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Various proteins do increase glutathione. For the purpose of long term wellness, use of protein may be better than a drug such as N-acetyl cysteine. Is there some way to maximize the amount of benefit from taking a protein product?

We went back and examined an animal study* that was done comparing how much various protein compositions increase glutathione in mice. Here is the data:

Based on this data, it was possible to develop an equation giving the amount of glutathione increase based on percentage of bovine serum albumin(BSA) and immunoglobulin(IMG). This relationship is graphed here:

Both proteins probably increase glutathione by making the amino acid cystiene available for production of glutathione. However, IMG continues to deliver cysteine well past the saturation point for BSA.

The data is probably applicable to humans since whey protein does increase glutathione levels in humans as well and it is probably for the same reasons. The reason why this is important is because it might give us a method of gaging the effectiveness of a whey protein powder as a glutathione supplement.

It also gives us a way to calculate cost efficiency of glutathione supplementation of a whey protein powder. In this graph, we plot effectiveness of glutathione supplementation against the cost efficiency of glutathione supplementation.

This graph shows that there is a point of diminishing returns, also called a "sweet spot". We can increase effectiveness by filtering off the lower molecular weight proteins but this also increases the cost of the whey protein powder. Up to a certain point, it increases cost efficiency. But when you go past that point, the cost increases a lot faster than the effectiveness as a supplement.

We used Immunocal as a the baseline. It is widely considered to be the whey powder of choice for glutathione supplementation. Ironically, almost all other whey powders are more cost efficient according to this data. You have to take more of them to get the same effect. It turns out that the product sitting on the sweet spot is 5 times more cost efficient than Immunocal. Dollar for dollar you get 500% more effect from this powder unflavored Jarrow Whey Protein. Gram for gram of protein, you get about half the effect so you would need to double the dose to get the same effect after adjusting for protein percentages.

The main objection that a scientist or doctor might have to this idea is that in the original study, the glutathione levels were averages and there was a certain amount of variance in each test group of mice. Even if the correlations were statistically significant in the original data, determinations based on this data might be affected by the variance to such an extent as to cause them to be meaningless. Our analyst understands this issue and did some rather extensive computer analysis to verify that our equations are statistically meaningful.

For a general report of this evaluation, click here. A review of the mathematical basis of this model and a statistical validation click here. The computer model is implemented using a Java class called wheyCalc. To view the source code, click here.

*Bounous G, Gold P. The Biological Activity of Undenatured Dietary Whey Proteins: Role of Glutathione. Clin Invest Med. 1991; 14(4): 292-309.