Short excerpt from an Alcohol podcast clip (June 27, 2018) in which Ben Greenfield explains, via an extended metaphor, how glutathione molecules donate electrons to toxins, then pair up (disulfide formation) and later regenerate—illustrating how the pool of reduced glutathione can be depleted during detoxification.
Chapters
Hey, it's Ben Greenfield. You have a glutathione molecule. It sees a toxin, so it donates an electron. Okay? Then you have another glutathione molecule that's done the same thing. So I'm kind of crass here, but basically think of these two glutathione molecules that have both given up their electron. Think of them as two divorced people that just gave up their significant others. They just had to just release them for whatever reason. Then they travel around and they meet each other and they're like a new couple. And they're like, hey, guess what? Let's do this again. Let's start this relationship. So they do, and they become one glutathione. And that glutathione again goes off along its merry way and eventually will donate an electron. So it's constantly this dysfunctional process of giving away the spouse, then coming together, giving it away. So you can see how eventually you run out. Thanks for listening in and have an amazing day.