 therapy can induce marked oxidative stress via reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates. Glutathione, the major intracellular reductant, may become rate limiting to cytotoxic lymphocyte activation and proliferation under these circumstances. http://www.nutriteam.com/cysreport.htm

Hepatoma AS-30D cells, with a store of glycogen, showed relatively strong resistance to anaerobic incubation, followed by preservation of glutathione level, and this is significantly different from EAC cell's response to transitory anoxia.
http://www.onk.ns.ac.yu/Archive/Vol9/PDFVol9/V9n3p145.pdf

� Dr. Murray's Newsletter, 7/30/03 - "When healthy subjects were given a single dose of up to 3,000 mg of glutathione researchers found there was no increase in blood glutathione levels.11 ... In contrast, blood glutathione levels rose nearly 50% in healthy individuals taking 500 mg of vitamin C.12

Vitamin C raises glutathione by helping the body manufacture it. In addition, to vitamin C, dietary sources of glutathione and several other nutritional compounds can help increase glutathione levels including N-acetylcysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic acid, glutamine, methionine, and whey protein. Also, vitamin B6, riboflavin, and selenium are required in the manufacture of glutathione"
�
Oxidative Stress Linked to Cataract Formation in Diabetics - Doctor's Guide, 1/16/03 - "Whole blood glutathione levels and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activities were lower, while plasma levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were higher in patients with cataracts compared to controls ...

The authors suggest that their findings underscore the vital role of glutathione as a lens antioxidant"
�
Getting More Glutathione? - Dr. Weil, 8/29/02 - "To my knowledge, the only supplement that effectively raises glutathione levels in the body is N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC).

My colleague Kathleen Johnson, a dietician here at the Program in Integrative Medicine, tells me that other glutathione supplements are ineffective because they're digested before they can get into the bloodstream"
�
Glutathione Protects Against Oxaliplatin Neurotoxicity - Medscape, 8/23/02
� Can Cataracts Be Prevented? - WebMD - "Riboflavin plays a critical role in the production of an important antioxidant enzyme called glutathione. In studies on animals, glutathione deficiency increase production of cataracts, and its administration, either intravenously, topically, or orally, cleared cataracts.

Some experts believe that reduction of glutathione is a key in the development of cataracts. (Vitamins C and E are also helpful in preserving glutathione levels.)"
�
Peripheral Arterial Disease Responds to Glutathione Infusion - Medscape, 8/9/02 - "Oxidative stress is considered an important condition in the atherosclerotic process, favoring cellular and vascular damage ... Forty subjects with Fontaine stage II PAD received intravenous glutathione or saline solution twice daily for five days.

Those receiving glutathione had significant improvements in pain-free walking distance (196 � 15 vs. 143 � 11 m; P<.04), macrocirculatory flow after treadmill test with plethysmography, postischemic hyperemia with laser Doppler flowmetry, and reduced time to flow motion"
�
The Wizard of Oz - Life Extension Magazine, 11/01 - "Best-selling author and nutritional guru to the rich and famous, Oz Garcia is singing the praises of the Life Extension Foundation and its products in his newest book, The Healthy High Tech Body, published in September 2001 ... Supplements at the top of Garcia's list of recommendations ... DHA ... NADH ... Alpah Lipoic Acid ... Acetyl-L-Carnitine ... An expanded list of his recommendations includes lycopene, gamma tocopherol, vinpocetine, SAMe, folic acid, carnosine, glutathione, DMAE, Huperzine A, probiotics, MSM, secretagogues, arginine pyroglutamate, IP-6, bioflavonoid formulas and grape skin/seed extracts"
�

Men's Health: The Liver Guide - ABC News/Men's Health, 9/28/01 - "Take alpha-lipoic acid, an antioxidant that turns up the production of glutathione, your liver's head janitor. Glutathione latches on to toxic gunk and makes it water-soluble enough to be flushed out through your kidneys.

