Glutathione (GSH)

谷胱甘肽

Place · Level 3 · Supplement

身体自造的三肽 · 半胱氨酸是限速原料 · 这就是为什么 NAC / 甘氨酸 / α-硫辛酸站得住、口服 GSH 生物利用度差 · IV 美白排毒抗衰宣称证据薄

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regulates · 1

Milk Thistle
In cell and animal work silybin partly restores depleted glutathione, but very low oral exposure — circulating mostly as conjugates — is what decides whether that step can happen in a person.

Identity · a body-made tripeptide

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身份 · 身体自造的三肽

Inside almost every cell in your body, in the cell fluid (the cytosol), there is a self-made antioxidant molecule called glutathione (GSH). It is the most abundant low-molecular-weight thiol antioxidant in the cell — the body's first built-in line of defense against oxidative waste.

The first key point: the body synthesizes it itself — you don't have to eat it whole from food. It is a short chain of three amino acids strung together — a molecule of three linked amino acids is called a tripeptide:

Glutamate (Glu) — generally not scarceCysteine (Cys) — often insufficient, and the rate-limiting raw materialGlycine (Gly) — generally not scarce
Of the three, only cysteine is the bottleneck: it is relatively scarce in the diet, and it is heavily consumed the moment the cell faces oxidative stress or a detox task. The first synthesis enzyme, GCL (glutamate-cysteine ligase), is the rate-limiting valve of the whole pathway, and how fast it works is dictated by the cysteine concentration inside the cell.

This single fact goes on to explain almost every marketing truth-or-myth about glutathione: whoever can reliably supply cysteine is what actually decides how much GSH the cell can make. So remember one sentence — glutathione is not a scarce substance you top up from outside; it is a body-built, raw-material-driven synthesis system.

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Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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