The Asthma Glutathione Relationship

The asthma glutathione relationship covers several areas of lung health and wellness.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory system disease. During an asthma attack, the airway will constrict, become inflamed, and mucus will build up. The attack may be brought on by triggers such as allergen, cold air, warm moist air, exertion, exercise, or emotional stress.

The asthma glutathione levels offer some interesting insights into how to possible minimize symptoms and improve outcomes of medical treatments.

Asthma Symptoms

Globally, asthma is responsible for around 180,000 deaths annually.

Symptoms can include wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing. Yes, coughing could be a type of asthma known as cough variant asthma. A mild attack could leave the patient feeling out of sorts and short of breath for periods.

In sever attacks, a feeling of total helplessness overcomes the patient as they are immersed in a feeling of being unable to inhale air. It has best been described a feeling like a fish out of water.

Often there are triggers that will bring on an attack. These include hay fever, pollen and pets and some chemical exposures. Many sufferers have more than one trigger.

Triggers could include medications like aspirin, beta blockers and even penicillin. Foods such as milk, peanuts and eggs could bring on an attack. Food allergies are not necessarily co-morbidities with asthma.

Air pollution such as fossil fuel, ozone, smog, summer, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Chemicals such as sulfites, and chlorine fumes from swimming pools can induce asthma.

Emotional stress is also a potential trigger.

Asthma and cough variant asthma needs to be diagnosed by a medical health care professional. It is not something that can be self diagnosed. It can be life threatening. It can affect as many as one in four children in urban areas.

Although there is no cure, there are ways to prevent attacks and relieve symptoms. The studies into new treatments has further enhanced the body of asthma glutathione knowledge. Improving glutathione levels has been the subject of some research with telling benefits.

Because of the potential dangers associated with asthma and treating asthma, it cannot be stressed enough the need to be treated by and experienced medical health care professional.

Old Disease, New Treatments

Hippocrates made medical reference to the condition in 450 BC. It was not until the first part of the 1900’s that bronchodilators started to be used. Then in the 1960s anti-inflammatory medications were added to the treatment of asthma.

The anti-inflammatory use is one of the clues to the asthma glutathione connection.

To Be or Not to Be Asthma

There are some alternative possibilities that suspected asthma could be.

I once was exposed to some flea powder used on dogs. It immediately triggered what felt like an asthma attack, something I have not experienced since my last asthma attack as a kid living in Washington, DC. It was not asthma, it was a chemical induced anaphylaxis or narrowing of the airways.

Even some meds cause broncho-constriction or narrowing of the airways like anti-inflammatory drugs and some beta-blockers.

Also COPD or chronic pulmonary obstructive disease looks like, feels like and sounds like but is not asthma. It is usually the result of smoking.

Medical Asthma Treatment

The medical treatment primarily involves control of the symptoms. Inhalers administering bronchodilators are typical. Nebulizers are also used.

Note... In November 2005 the Food and Drug Administration released a health advisory regarding long acting asthma medicines. The warning cited findings that long use of the angonists could result in worsening of symptoms and in some cases death.

Some of these include salmeterol, formoterol, bambuterol, and albuterol SR. The most common combinitation inhaler is Advair in the US and Seretide in the UK.

The Asthma Glutathione Treatment

The most effective treatment for asthma is identifying triggers, such as pets or aspirin and limiting or eliminating exposure to them. In addition to limiting exposure would include health promotion.

Promoting health and wellness has been found to help with the management of many disease states. High on the list of any disease that produces oxidative stress would be reduction of the stressors and reduction of inflammation.

Medicine attempts to do this from the outside working in. What would happen if the treatment was to come from the inside out? In other words, build the body from the inside to do what the medicines do from the outside.

Boosting the asthma glutathione levels does just this.

Can GSH levels be built from the inside of our cells?

It is well known that HIV infected patients have increased oxidant burden and systemic deficiency of the intercellular antioxidant glutathione (GSH). The intake of cysteine, the main building block of GSH is limited which limits production of GSH in healthy patients. So building GSH would be imperative for a disease state.

Is it possible to build GSH in the body? The answer is Yes.

One study evaluated the effect of oral supplementation with a cysteine rich protein formula on GSH levels.

The study concluded the asthma glutathione building products used were well tolerated and GSH levels did increase. One study actually found a 30 percent increase in GSH levels.

Eur J Clin Invest. 2001 Feb;31(2):171-8.

Oral supplementation with whey proteins increases plasma glutathione levels of HIV-infected patients.

Pulmonary Division, III. Medical Department, Mainz University Hospital, D-455101 Mainz, Germany.

Then if building the asthma glutathione levels is possible, what benefit would it have on asthma?

According to Jimmy Gutman, MD, GACEP, author of GSH, The Body’s Most Powerful Protector states...

"There is a direct correspondence between low glutathione levels and the severity of the asthma attack."

He went on to tell how Dr. Carol Trenga presented to the American Lung Association an antioxidant cocktail that helped asthmatics particularly sensitive to air pollutants. Many of the elements of the cocktail were GSH precursors.

In Europe physicians use GSH precursors to treat asthma. In one double blind study using a bronchodilators, the GSH enhanced group experienced greater lung function improvement.

While it may not work for everyone, increasing intracellular glutathione levels could indeed be a way to promote lung health and wellness and decrease the incident of attacks. Further it would follow that promoting such health would increase the effectiveness of the other medications used to manage asthma.

Other Alternative and Complementary Asthma Treatments

The most exciting results comes from using the Water Cures protocol. It is possible that this one treatment could end the suffering and breathlessness of asthmatics.

Water Cures Asthma has more info on how this works.

It is estimated that 50% of those suffering from chronic disorders use alternative treatments.

There is little evidence to support the effectiveness of many of these therapies.

One review of acupuncture treatments for asthma found no evidence that it improved the symptoms or lung function.

Positive and Negative Ion generators likewise have no high level studies proving they work.

Likewise there is insufficient evidence supporting or refuting the treatment of asthma with osteopathic, chiropractic, physiotherapeutic and respiratory therapeutic maneuvers.

The only study finding potentially mild benefit was homeopathy although it was a small study.

Breast fed babies were found to have less occurrence of asthma. This is interesting in that the cysteine in the test mentioned above was exactly like that found in mother’s breast milk.

Air filtration systems would help decrease triggers which could help in the long run.

Asthma Glutathione Conclusion

More study needs to be conducted but there is evidence that boosting GSH does help management and make the medications more effective. As with all medicines, consult your doctor before using any natural product with any prescribed medicines.

In Dr Gutman’s book he tells of an anecdotal case study of one patient suffering from allergy induced asthma attacks.

He chooses to use a combination of GSH building blocks, co-factors and precursors with beneficial results. It should be noted in the case study the patient still needed his inhaler although he did not need to use it as often.

According to the book, the cocktail included L-cysteine, selenium, alpha-lipoic acid, multivitamin, and stinging nettle.

There are indications that alternative or complimentary treatments can help and improve outcomes of traditional treatments. Boosting asthma glutathione is one alternative that could have positive benefits.

How can I boost my asthma glutathione levels?

As always, talk with your doctor before making any changes.

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