July, 2007.   A ground-breaking independent study was conducted at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa Israel using our Liposomal Glutathione with a special breed of Apolipoprotein E-deficient mice genetically engineered to develop atherosclerosis.   Atherosclerosis is the name of the process in which deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium, and other substances build up in the inner lining of an artery.  This buildup is called plaque and usually affects large and medium size arteries, leading to what is called hardening of the arteries.  This study has shown that the Liposomal Glutathione significantly reduced oxidative stress and reduced cholesterol deposits in the mice when taken over a 2 month period.

Researchers Mira Rosenblat, Nina Volkova, Raymond Coleman, and Michael Aviram administered the liposomal glutathione and a liposomal placebo to the mice over a two month period.  Only the liposomal glutathione inhibited low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) oxidation.  In the mice, consumption of liposomal glutathione (12.5 or 50 mg per kilogram per day for 2 months), but not the control liposomes, reduced serum suceptibility to oxidation by 33%.  The higher does of glutathione (50mg/kg/day) consumption increased the perotneal macrophages (MPM) glutathione content in the mice by 12%, paralleled by a significant reduction in total cellular lipid peroxides content (by 40%), compared to placebo treated mice. 

Analyses of the cellular cholesterol fluxes revealed that liposomal glutathione (12.5 mg/kg/day) consumption, decreased the extent of oxidized LDL uptake by 17% and the cellular cholesterol biosynthesis rate by 34%, and stimulated HDL-induced  macrophage cholesterol efflux by 19%.  Most importantly, cholesterol mass was reduced by 17% and atherosclerotic lesions were reduced by 30%!

These genetically engineered mice are a gold standard by which pharmaceutical drugs for reducing cholesterol are tested prior to human trials, as there is a close correlation between the cholesterol metabolism in these mice and humans.  This research increases the likelihood that the glutathione will have the same effect in people.