With heightened interest in antioxidants for immune support, now is the ideal time to direct focus to the world’s most powerful antioxidant, glutathione.
This “master antioxidant” mops up free radicals and toxins, both environmental and those that naturally occur from day-to-day metabolism. Glutathione’s importance is further underscored by the fact that it’s been the subject of more than 100,000 peer-reviewed studies.
Every cell in our body has a finely controlled system for maintaining sufficient glutathione to protect them from oxidative stress. Two enzymes are involved in glutathione synthesis; the first joins the amino acids, glutamate and glycine to make gamma-glutamylcysteine (GGC) and the second adds a glycine to make glutathione.
However, as we age and often during illness, this control system fails with the first enzyme losing its capacity to produce enough GGC to sustain our glutathione needs.
Until the advent of the proprietary form of GGC, Glyteine, there has been no solution for replenishing chronically depleted glutathione. The demonstration in human studies that orally administered GGC can rapidly increase cellular glutathione levels represents a dramatic leap forward in glutathione science.
“To replenish your glutathione levels, you can’t just take a glutathione pill because the glutathione cannot get into your cells where it is needed. As glutathione comes in contact with cells it is simply broken down by extracellular enzymes into its three component amino acids,” explains INID Research Lab President Rajan Shah, an MIT-trained chemical engineer.
“GGC, on the other hand, is taken up by cells intact and is immediately converted to glutathione.”
Here’s why you’ll be hearing more about Glyteine (proprietary GGC)
With low glutathione levels, cells have a harder time fighting inflammation, infections and other diseases.
Shah goes on to say: “The data used to promote the effectiveness of other supplements often show increases in glutathione in the blood plasma but not inside cells where increased levels may well be needed. The only clinically proven way to rapidly increase cellular glutathione is to take the glutathione precursor, GGC, which is currently only available as Glyteine in the Continual-G line of products.”
But although GGC is continuously produced in almost every oxygen-using cell, until now, no one has been able to find a way to produce GGC as a dietary supplement. That changed when a very dedicated group of smart individuals got together to improve people’s lives by making an affordably priced GGC supplement commercially available. Their Glyteine is now available in the consumer-facing product Continual-G and is sold online in the US.
Glyteine (patented, proprietary GGC) is a classic 20-year overnight biotechnology success story
Glutathione is a byproduct of baker’s yeast. In 1997, while working for a global baker’s yeast manufacturer, University of New South Wales Professor Wallace Bridge, PhD, began studying glutathione from the perspective of its industrial-scale manufacture.
Through this project, he developed an understanding of glutathione biochemistry which ultimately led to his interest in GGC’s therapeutic potential. The problem Bridge faced with testing the potential of GGC was that it could not be bought in sizable quantities. It was only available from chemical distributors in grams that cost several hundred dollars.
Working with his PhD, student Martin Zarka, Bridge used his bioprocessing background to develop a manufacturing process for a proprietary form of GGC, now branded as Glyteine.
Meanwhile in 2005, in Newcastle, Australia, entrepreneur and visionary Vince Baldini purchased an unused GMP plant that had been built for pharmaceutical production. Baldini has since passed away. But his sons Steven, Robert and Richard (as investors) have been working with Bridge, Zarka and Shah tirelessly over the decades to bring Glyteine to market.
Today, Glyteine is produced in an environmentally friendly plant in Houston, Texas, where even the water is recycled. Back in Australia, Bridge and Zarka continue with their work to use new techniques and state-of-the-art engineering, to optimize the technology so that production can be scaled up even more.
Safety (GRAS status) plus clinical study success
An initial published animal study demonstrated Glyteine to be safe with no observed side effects at the high daily dose of 1 g/kg body weight for 90 days. These results supported the award for self-affirmed GRAS status for Glyteine. In a subsequent human clinical study published in Redox Biology, researchers at the University of New South Wales investigated the bioavailability of oral Glyteine supplementation.
Within 90 minutes of ingestion, cellular glutathione levels were seen to substantially increase reaching maximum levels after two to three hours, before returning to basal levels by five to 6 hours. With this study, Glyteine became the only nutrient reported in a peer-reviewed, published human clinical trial to rapidly raise cellular glutathione levels following a single dose.
Introducing Glyteine to the world under the Continual-G brand
“Now after a 20-year process, we have the infrastructure in place and we can offer the world GGC-containing products under the Continual-G brand,” says Steven Baldini. “We can finally start making people’s lives better, and we are excited to let the industry know what we’ve done so far. We have the only product that can rapidly increase glutathione levels.” Continual-G is now available online as a drink mix that is dissolved in a glass of water for a refreshing beverage.
Acknowledges Richard Baldini, “With Continual-G, we are creating a new category in the glutathione supplement market: products that actually work to increase glutathione rapidly inside cells where it is needed. We will use Continual-G to test marketing messaging for the specific applications in which we know increased glutathione levels may offer a benefit.”
Concludes Robert Baldini, “Google what all the smart people in the world have to say about glutathione and why your body needs it. People are reordering our Glyteine nearly as fast as we can make it. They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t feel that it was benefiting them. Their enthusiasm for our product reinforces our commitment to making it available to the world.”
