Why Glutathione is the Most Popular Supplement for Athletes
Physical exertion and endurance activities can add unique challenges to having optimal nutrition. Achieving this through diet alone can be difficult, which is why supplemental infusions are often essential. The most popular supplement used by athletes is glutathione, as it has many benefits and is depleted in response to exercise.
What is Glutathione?
Glutathione is one of the most widely incorporated nutrients. It’s considered to be the “master antioxidant” and is the primary detoxifier and anti-inflammatory agent in every cell of your body. It’s especially helpful in the world of athletics for its ability to prevent and correct tissue damage, unnecessary inflammation, infection, muscular weakness, and fatigue.
Prevent Oxidative Stress
Glutathione is most well known for its ability to prevent oxidative stress. Oxidative stress happens when there are not enough antioxidants to combat free radicals, causing damage to cells and tissues. Oxidative stress can occur throughout numerous biological systems and results in many negative effects. Glutathione is superior to other antioxidants in preventing oxidative stress because it can neutralize a wide range of free radicals by either directly binding to them or blocking their uptake.
Physically active people are often deficient in glutathione. During exercise, glutathione levels are depleted rapidly due to increased uptake by tissues. The more one exercises, the greater the depletion. This makes oxidative stress more drastic and widespread. It can cause many issues, such as muscle and joint pain, weakness, and vulnerability to infections and injuries.
Improve Muscular Performance
Following a workout, oxidative stress primarily impacts your muscles. It can cause muscle fatigue, which lovers the amount of force your muscles can perform. Because of this, the ability to make progress during exercise lowers and may need to be put on hold altogether. The time it takes to repair tissue is also affected by lowered glutathione levels, resulting in more intense and longer durations of soreness, muscle and joint pain, and injuries. Glutathione supplementation combats this oxidative stress, decreasing muscle fatigue and aiding in the recovery for intense or endurant physical activity.
Enhance Immunity
Glutathione plays an essential role in the immune system. It increases or decreases inflammation to a regulated amount by guiding white blood cells. It also restricts negative cytokines, which are proteins that send out signals disrupting a proper inflammatory response. The process of inflammation isn’t only involved in injuries such as a pulled muscle or sprained ligament; it’s also activated for repairing the microscopic muscular tears instantly induced during exercise. Because of this, glutathione is seen as an incredibly effective restorative nutrient that is especially helpful for those who regularly exercise.
Glutathione also aids the immune system in preventing and healing infections and illnesses. Athletes are more susceptible to these because intense exercise lowers one’s immune system. The way glutathione helps is through commanding certain white blood cells, such as NK and T-cells, to fight off bacteria and viruses.
