Technical preparation of glutathione liposomes for food applications

What is glutathione?

Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide that can be naturally synthesized by human cells, composed of glutamic acid, cystine and glycine.

Glutathione has multiple physiological activities such as antioxidation, detoxification, anti-aging, immunity enhancement and anti-tumor, and is widely used in the fields of food, medicine, cosmetics and health products in the big health sector.

global market situation of glutathione

At present, the United States, Europe, China and Japan are the main consumption regions of glutathione.

The application of glutathione is mature in the European, North American and Southeast Asian markets, mainly in the fields of cosmetics and health products. In the European market, cosmetics, personal care products and health products with functions such as antioxidation, immunity enhancement, liver protection, detoxification and whitening have greatly promoted the application of glutathione.

The Chinese market is still in its infancy, with applications mainly concentrated in the medical field. Related products have been widely used in clinical practice as detoxifiers, antioxidants, antihistamines, etc., and are the main treatment drugs for liver diseases and auxiliary treatment drugs for many diseases.

With the growth of people's income and the improvement of health awareness, the demand for nutritional health products continues to increase, which will drive the development of the glutathione industry.

The global glutathione market size exceeded 195 million US dollars in 2020. Due to its wide application in the fields of medicine, cosmetics, food and health products, it is expected that the compound annual growth rate will exceed 7% by 2027.

The current market price is approximately 5,000 to 8,000 yuan per kilogram, and the main suppliers are concentrated in Japan and China.

Kyowa Hakko Bio Co., Ltd. of Japan is a global leader in glutathione production. The glutathione produced by its fermentation method is highly safe with a purity of 99.0% to 101.0%, and can be used in pharmaceutical raw materials, biotechnology, cosmetics and dietary supplements. Setria glutathione, launched in Indonesia in 2019, has a global influence.

Glutathione produced by KOHJIN Life Sciences of Japan is the world's only natural high-concentration product (purity > 98%) made from edible yeast, Candida prion (non-GMO), and has been recognized as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the FDA.

Shandong Jincheng Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. of China is one of the two major global suppliers of glutathione raw materials. It collaborates with Japan's Zhonghua Co., Ltd. to produce glutathione through fermentation using liquid sugar and yeast powder as raw materials and the strains provided by the company.

In 2020, the output reached 500 tons, with a global market share of over 80%. However, the core production technology relies on Japan's Zhonghua Co., LTD., and there is a lack of completely independent core technology.

Anhui GSH Bio-Technology Co.,LTD. in China uses molecular biology and synthetic biology to produce glutathione through enzymatic catalysis.

Take the US market as an example. In the past three years, the annual import volume of glutathione has reached 350 tons, mainly from China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

Under the influence of factors such as the rising incidence of cancer, the normalization of the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental pollution, consumers' demands for enhancing immunity, anti-pollution, and anti-aging have increased, further promoting the development of the glutathione industry.

application of glutathione in food

In the food industry, the strong antioxidant property of glutathione has attracted much attention:

Processing level: It is applied in dairy products, meat, baby food, seasonings, etc., and can play the roles of antioxidation, inhibition of Browning, extension of shelf life, and enhancement of flavor.

Functional level: As a functional active factor, it is used in the production of functional foods and oral health products.

With the improvement of living standards and health awareness, people are paying more attention to disease prevention, enhancing physical fitness and prolonging life.

Glutathione can eliminate free radicals in the body, participate in biotransformation to promote the excretion of harmful substances, maintain normal immune function, and has the functions of antioxidation, detoxification, anti-aging, anti-fatigue, and relieving hangovers. Therefore, it is widely used as a functional active factor and added to various health products.

In developed countries such as North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and South Korea, functional health foods with glutathione as a bioactive fortifier have dominated the market. Products related to brands such as Puritan's Pride from the United States, GNC, Drinkwel from the United States, and LAC from Singapore.

application issues of glutathione

Apart from the special odor containing sulfur, the stability of glutathione is the main application obstacle:

As a peptide substance, it has poor natural stability and is prone to oxidation and decomposition in water, thus becoming ineffective. It is difficult to maintain its activity during production, transportation and storage.

Glutathione is not easy to pass through cell membranes and has a low bioavailability. These factors all limit its application.