Reduced Glutathione with Vitamin C Tablets and Sachets

Reduced L-glutathione (CAS 70-18-8, EC 200-725-4, C10H17N3O6S, molecular weight 307.32, PubChem CID 124886) is the tripeptide gamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine, and the gamma linkage - formed from glutamate's side-chain carboxyl rather than its alpha-carboxyl - is what distinguishes it from an ordinary glutamyl peptide. Commercial food-grade material is made by yeast fermentation, normally with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and is bought on an assay of not less than 98 percent; the fermentation route is why the ingredient is vegan and why it is preferred over recombinant bacterial routes for food use. The oxidised dimer GSSG (CAS 27025-41-8) and S-acetyl-L-glutathione are different articles with their own specifications and are quoted separately, so a document that only says glutathione is not yet a specification. The vitamin C side is straightforward by comparison: L-ascorbic acid (CAS 50-81-7, EC 200-066-2, C6H8O6, molecular weight 176.12) on the USP assay of 99.0 to 100.5 percent, with sodium ascorbate (CAS 134-03-2) or calcium ascorbate available where a buffered, less acidic salt suits the format, and coated or directly compressible grades where tablet tooling demands them. The pairing is a stability problem before it is a marketing one. Glutathione's free thiol oxidises to GSSG in the presence of moisture, oxygen and trace metal ions, and ascorbic acid is itself a strong reducing agent that browns and loses assay under the same conditions, so the two protect each other in solution but degrade together in a badly packed solid. That makes format a genuine engineering decision rather than a preference. A stick sachet takes a larger dose, dissolves completely and can be sealed in a laminate with a real moisture and oxygen barrier; a tablet is more convenient at retail but adds compression heat, more surface area during processing and a longer residence in the plant. Whichever is chosen, blending, compression or filling run under controlled low humidity, the pack is alu-alu blister or a foil laminate rather than a plain HDPE bottle, and the stability and retest programme is written around glutathione assay and the GSSG figure rather than around vitamin C alone, because glutathione is the component that moves first. This is the category where regulatory trouble is most likely, so the wording position should be settled before artwork is drawn. Skin-lightening, whitening, brightening and depigmenting claims are not permitted marketing for a food supplement in the EU and several regulators police them actively. Thovek supplies this product as an oral food supplement only, and does not supply, formulate or endorse injectable glutathione, which is the subject of standing regulatory warnings in a number of markets. On what may be said, Regulation (EU) 432/2012 authorises the claim that vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, subject to the product being a source of vitamin C - 15 percent of the 80 mg nutrient reference value in Annex XIII of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, so 12 mg per portion - while glutathione carries no authorised EU health claim of any kind and must be described by composition. The allergen and origin picture is clean and commercially useful: both actives are non-animal, the product is vegan and vegetarian, and there is no milk, egg, fish, crustacean, soy, peanut, tree nut or gluten input, though buyers writing a maize-free specification should note that ascorbic acid is normally manufactured from glucose of maize origin.