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Elevated Cysteine and Glutamate, Low Glutathione?

Messages
3
Hoping someone can help me interpret these Nutreval results. My understanding is that Cysteine and Glutamate are the precursors for Glutathione, so if my cysteine and glutamate are high, but glutathione is still low, it seems to me that supplementing with more amino acids, like whey protein, is not going to help. All of my amino acids are low, except for these two. I eat tons of protein, which must mean that its not getting absorbed. So what is the best way to boost glutathione? Is there some sort of enzyme that might be missing, that helps to turn cysteine and glutamate into glutathione?
Adding to the picture is a clear case of bacterial dysbiosis- wondering if that might be the root cause.
Thank you so much for any thoughts on this!
 
Messages
15,786
@LT1027 - Glutathione is formed from the combination of three amino acids: Cysteine, Glutamate, and Glycine.

With low glutathione, it suggests that you might need more of one of those. And with two of them being high, it's pretty likely that it's Glycine supplementation which would help.
 

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
Those amino acids are the building blocks but the factory is the methylation cycle, isn't it?

Did you check your methylation status? Maybe assessing the levels of B12, B2, B6, folate and homocysteine could give you a clue for potential problems. They are not a precise measure but if any of those are not optimal there is probably a methylation issue.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Hoping someone can help me interpret these Nutreval results. My understanding is that Cysteine and Glutamate are the precursors for Glutathione, so if my cysteine and glutamate are high, but glutathione is still low, it seems to me that supplementing with more amino acids, like whey protein, is not going to help. All of my amino acids are low, except for these two. I eat tons of protein, which must mean that its not getting absorbed. So what is the best way to boost glutathione? Is there some sort of enzyme that might be missing, that helps to turn cysteine and glutamate into glutathione?
Adding to the picture is a clear case of bacterial dysbiosis- wondering if that might be the root cause.
Thank you so much for any thoughts on this!

Could mean your in a catabolic state not necessarily not absorbing protein. Your body is breaking down quicker then building back up when in a catabolic state. This is what causes muscle wasting in hiv patients and other severe illnesses which causes muscle wasting.

As u have tried, increase protein intake helps. There are other aminos which reduce catabolic states such as hmb, okg and glutamine. Optimal sex hormones such as testosterone play an important part.

If you think there's absorption issues than iv aminos and other nutrients could help??

Good luck
 
Messages
3
Thank you so much for your responses! According to the Nutreval Interpetive Guide that I got from this site (fantastic!), I don't seem to have markers that indicate a methylation problem. i.e. succinic acid and malice acid are fine, carnitine is fine, pyroglutamic acid is fine, creatinine is fine, methionine is fine.
OK, at this point I have to admit that I don't really know exactly what methylation is, but it seems I am ok in that department. Things that ARE off:
B deficiency (high protein intake but low amino acids)
Manganese deficiency (high glutamic acid and low glutamine)
High cysteine/ low cystine (???)
Beta aminoisobutyric acid is super high. (???)
Ornithine is super high (deficiencies in zinc, B6, alphaKG?)
Lineolic/DGLA is super high. (B, zinc, magnesium deficiency?)
Glutathione is at the very low end of normal, so not too bad.

OK, so my question is this- if my diet is super nutrient dense, but somehow protein is not being absorbed sufficiently, nor are the vitamins and minerals necessary to do that, and my glutathione is low, how can supplementing with more aminos and vitamins help, if my body isn't able to absorb them? Does that mean that the bacterial dysbiosis is the root problem of everything, and that is also the answer to everything?
Does getting IV amino acids and vitamins bypass the whole digestive problem?
Heapsreal, I am wondering what hmb and okg are. And I do exercise and I do have muscles, although at 54 years old I do feel that I am losing them fast. But not exactly muscle wasting.
My general symptoms, by the way, are a general fatigue that gets really bad if I exert too much, super dry skin, weak fingernails, frequent low grade illness that can last for 4-6 weeks.
Thank you so much, everybody- this site is a great resource. My naturopath will be back in two weeks, but I want to have some understanding of this first.

