Can Glutathione Injections Help You With Skin Conditions?

Glutathione has a long list of uses and applications. This is because it is part of many of the body’s important processes, including tissue building and repair, your immune system, and the formation of chemicals and proteins that are required for optimal bodily functions.

As a naturopathic doctor in Toronto, I could write many articles about the benefits and uses for glutathione, and in fact I have, but today we’ll take a look at how I use it as a natural skin condition treatment.

What Is Glutathione

As a refresher, glutathione is an antioxidant that helps in detoxifying the body.

It is produced by the liver naturally, but can also be found in found in fruits, vegetables and meats.

It is often given as a boost for the immune system, or as a treatment or to prevent diseases that weaken the body’s defense system.

Benefits Of Glutathione

While the effects of the following are not all thoroughly proven, the length of this list should give you an idea about how useful glutathione can be, and why doctors keep turning to it for help.

Glutathione has been proven effective in, or shows promising results, for the following health concerns:

• Reducing side effects of chemotherapy
• Diabetes
• Anemia in people on hemodialysis
• Atherosclerosis
• Infertility in men
• Memory loss
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Cataracts and Glaucoma
• Preventing aging
• Treating or preventing alcoholism
• Asthma and other lung diseases
• Cancer
• Heart disease and high cholesterol levels
• Liver problems
• AIDS
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Parkinson’s disease

Glutathione For Skin Conditions

Glutathione has been noted to be typically rather low in patients who suffer from skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, as laid out in this study.

No matter the reason for the low levels, once it is administered, it has been shown to improve the glutathione levels within about 6-8 weeks.

Here are some further details on how it can help with the above listed skin conditions.

1. Psoriasis

A common autoimmune disease, psoriasis presents as inflammation with heightened levels of oxidative stress.

In counteracting the oxidative stress, glutathione is a powerful antioxidant.

In this 2013 clinical study by Prussick, Prussick, and Gutman, they discovered that administering a nondenatured bioactive whey protein isolate (which had previously been demonstrated to improve glutathione levels) did indeed improve symptoms of psoriasis.

2. Eczema

Eczema is thought to be a result of an imbalanced immune system attacking healthy skin cells, or overreacting to staph levels on the skin.

Glutathione is one of the main components of the antioxidant defense system found in living cells, and this was investigated in this study on autoimmunity.

When there is chronic inflammation, antioxidant defenses weaken, and this causes oxidative stress.

As with psoriasis above, glutathione can be administered to balance these reactive oxygen species molecules in order to improve the levels and reduce the effects of the psoriasis.

3. Anti-Aging

In studying how we age, it was noted that restricting dietary intakes of protein can slow aging.

However, as we age we need more protein, and from mid-age onward, low protein starts to lead to higher mortality rates as well as loss of lean mass and bone density.

At the same time, aging also means declining glutathione synthesis, which offsets the negative impact of reactive oxygen species on the body’s cell health and functions.

When glutathione is present at optimal levels, it ‘scavenges’ oxidants and acts as an anti-inflammatory, which is helpful in the elderly.

Increasing glutathione levels has shown to improve vascular health, muscle strength, bone density, inflammation, immunity, cognitive function as well as delaying neurodegeneration.

Questions? Ask Dr. JJ

So many people suffer from skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema when they don’t need to.

Glutathione is one of the treatments that I continue to study and recommend in order to help my patients, and I have many other options which may help with your health issues, beyond just skin conditions.

If you haven’t found respite from your symptoms with other methods or traditional treatments, call me to book a consultation, and let’s discuss all the other options you may not have heard of.