One of the most potent anti-oxidants of our body, glutathione is popularly used for skin whitening and combating free radicals of the body. It is produced by the body itself and is made of three amino acids: glycine, cysteine, and glutamine. It partly derives its name as glutathione.
As we all chase for a fairer glow due to our pigmentation skin problems, one common solution is glutathione-rich foods for skin whitening, which are commonly available in the market. This natural anti-oxidant is known to remove the toxins from our skin and body, boosts immunity, and delays the early signs of aging skin. Foods with high glutathione content are a common treatment for hyperpigmentation, a problem caused by excess melanin in our body.
Suppose you are witnessing an increase in your aging process, wrinkles on your face, and even the darkening of the skin. In that case, the chances are that your body is lacking the required glutathione levels. But before going for the best glutathione rich food or supplement and glutathione tablets, check out these natural food that is a healthy way to increase your body GSH levels safely.
Factors of glutathione deficiency:
There are various reasons due to which your body’s glutathione levels might be depleting. Some of the common factors include:
• UV radiation exposure: Excess UV exposure may harm your skin’s cells and hinder glutathione’s working in your body.
• Chronic Stress: Chronic stress induces nitric oxide (NO) production, which hampers GSH production.
• Excessive alcohol: With increased consumption of alcohols, the free plasma cysteine levels decrease leading to a decrease in the production of GSH.
• Smoking: Smoking is also a reason for the depletion of glutathione levels in your body.
• Poor diet: Although GSH is manufactured in our body, yet glutathione-rich foods are also a source of GSH in our body.
• Exposure to toxins: Toxins damage the skin cells and hamper other metabolisms inside the body, leading to a decrease in GSH levels.
• Certain medications: There may be certain medications that restrict or hampers the production of amino acids and even compete for the receptors during the metabolism processes leading to lower levels of GSH.
These deficiencies manifest themselves in various forms like inflammation, pigmentation skin, wrinkles, melasma, and more.
Glutathione rich foods for skin whitening:
Maintaining sufficient levels of glutathione are essential to look young and healthy. Moreover, the anti-oxidant benefits our health and immunity, which is quite important for people of any age. Check out the list of glutathione-rich foods that you can include in your daily diet.
1. Sulfur-rich foods:
Sulfur is a necessary mineral required by our body to be found in many protein foods and plants. Increasing sulfur consumption may help you reduce oxidative stress due to higher levels of GSH production. The vegetarian sources of sulfur are cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts, kale, watercress, cauliflower, broccoli, and mustard greens. Some other sulfur-rich foods are turkey, suck, nuts, eggs, dairy products, shellfish, dried fruit, oats, apricots, and more. Garlic, onions, and shallots also help increase GSH levels in the body.
2. Vitamin C-rich foods:
Vitamin C is essentially used here as it attacks the free radicals first and saves glutathione’s work, and hence stops their depletion. Vitamin C is a water-soluble mineral found in many citrus fruits, vegetables, and food. Researchers have also found that Vitamin C helps in reconverting the inactive oxidized glutathione back to its active form. Apart from the vitamin C-rich foods, you can even take its supplements as they are safe and commonly available in the market at a low price.
By taking 500 mg of Vitamin C every day, you can increase your glutathione concentration in RBCs by 47%. Some vitamin C-rich foods are citrus foods like oranges, peppers, strawberries, blackcurrants, broccoli, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts.
3. Vitamin B12 rich foods:
Apart from the production of GSH in our body, you also need to recycle the GSH to enjoy its skin whitening effects. To enhance this process, vitamin B12 or riboflavin is an essential mineral. Foods like spinach, beans, almonds, and broccoli are rich in B12 and help in recycling glutathione.
4. Selenium-rich foods:
Selenium is a GSH cofactor required for the GSH activity in our body. Hence it becomes an essential mineral that helps in maintaining the essential glutathione levels in the body. Chicken, organ meats, fish, brown rice, Brazil nuts, beef are some foods with high glutathione and selenium content. The RDA for selenium in adults is 55 mcg which is needed to enhance the production of glutathione peroxidase.