Any insights and suggestions for treatment are welcome.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Thank you so much for your responses! According to the Nutreval Interpetive Guide that I got from this site (fantastic!), I don't seem to have markers that indicate a methylation problem. i.e. succinic acid and malice acid are fine, carnitine is fine, pyroglutamic acid is fine, creatinine is fine, methionine is fine.
OK, at this point I have to admit that I don't really know exactly what methylation is, but it seems I am ok in that department. Things that ARE off:
B deficiency (high protein intake but low amino acids)
Manganese deficiency (high glutamic acid and low glutamine)
High cysteine/ low cystine (???)
Beta aminoisobutyric acid is super high. (???)
Ornithine is super high (deficiencies in zinc, B6, alphaKG?)
Lineolic/DGLA is super high. (B, zinc, magnesium deficiency?)
Glutathione is at the very low end of normal, so not too bad.

OK, so my question is this- if my diet is super nutrient dense, but somehow protein is not being absorbed sufficiently, nor are the vitamins and minerals necessary to do that, and my glutathione is low, how can supplementing with more aminos and vitamins help, if my body isn't able to absorb them? Does that mean that the bacterial dysbiosis is the root problem of everything, and that is also the answer to everything?
Does getting IV amino acids and vitamins bypass the whole digestive problem?
Heapsreal, I am wondering what hmb and okg are. And I do exercise and I do have muscles, although at 54 years old I do feel that I am losing them fast. But not exactly muscle wasting.
My general symptoms, by the way, are a general fatigue that gets really bad if I exert too much, super dry skin, weak fingernails, frequent low grade illness that can last for 4-6 weeks.
Thank you so much, everybody- this site is a great resource. My naturopath will be back in two weeks, but I want to have some understanding of this first.

Any insights and suggestions for treatment are welcome.

Have u had any hormone testing. Optimal hormones can have u in an anabolic state and able to use nutrients alot more efficiently then if in a catabolic state.

Hormone testing is either something to help u rule out its not an issue or if low than chase after it and fix these hormone levels??

So im not saying it isnt an absorption issue but just giving you another angle to look from too.

Theres also a big difference between what is normal and what is optimal for hormones too, eg for men optimal testosterone levels are in the upper third of the normal range. testosterone levels that just sneak into the normal range might be normal for a 70 y/o male but definately not normal for say a 40 y/o male, something to keep in mind.
 
Messages
15,786
OK, so my question is this- if my diet is super nutrient dense, but somehow protein is not being absorbed sufficiently, nor are the vitamins and minerals necessary to do that, and my glutathione is low, how can supplementing with more aminos and vitamins help, if my body isn't able to absorb them?
It probably isn't an absorption problem.

What could be happening is that your body is using up a lot more glutathione than usual. Hence your body has been trying to ramp up production but is limited by Glycine.

If you take Glycine, it will combine with the Cysteine and Glutamate to form Glutathione. Glutathione then rises, and Cysteine and Glutamate lower because they are being used up to make the Glutathione. Lowering Glutamate can then help with other issues, as it's quite nasty to have too much of it.
 
Messages
3
Thanks, Valentijn. Any thoughts about what might make a body use up lots of glutathione? And what is nasty about having elevated glutamate? And, one more question, what makes you think it is NOT an absorption problem? Thank you!
 
Messages
15,786
Thanks, Valentijn. Any thoughts about what might make a body use up lots of glutathione? And what is nasty about having elevated glutamate? And, one more question, what makes you think it is NOT an absorption problem? Thank you!
Detoxing requires glutathione.

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter. An excess can cause the brain to feel like it won't shut up, even when exhausted.

I think it's not an absorption problem because it looks like a very straight-forward glutathione problem :p
 
Messages
16
It probably isn't an absorption problem.

What could be happening is that your body is using up a lot more glutathione than usual. Hence your body has been trying to ramp up production but is limited by Glycine.

If you take Glycine, it will combine with the Cysteine and Glutamate to form Glutathione. Glutathione then rises, and Cysteine and Glutamate lower because they are being used up to make the Glutathione. Lowering Glutamate can then help with other issues, as it's quite nasty to have too much of it.

Could this work if I have the exact issues that the OP has (elevated glutamate, low glutathione) plus elevated Mercury? I read that elevated mercury people should not take cysteine (NAC) as it "pings mercury all over the body without removing it". So maybe glycine also works for people like me?