People hospitalised with Covid-19 infection had much higher levels of oxidative stress, oxidant damage, and significantly lower levels of glutathione, the most abundant physiological antioxidant, according to US researchers.

The accumulation of free radicals, highly reactive chemicals that can harm cells, membranes, lipids, proteins, and DNA, causes oxidative stress. To defend themselves against oxidative stress, cells in the body produce glutathione. When cells fail to neutralise free radicals, they can cause detrimental cellular damage that can impact a variety of physiological functions.

While oxidative stress is more likely to affect the elderly, a study published in the journal Antioxidants shown that Covid infection can affect young people as well.

"A number of conditions, including ageing, diabetes, HIV infection, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disorders, neurometabolic diseases, obesity, and others, are associated with increased oxidative stress and reduced glutathione levels," said corresponding author Dr Rajagopal Sekhar, associate professor of medicine in the section of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at Baylor College of Medicine.

The findings also imply that supplementing with GlyNAC - a combination of glutathione precursors that has been demonstrated to minimise oxidative stress and oxidant damage, as well as enhance glutathione and improve health markers like inflammation - could be beneficial to Covid-19 patients. GlyNAC supplementation, on the other hand, has yet to be investigated in conjunction with Covid-19.

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