In research, it was also found that selenium supplements increased glutathione peroxidase levels in dialysis patients. However, you should note that the upper limit for selenium is 400 mcg per day due to possible toxicity reasons.
5. Glutathione-rich foods:
You can eat naturally rich foods in glutathione, and hence there is direct absorption of the mineral in your body. Although we encourage you to take the above-listed foods because the GSH absorption is poor in the body, it requires full absorption catalysts. Some foods with high glutathione are asparagus, spinach, okra, and avocados. These are natural glutathione sources and should be included in your diet.
6. Whey protein supplementation:
As we mentioned in the introduction, glutathione is manufactured from amino acids, which are the subunit of proteins. Hence until your body has sufficient levels of protein, the cofactors would be missing for GSH production. You can include cysteine-rich foods like whey protein in your natural diet. The whey protein increases the levels of glutathione in your body and helps reduce oxidative stress.
7. Milk thistle intake:
Milk thistle is collected from the milk thistle plant, also known as Silybum marianum, which comprises three active compounds, known as silymarin. Silymarin is well-known to possess anti-oxidant properties that can help maintain the glutathione levels in your body.
8. Turmeric Extract:
Turmeric is a vibrant yellow-orange herb very popularly used in Indian households during cooking and glutathione natural sources. It is known to have very strong anti-oxidant properties along with many medicinal properties. Curcumin is the main component of this herb that can increase glutathione levels in the body. It also helps to restore sufficient GSH levels and improve the enzyme’s activity. Turmeric is also known to improve your immunity and is an important product suggested during the present pandemic times. Apart from the skin whitening benefits, it is also important to remain healthy during the present times that can be catered with the use of curcumin extracts in your regular food.
Now that you are aware of the foods that help in raising and maintain the glutathione levels in the body, you can make sure that the foods are also included in your regular diet. We have provided you with some skin whitening foods to eat that you can also cook with your regular meals. Even though we take these glutathione supplements, our body depletes them very quickly due to various running metabolisms and activities. Apart from the food you should also change your lifestyle with exercise, enough sleep and drinking more water. Together with these lifestyle changes and glutathione-rich foods, you can get your skin glow back very soon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
1. What are the symptoms of low glutamine?
Some common symptoms of glutamine deficiency are frequent infections, wrinkles, inflammation, metabolic acidosis, and some major problems like frequent seizures, intellectual disability, and loss of coordination.
2. Which food is best for skin whitening?
Glutathione-rich foods are essential to maintain a healthy glow and skin whitening. You can use foods like eggs, lemons, tomatoes, avocados, garlic, walnuts, spinach, broccoli, and more to keep your skin fresh and glowing.
3. How can I use glutathione to whiten my skin?
Glutathione reduces oxidative stress and removes toxins from your body, making your skin glow. You can consume foods rich in glutamine content to whiten your skin. Foods like cruciferous vegetables, fruits like orange, almonds, apricots, turkey meat, chicken help you in raising GSH levels.
4. Which glutathione is best for skin whitening?
The natural glutathione that comes from your body is the best high-quality skin-lightening supplement. Glutathione with vitamin C, l-glutathione, grape seed, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin e, and biotin are good GSH supplements to treat pigmentation skin problems.
5. Is glutathione skin whitening permanent?
The GSH skin whitening is permanent only if you actively maintain the GSH levels in your body by maintaining a healthy lifestyle with GSH rich foods. Increase your food intake rich in Vitamin C, B12, sulfur, selenium, l-cysteine to maintain skin whitening.
6. What are some lifestyle changes affecting glutathione levels in our body?
Some of the lifestyle changes that you should incorporate in your daily life are sleeping for 6-8 hours daily, exercising for at least 30 minutes, doing yoga if exercise is not possible, taking less stress, reducing the alcohol intake, and taking healthy and freshly prepared foods.
