While Mighty On Their Own, Vitamin C & Glutathione Are Much Stronger Together

Vitamin C is famed for its antioxidant properties and regularly referenced as an important tool for combating oxidative stress in the body (especially when it comes to skin care).* But there's another potent antioxidant whose actions are amplified in your body thanks to vitamin C (and vice versa): We're talking about our "master antioxidant" glutathione.*

While many people have never even heard of glutathione before, experts—and research—say it plays an important (actually critical) role in fueling antioxidant pathways in your body.* In fact, glutathione is found in nearly every cell1 in your body and is important for detoxing chemicals, pollutants, and other modern stressors and toxins.* 

Glutathione has two major roles in the body, explains Alexander Michels, Ph.D., clinical research coordinator at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. "It is an antioxidant and a central part of the body's detoxification mechanisms," he says, "so it is vital for both maintaining your defense against free radicals and certain types of toxins."*

Vitamin C can help promote healthy glutathione levels2 in your white blood cells while also supporting the master antioxidant's overall activity, says Keri Gans, RDN, dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet.* 

"Since vitamin C and glutathione are both antioxidants, they help remove some of the same free radicals from the body,"* Michels says. "When you keep your vitamin C levels high, you are taking some of the pressure off glutathione," which, he says, allows glutathione to help with other functions, like supporting natural detox pathways.*

To sum things up, glutathione and vitamin C are far more beneficial together than they are apart. "Both are powerful antioxidants working together to protect us against free radicals,"* Gans says. And let's be real, you can never have too much antioxidant activity when it comes to whole-body health and longevity.