Anyone looking up a glutathione dosage runs into a problem first: compounded glutathione does not come with an approved dosing label. Pharmacies can compound it while FDA evaluates it, and that status sets no amount. So every number below is what a study gave, to whom, and for how long.
What those amounts did to blood levels is covered in depth in liposomal glutathione. This page lines up the doses themselves, route by route.
| Route and study | Amount given | How long | Who took part |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral, single dose (1992) | 0.15 mmol/kg once | 270 minutes of sampling | 7 healthy volunteers |
| Oral, daily (2015) | 250 mg or 1,000 mg a day | 6 months | 54 non-smoking adults |
| Oral, skin study (2012) | 500 mg a day, split in two | 4 weeks | 60 medical students |
| Oral liposomal (2018) | 500 mg or 1,000 mg a day | 1 month | 12 healthy adults |
| Intravenous (2009) | 1,400 mg three times a week | 4 weeks | 21 people with Parkinson's |
| Intranasal (2017) | 100 mg or 200 mg three times a day | 3 months | 45 people with Parkinson's |
Oral doses: one large dose versus months of smaller ones
A 1992 study gave 7 healthy volunteers one oral dose of 0.15 mmol/kg and sampled their blood for 270 minutes [1]. Plasma glutathione did not rise significantly.
The authors blamed breakdown by enzymes in the gut and liver. They concluded that a single 3 g dose could not raise circulating glutathione to a clinically useful extent.
A 2015 trial took the opposite approach: daily doses for six months [2]. It randomized 54 non-smoking adults to 250 mg a day, 1,000 mg a day or placebo.
At the lower dose, glutathione rose 17% in whole blood and 29% in red cells. At 1,000 mg, the rise at six months was 30% to 35% in red cells, plasma and lymphocytes.
The authors describe most increases as dose- and time-dependent. Levels fell back to baseline within a month of stopping, so the effect lasted only as long as the supplement did.
Liposomal doses: two amounts, no clear difference
A 2018 pilot gave 12 healthy adults liposomal glutathione at 500 mg or 1,000 mg a day for one month [3]. It had no placebo group.
Blood levels rose within a week, with the largest increases at two weeks. The two dose groups did not differ, but the authors note that the small sample limited statistical power.
The study was funded by a company that sells liposomal glutathione to health care professionals.
The skin study dose
A Thai trial gave 60 medical students 500 mg a day, split into two doses, or placebo for four weeks [4]. Melanin fell at all six skin sites measured on glutathione.
The difference from placebo was significant at two of the six sites only. The full skin record is in glutathione for skin.
The intravenous dose
A randomized pilot trial gave 1,400 mg by vein three times a week for four weeks [5]. Its 21 participants had Parkinson’s disease that their usual medicines were not controlling well.
Glutathione was well tolerated, with no withdrawals for adverse events. Symptom scores did not differ significantly from placebo.
The same 1,400 mg amount appears in a 2019 FDA report on seven patients at one outpatient clinic [7]. Each received 7 mL of a 200 mg/mL compounded injection, and symptoms began within minutes.
FDA attributed those reactions to potentially high endotoxin levels in the ingredient. In August 2026 it reported at least 30 more patients with adverse events after IV glutathione made from dietary supplement grade ingredient [8].
In both reports, the problem FDA named was the ingredient, not the amount. IV trials for skin lightening, and the rest of the injected record, are in glutathione injections.
The intranasal dose
A phase IIb trial randomized 45 people with Parkinson’s disease to saline, 100 mg or 200 mg of glutathione into the nose, three times a day for three months [6].
Every group improved, placebo included, and neither dose was superior to placebo. One participant in the 200 mg group developed cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle.
What the doses add up to
Across these studies, oral amounts ran from 250 mg to 1,000 mg a day. The IV and nasal amounts here come from trials in Parkinson’s disease.
The trials show which amounts raised blood levels or were tolerated for weeks. None set a dose for treating any condition, and none of them ran longer than six months.
Reported reactions, including the endotoxin clusters, are collected in glutathione side effects. For other approaches to healthy aging, start at the longevity goal page.