Inhaled glutathione for the prevention of air pollution-related health effects: a brief review.

Exposure to air pollution is associated with significant adverse health effects, such as cardiovascular disease and asthma. Most current research trends focus on quantifying illnesses or deaths attributable to air pollutants, but limited research has examined potential methods of preventing these effects. The mainstay of conventional therapies lies in the treatment of exposure-related diseases, not prevention strategies. Few medical interventions seek to protect the lungs directly. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners are widely recognized, and often criticized, for administering therapeutic substances based on biochemical plausibility or pre-clinical studies. One widely used CAM intervention that specifically targets the Slung is inhalation of the antioxidant glutathione. Inhaled glutathione is commonly used in the CAM community to treat a number of conditions, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, sinusitis, and chemical sensitivity. Evidence suggests that inhaled glutathione rapidly increases pulmonary glutathione levels, providing a potential preventive intervention in the presence of environmental oxidants (eg, air pollutants). Enhancing pulmonary glutathione levels may reduce or eliminate systemic effects of air pollutants; however, no controlled studies have evaluated this potential. This article briefly reviews a major air pollutant (particulate matter) and the natural defense system against its toxicity and propose a pilot study to investigate the potential of inhaled glutathione to blunt its adverse effects.