i read recently someone saying oral glutathione feeds or makes candida worse. im a candida sufferer but i also have long term hepatitis from the candida and want to try some lipoceutical glutathione since my liver is toxic and wont excrete bile properly as well as i have gallstones and excess copper, barium in my liver. anyone know anything about oral glutathione feeding yeast and why?

Hi ocdfreak,

Welcome to the forums

This is a very good question so I'm glad you brought it up. I'll do my best to answer it.

I also suffer from Candida and associated liver toxicity and glutathione depletion. I have come across the statement that cysteine (a component amino acid of glutathione) feeds Candida before. Basically Candida uses cysteine as we do - to make glutathione. Cysteine is actually used in culture mediums used to grow Candida in laboratories. So one thing we can be quite sure about is that taking l-cysteine or n-acetyl-cysteine supplements to boost glutathione when you have intestinal Candida overgrowth is probably not a good idea.

Whether this means the same for glutathione I'm not entirely sure. Glutathione is a tripeptide made from cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. Regular glutathione supplements (l-glutathione/reduced glutathione) are reported to be broken down in the digestive system so these would release cysteine for the Candida to feed on (and also make these supplements not very useful for raising our own glutathione levels). Lipoceutical/liposomal glutathione is probably safe however as the glutathione is bound to phospholipids (fatty nutrients) and is quickly absorbed along with dietary fats. It would therefore likely be absorbed before reaching the Candida. I am not a microbiologist so am unsure whether Candida and other yeast could actually metabolise liposomal glutathione anyway.

If you are still wary then you could always use other methods of raising glutathione. Herbs such as milk thistle/silymarin, dandelion, artichoke, and tribulus terrestris increase glutathione levels and bile flow. I have found Tribulus to be particularly helpful for bile flow. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is a nutritional supplement that also has very beneficial effects on glutathione and liver health.<br /><br />Post edited by: Maff, at: 2009/09/09 16:02

I have tried all of them, particularly milk thistle, lecithin or phosphatidly choline[both], turmeric, URSO[from the doctor], liv52, artichoke, dandelion, SAM-e, NAC, you name it but none of them increase the bile flow, as you can easily tell by looking at the color of your stool, it will be yellow if your liver isn't functioning well and tend to dark brown in it is.
I probably just wasted eighty dollars on the glutathione.who knows, the only to assignsupplement I haven't taken for my liver is glutathione, it might help, then again I have gallstones so that can definitely put a problem into bile flow.

thanks

Hi,

You're absolutely right about the colour of your stool being an indicator of liver health and bile flow. Please try Tribulus terrestris - honestly this has worked wonders for me, turning my stool from pale and fatty to a nice healthy brown colour and very much reducing my liver and intestinal pain.

Search Google Scholar for this herb and you will find studies showing it increases glutathione as well.

...and as an added bonus it is mildly antifungal as well!<br /><br />Post edited by: Maff, at: 2009/09/11 19:47

will do thanks

I have been researching NACand can't find any information about it worsening candida. If anything, people are endorsing NACfor candida sufferers.apparently it helps with the toxins candida secretes.