For maximum liver scrubbing, take a 50 milligram alpha-lipoic acid tablet (sold in drugstores) twice a day"
�
Glutathione: New Supplement on the Block - WebMD, 7/30/01
�
Glutathione: The Eye Healer Within - Nutrition Science News, 4/01
�
Fighting Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Antioxidants Show Promise in Reducing Inflammation - WebMD, 4/10/01 - "scientists say a combination of antioxidants and drugs may help suppress the inflammation more than either approach could alone ... Grisham and colleagues gave a powerful antioxidant to mice with inflammatory bowel disease.

The antioxidant, which was put in the animals' water, helped raise the level of a naturally occurring antioxidant called glutathione, he says. The amount of inflammation was significantly reduced after the mice drank the antioxidant-spiked water"
�

What is the difference between N-acetylcysteine and glutathione, and which one should I suggest to customers? - Nutrition Science News, 3/01
�

Lipoic Acid: The Universal Antioxidant - Nutrition Science News, 10/00
�

Taking Out Toxins - Delicious! Magazine, 5/00 - "Glutathione is a sulfur-containing amino acid. High concentrations of glutathione exist in liver cells. Studies have shown that glutathione attaches to toxic compounds in the liver, neutralizing toxins or enabling them to be excreted ...

Glutathione is too large a molecule to effectively pass through the intestine into cells, so supplementing with glutathione alone is not helpful. But when taken with vitamin C, which protects it from oxidative damage, glutathione is recycled and becomes effective."
�
SILIPHOS�: Nature's Potent Liver Remedy - Dr. Murray - "One of the key manners in which silymarin enhances detoxification reaction is preventing the depletion of glutathione. As discussed above, the level of glutathione in the liver is critically linked to the liver's ability to detoxify.

The higher the glutathione content, the greater the liver's capacity to detoxify harmful chemicals. Typically, when we are exposed to chemicals which can damage the liver including alcohol, the concentration of glutathione in the liver is substantially reduced.

This reduction in glutathione makes the liver cell susceptible to damage. Silymarin not only prevents the depletion of glutathione induced by alcohol and other toxic chemicals, but has been shown to increase the level of glutathione of the liver by up to 35%.

Since the ability of the liver to detoxify is largely related to the level of glutathione in the liver, the results of this study seem to indicate that silymarin can increase detoxification reactions by up to 35%"
�

Natural Substance Fights the Flu in Mice - WebMD, 4/17/00
� Vitamin E Reverses Minimal Negative Effects of Exercise and Fish Oil - WebMD, 4/10/00 - "The researchers discovered that both exercise and fish oil deplete an important antioxidant called glutathione"
�
Solving Sinusitis - Nutrition Science News, 4/00
� Detoxification for the Body & Mind - Nutrition Science News, 2/00
�
Staying Young Forever, Putting new research findings into practice - Life Extension Magazine, 12/99 - "lipoic acid is the only antioxidant that can boost the level of intracellular glutathione, a cellular antioxidant of tremendous importance.

Besides being the body's primary water-soluble antioxidant and a major detoxification agent, glutathione is absolutely essential for the functioning of the immune system"
�
Cancer Prevention Diet - Nutrition Science News, 8/99
�
Second Sight - Nutrition Science News, 4/99
�
Can Cirrhosis be Prevented? - Nutrition Science News, 1/99
�
Antioxidants May Reduce Harmful Complications Of Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 4/20/98
�
NAC Increases AIDS Survival Rate - Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, 10/97
�
Youthful Aging - Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, 10/97
�
Antioxidant-Enhancing Drug Partly Reduces Noise-Induced Hearing Loss - Doctor's Guide, 9/12/97
�
Key Molecule Found Critical to Surviving HIV - Doctor's Guide, 2/24/97
Other possible l-glutathione suppliers:

Related Searches:
� Doctor's Guide search of glutathione
� Doctor's Guide (2) search of glutathione
� Healthwell.com search of glutathione
� Intelihealth search of glutathione
� Life Extension Foundation search of glutathione
� Medline search of glutathione
� Medscape search of glutathione
� MetaCrawler search of glutathione
� The Natural Pharmacist search of glutathione
� Nutrition Science News search of glutathione
� WebMD search of glutathione http://qualitycounts.com/fplglutathione.html

In the Samento study, we did it a little differently. You emptied a 125mg capsule under your tongue and let it dissolve on it's own. Then you repeated it in 10 minutes.

