What is Glutatione good for?

What is glutathione?

Glutathione is a short peptide composed of three amino acids,namely glutamic acid,cysteine ?and glycine.Its most important physiological function is as a reducing agent,Participates in a variety of redox reactions, including biomacromolecule synthesis,and scavenging free radicals.Among them,the thiol group of cysteine?is its active group.In vivo,glutathione exists in both reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) forms.When it performs the function of reduction,it will change from GSH to GSSG.Normally,the ratio of GSH and GSSG concentrations is stable like a chicken head.The imbalance of this ratio is associated with a variety of human diseases,including neurodegenerative,cardiovascular,immune and other diseases.

1. Glutathione and melanin anabolism 

Since whitening is mentioned, then we have to pay attention to melanin.Melanin is a biological pigment synthesized by melanocytes and usually aggregates together to form melanosomes.The form and amount of melanin determines a person's skin color, hair color and eye color.Simply put,melanin can be divided into two forms,one is eumelanin and the other is pheomelanin.The more eumelanin, the darker it looks. Conversely, the more pheomelanin,the more red it appears.Both eumelanin and pheomelanin start from tyrosine or dopa,and under the catalysis of tyrosinase,dopaquinone (DQ) is synthesized by oxygenation. Starting from DQ, it is divided into two branches. With the participation of cysteine ?(Cysteine), toward the pheomelanin route.On the contrary, it leads to the synthesis of eumelanin.Studies have shown that glutathione can indeed interfere with the synthesis of melanin,and its mechanisms mainly include:

1. Directly inhibit the activity of tyrosinase.

2. Free radicals can activate tyrosinase, while glutathione can scavenge free radicals and inhibit the activation of tyrosinase.

3. Glutathione is hydrolyzed to cysteine, so that the melanin synthesis pathway tends to pheomelanin.

4. The whitening effect of glutathione.

Glutathione is a substance produced by the human liver.It is also one of the natural oxidants contained in the human body.Generally, the cells of the human body contain two powerful antioxidants,namely vitamin C and glutathione, and the content of glutathione in the human body is much higher than that of vitamin C. In addition, glutathione is also a strong antioxidant. It is composed of three amino acids in the human body.It is a small molecule in the human body. Because of its powerful antioxidant effect, it is often used in the fields of whitening and skin care.Glutathione is ubiquitous in the human body and is also known as "the main killer of free radicals in the human body". When ultraviolet rays irradiate the skin, a large number of free radicals will be generated, which activates the mechanism of melanin production; at this time, glutathione in the human body can eliminate these free radicals from the front end and prevent the production of melanin.In addition, glutathione is also widely involved in all aspects of melanin production, which can scavenge free radicals,resist oxidation, whiten skin, lighten pigmentation, and resist aging.Glutathione not only exists in the human body, but also exists in a large amount in animals, plants and microorganisms.It is an extremely important non-protein sulfur-based compound in living organisms.Glutathione is also an extremely important reducing agent. Because of its powerful reducing agent; it is also widely used in the treatment of liver diseases, tumors, oxygen toxicity,aging and endocrine diseases and other diseases, and the therapeutic effect is obvious to all.In addition to this, in the food industry, glutathione is also used as a bioactive additive and antioxidant.In conclusion,glutathione is an excellent whitening ingredient that is widely used.It has excellent effects on removing free radicals,anti-oxidation,whitening and light spots.However, the stability of glutathione is relatively poor, limiting its intended effect.Therefore,many cosmetics that add glutathione cannot exert the effect of the original glutathione.