Coronavirus Part 2: Glutathione seen to stop viral replication
You've had plenty of statistics about this particular virus. So instead of bogging you down with more scary facts that will only increase your anxiety which then in turn suppresses your immune system, I would like to jump right in with an actionable and proactive thing you can do.
In my previous blog about the Coronavirus, I wrote about lung loving herbs that can be extremely beneficial for any viral upper respiratory infection. You've also heard me reference that NAC, N-Acetyl Cysteine, taken at 600 mg 2x/day during the Cold and Flu season has been shown to protect against getting H1N1 or at least helps decrease severity and duration of the illness. Well, guess what? NAC feeds Glutathione production in the body.
So what is Glutathione?
It's a powerful anti-oxidant made in the body that the liver absolutely loves. NAC is a supplement form of the amino acid L-Cysteine. L-Cysteine comes from meat, diary, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Many of my patient's are vegetarian and probably off eggs and dairy due to food sensitivities. If you eat a Paleo, Keto, or LowFODMAP diet, you're probably off legumes and many nuts and seeds. In other words, we're not getting enough L-Cysteine in our diets. In fact, our NEED for glutathione and so great that our need for L-cysteine is probably beyond what you can get from food anyway. Not to mention we have poor gut health overall. Going back to how NAC ties into glutathione: NAC or L-Cysteine, provides a Sulfur Molecule that is needed to activate glutathione. Basically, in order to use glutathione, you need a sulfur molucule and NAC is the supplement that delivers this missing link.