Whey protein powder has a lot more going for it than just being one of the best proteins for muscle building and repair. It also helps to raise glutathione levels in the body. Glutathione is a key ingredient for the immune system.
Muscle Building and Repair
Whey protein is a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids that we need for the building, repair and maintenance of almost every single cell in the body. Whey protein is also a great source of brain chain amino acids (BCAA). BCAAs are easily digested and metabolized rapidly into muscle tissues. This is the main reason whey is the number one protein for bodybuilders and athletes. Whey protein is also a great source of the amino acid leucine. Studies show that when adequate leucine intake is combined with exercise, it builds more lean muscle and reduces body fat. This also makes whey protein a good choice as part of a diet plan.
The Glutathione Connection
One of the most fundamental health benefits of whey protein is its proven ability to help raise glutathione levels in the body. Glutathione is the ultimate antioxidant. It can be located in every single cell of the body (provided we have enough of it!), protecting them from damage by harmful oxygen molecules called free radicals. The role of glutathione cannot be understated. If you didn't have glutathione in your cells, you would be dead meat. In fact, the glutathione levels in your body is the best biomarker to predict how long and healthy you will live.
Glutathione's ability to protect cells from free-radical damage can greatly reduce our incidence of cancer. If DNA cells are not protected and bombarded by free radical attacks, they can eventually 'cave in' and mutate. This mutation will eventually become cancer, because the proper DNA code is now broken. Mutated cells will begin to grow instead of new healthy cells.
Too many free radicals in the system and not enough antioxidant intake creates a condition called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress, not only increases the risk of diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart disease, but is also the fundamental process that produces premature aging. To get a visual of this, oxidative stress is the very same process that makes metals rust. Yes, this also happens to our cells, making us age. So, ensuring we have enough glutathione in our blood, tissues and cells is a vital key to health and graceful aging.
Glutathione is not something we can take directly as a food source or as a supplement because it gets destroyed by stomach acid. So instead we need to have an adequate supply of the amino acid cysteine. Cysteine combines in the cells with another two amino acids, glycine and glutamate, forming glutathione. It is rare to be deficient in glutamate or glycine, but low levels of cysteine are not uncommon. In fact, low levels of cysteine is one of the key causes of glutathione deficiency. Fortunately whey protein is very high in cysteine and ingesting whey has been scientifically proven to raise glutathione levels. However, some of the whey protein powders in the market have been denatured. This vastly decreases its ability to raise glutathione levels, so I recommend you only choose undenatured whey protein powder. To learn more about whey protein visit what is whey protein powder
Whey protein is a fast absorbing protein source. So it is absorbed very quickly by our body and it reaches our muscle cells immediately. After our workout when our muscles need protein most, it is whey protein that helps us. we can take slow absorbing proteins at other time but immediately after our hard exercises it is whey protein that can give muscle cells their immediate protein needs.