You’re working out hard, pushing your body so that you can perform better and all the while your body is producing free radicals, or harmful molecules that can damage cell function and muscle tissue, hindering your recovery time after training and resulting in muscle loss and inflammation. Your body is being subjected to oxidative stress.

Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant that you need to keep you healthy and disease free. Glutathione is not like any other antioxidants. It is the only antioxidant that resides within your cells, which acts as the main regulator. It is the master detoxifier. Your body produces its own glutathione, unfortunately, due to pollution, toxins, poor diet, stress, aging and infections all deplete your glutathione. This leaves you vulnerable to free radicals, oxidative stress from training, and infections that can damage your body. Glutathione is an important antioxidant to help the liver filter waste.

Many people get confused between antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, which is quite understandable given that many phytochemicals possess both properties. Most flavanoids, for example are both, although the mechanisms are quite different. Here we shall discuss each and then apply that knowledge to the needs of runners and athletes in general.

Organic cocoa does much more than just improve the taste of the product. It supplies more antioxidants than red wine or green tea, helping to fight cancer-causing free radicals in the body.

Your body’s energy is produced through a process known as cellular respiration: this is where your cells use the nutrients you’ve ingested through food, along with the air you breathe, and transform them into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) – the fuel for cellular energy.