To answer some questions, I am receiving Paticia Kanes protocol and have been receiving IV phospholipids ad glutathione since March 3rd.

I take 250 - 500 mg of phosolipids IV push depending on how I feel (tired) and have worked my way up to 2500mg of glutathione IV push. I receive this twice a week and have noticed considerable increase in energy and strength.

I also started Immunocal in Feb , taking 1 packet a day and I tolerate It fine.

Please fee free to contact me if you have any other questions about the protocol. I am going to receive 40 IV push treatments of this protocol and then reassess with the bloodwork the Kane proocol requires.

I hope this has helped answer some questions.

Blessings,

Michelle

Kane's IV phosphatidyl choline exchange is not available anywhere in our state, or at least it wasn't the last time I checked on it about 6 months ago, so we never bothered to pursue the idea any further.

Procedure for Phospholipid Exchange
(Protocol for ALS/MS/Parkinsons)

Essentiale N - 5ml ampules (only available from any German pharmacy - each box contains 5 vials) Order 5 boxes for initial therapeutic trial and reorder when patient is confident s(he) tolerates the program.
Use 20ml or 30ml syringe with 23 guage butterfly needles

Draw up two vials (10ml) of Essentiale N
Draw up 10ml of patient's blood into the same syringe
Mix gently
Infuse blood/lipid mix over five minutes back into client
vein
Follow with 1800mg Glutathione over two minutes

Side effects:
Causes mild burn when injected outside the vein. Heals usually in 2-3 days. May cause mild nausea. Occasional anaphylactic reactions are possible, but extremely rare.
American products seem to be unsafe.

Protocol for ALS
Inject 2 vials Essentiale 2x/day for 3 days
Then 2x/week for 8 weeks (One single injection with 2 vials per day)
Then 1x/week for one year

Essentiale N is available in Europe from any pharmacy. It cannot be out of refrigeration longer than 7 days. So it needs to be shipped accordingly.

Per infusion in clinics - approx. $175 (if I heard correctly)

Am J Physiol. 1990 Oct;259(4 Pt 1):G524-9.

Bioavailability of dietary glutathione: effect on plasma concentration.

Hagen TM, Wierzbicka GT, Sillau AH, Bowman BB, Jones DP.

Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.

Plasma glutathione (GSH) concentration in rats increased from approximately 15 to 30 microM after administration of GSH either as a liquid bolus (30 mumol) or mixed (2.5-50 mg/g) in AIN-76 semisynthetic diet. GSH concentration was maximal at 90-120 min after GSH administration and remained high for over 3 h. Administration of the amino acid precursors of GSH had little or no effect on plasma GSH values, indicating that GSH catabolism and resynthesis do not account for the increased GSH concentration seen. Inhibition of GSH synthesis and degradation by L-buthionine-[S,R]-sulfoximine and acivicin showed that the increased plasma GSH came mostly from absorption of intact GSH instead of from its metabolism. Plasma protein-bound GSH also increased after GSH administration, with a time course similar to that observed for free plasma GSH. Thus dietary GSH can be absorbed intact and results in a substantial increase in blood plasma GSH. This indicates that oral supplementation may be useful to enhance tissue availability of GSH.

When taking oral antibiotics, I also take GTH precusors (oral NAC with Silimarin or silibinin [milk thistle]).

LM, ND, suggested that if you take NAC over time to substitute SAMe for NAC one week, in four.

Neil

But about a week ago, I started relapsing continuously. The symptoms are different: instead of having all neuro symptoms like headaches and dizziness, I've got constant muscle aches, a sore throat, a lowgrade fever. The NAC is reducing their severity, so I can still function, but it's strange that the bug is suddenly flaring up so much.