BREAKING! Study Shows That SARS-CoV-2 Infections Lead To Increased Levels Of Oxidative Stress, Oxidant Damage And Glutathione Deficiency

COVID-19 Supplements: A new study by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston-USA has found that COVID-19 patients especially those that have been hospitalized, typically exhibit increased levels of oxidative stress, oxidant damage and glutathione deficiency. The study findings have implications for the inclusion of Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) supplementation into standard treatment protocols.

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Oxidative stress (OxS) is a harmful condition caused by excess reactive-oxygen species (ROS) and is normally neutralized by antioxidants among which Glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant. GSH deficiency results in amplified OxS due to compromised antioxidant defenses.
 
As a result of little being known about GSH or OxS in COVID-19 infection, the study team measured GSH, TBARS (a marker of OxS) and F2-isoprostane (marker of oxidant damage) concentrations in 60 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
 
Shockingly compared to uninfected controls, COVID-19 patients of all age groups had severe GSH deficiency, increased OxS and elevated oxidant damage which worsened with advancing age.
 
Surprisingly these defects were also present in younger age groups, where they do not normally occur.
 
As a result of GlyNAC (combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine) supplementation beeing shown in clinical trials to rapidly improve GSH deficiency, OxS and oxidant damage, GlyNAC supplementation has implications for combating these defects in COVID-19 infected patients and warrants urgent investigation.
 
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Antioxidants.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/1/50
 
The study team from Baylor College of Medicine investigated the effect of infection with COVID-19 on the levels of oxidative stress, oxidant damage and glutathione, the most abundant physiological antioxidant. Compared to healthy age-matched individuals whose samples were taken before the pandemic started in 2019, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had significantly increased levels of oxidative stress and oxidant damage, and markedly reduced levels of glutathione.
 
The COVID-19 Supplements study findings suggest that supplementation with GlyNAC, a combination of glutathione precursors previously shown to reduce o xidative stress and oxidant damage and increase glutathione as well as improve health indicators such as inflammation, might be beneficial to COVID-19 patients. However, GlyNAC supplementation has not as yet been studied in association with COVID-19.
 
Corresponding author Dr Rajagopal Sekhar, associate professor of medicine in the section of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Baylor told Thailand Medical News, "Increased oxidative stress and reduced glutathione levels are associated with a number of conditions including ageing, diabetes, HIV infection, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disorders, neurometabolic diseases, obesity and others. We suspected that COVID-19 also might be affecting oxidative stress and glutathione, and in this study we confirmed this in adults hospitalized with COVID-19. We found that these defects occur in all adult age groups, including young people, and worsen with increasing age."
 
The study team worked with 60 participants (25 women, 35 men; age range 21 to 85 years old), who had been admitted to the hospital based on a diagnosis of COVID-19.
 
The research team measured the levels of oxidative stress, oxidant damage and glutathione in the patients' blood samples and compared them with those from healthy individuals.

The study team organized the samples in three different groups, according to the age of the COVID-19 patients: the 21- to 40-year-old group, the 41 to 60 and the 61 and above.

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It was noted that in earlier work, the same study team had shown that in healthy adults, the levels of oxidative stress, oxidative damage and glutathione remain stable until people enter their 60s, when oxidative stress and oxidative damage begin to increase and glutathione to decline.
 
However, alarmingly COVID-19 infection changed this pattern.
 
Dr Sekhar commented, "We were surprised to see that the COVID-19 patients in the 21 to 40 and the 41 to 60 groups had much less glutathione and more oxidative stress than the corresponding age groups without COVID-19. We knew that healthy people without COVID-19 above the age of 60 years tend to be glutathione-deficient and have elevated oxidative stress. However, when the 60-plus age group gets COVID-19, their glutathione levels were much lower and oxidative stress was much higher than those of a similar age but without COVID-19."
 
Dr Sekhar added, "This is an important new discovery. The finding that younger people with COVID-19 also are glutathione deficient and have elevated oxidative stress and oxidant damage is really surprising, because we do not normally see these defects in younger age groups. These defects appear to get progressively worse with increasing age, and the oldest patients with COVID-19 had higher level of defects in these outcomes. We propose that these changes might be involved in the disease."
 
Typically, oxidative stress results from the accumulation of free radicals, highly reactive molecules that can damage cells, membranes, lipids, proteins and DNA. Cells in the body make glutathione to protect themselves from oxidative stress. When cells fail to neutralize free radicals, harmful cellular damage can occur and potentially affect many physiological processes.
 
Dr Sekhar added, "Our previous work has shown that increased levels of oxidative stress and reduced glutathione are not only present in older people, but also in people with HIV, a viral infection, and in patients with diabetes. We also found that supplementing GlyNAC, a combination of glutathione precursors, improved these defects in all these populations.”
 
The study teams’ previous and current research also showed that supplementing GlyNAC to older people and HIV-patients reversed other abnormalities including inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, and improved muscle strength, exercise capacity, cognitive decline, gene-damage, and body composition.
 
Interestingly some of these defects also have been reported in patients with COVID-19.
 
Dr Sekhar added, "Based on our earlier findings on the effects of GlyNAC supplementation in other populations and the current finding that individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 had glutathione deficiency and increased oxidative stress, we considered whether GlyNAC supplementation could also combat these defects in COVID-19 and potentially be valuable in helping the body fight this serious infection. The effects of GlyNAC supplementation in patients with COVID-19 remain to be investigated in future research studies.”
 
Thailand Medical News would further like to add that when procuring GlyNAC supplements, avoid brands made in Asia especially those from India, China, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia as many do not contain the right bioactive forms needed and in some cases are adulterated with other compounds...some that can even lead to future health issues! Even when considering brands from Europe and America, be extremely careful as some are also selling inferior compounds. The best brands for glycine and NAC supplements are Pure Encapsulation, Celltrient, Thorne Research, Nutricology, Jarrow, Vital Nutrients, Swanson, Solgar, Natural Factors and KAL.

Also do not buy or consume any products that are labelled as glutathione as those are all fake. Real glutathione cannot be absorbed by the oral route and needs to be administered via intravenous injections or drips only.

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Read Also: https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-covid-19-research-russian-study-indicates-that-glutathione-deficiency-affects-covid-19-susceptibility,-nac-supplements-helps