Glutathione 600 mg vial dosage

What Glutathione is

Class:

Endogenous tripeptide antioxidant (gamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine)

Also called:

GSH, L-Glutathione, Reduced Glutathione, Glutathione Injection, Glutathione Push

Used for:

Naturally synthesized in nearly all human cells as the body's principal intracellular antioxidant. Sold as an oral dietary supplement, and marketed by IV/wellness clinics and online sellers as an injectable "glutathione push" or "skin whitening" infusion - a use with no FDA-approved product behind it.

Human evidence:

Limited human data. FDA's own June 2022 evaluation for the compounding bulks list found there is "either no available information or insufficient evidence of effectiveness of glutathione" for any of the 24 uses it reviewed, including skin lightening. Published human trials are small: oral RCTs of 54-83 participants show mixed, modest effects on skin pigmentation or antioxidant markers, and a 2025 systematic review found only one placebo-controlled human trial of the IV/injectable route, which was not statistically significant. This rating covers the marketed skin-lightening and general-wellness uses; it is not a rating of glutathione's well-established biochemical role inside the body.

Half-life:

About 14 minutes in plasma after an IV infusion (2 g/m2, 10 healthy volunteers) - consistent with the 10-15 minute range FDA's own reviewers cite. This describes how fast exogenous IV glutathione clears from blood, not how long any effect lasts.

US status:

Dietary supplement. Oral glutathione is lawfully sold as a dietary supplement in the US. No glutathione product of any kind - oral, injectable or otherwise - has ever been approved by the FDA as a drug. Injectable/IV glutathione is not an approved product: FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee evaluated it for the 503A compounding bulks list in June 2022, FDA's own staff recommended against including it, and the committee voted 8-5-1 to recommend it anyway. FDA has not adopted that recommendation - as of its May 2026 list update, glutathione sits in "Category 1: Under Evaluation," neither added to the approved list nor rejected from it.

The full picture, with every study: Glutathione guide.

How to mix a 600 mg Glutathione vial

For this vial: 10 mL of bacteriostatic water makes 60 mg/mL, so 200 mg is 3.33 mL (more than one 1 mL syringe holds). Pick a different volume from the units table if you want bigger or smaller draws; the number of doses stays the same.

1. Wipe the rubber stoppers of both the peptide vial and the bacteriostatic water vial with an alcohol swab and let the alcohol dry. ^[3][4]
2. With a new sterile needle and syringe, draw up the amount of bacteriostatic water you have chosen for the dilution. ^[3][4][5]
3. Inject the water into the peptide vial by aiming the stream against the inside glass wall, which helps prevent foaming. ^[6]
4. Swirl or roll the vial gently until the powder has fully dissolved; do not shake it. Do not inject the solution if it is cloudy or has particles in it. ^[3][4][6]
5. Label the vial with the date and time it was mixed, the amount of water added and how long it can be used after mixing. ^[3]
6. Store the mixed vial in the refrigerator at 2-8°C (36-46°F) and do not freeze it. ^[6]

Step by step with pictures: how to reconstitute peptides. About the water itself: bacteriostatic water.

Storing Glutathione vials

• Freeze-dried (lyophilized) peptide keeps far longer than peptide in solution; peptide suppliers advise storing the powder at -20°C away from bright light. ^[7]
• Protect peptide vials from heat and light. ^[7][8]
• Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles; a prescription peptide label also says not to freeze a vial once it has been mixed. ^[6][7]
• Once a multi-dose vial, such as bacteriostatic water, has been opened (needle-punctured), date it and discard it within 28 days unless its manufacturer states another date. ^[9][10]

More detail: peptide storage and shelf life.

Injecting safely

The common Glutathione protocol is an intramuscular injection, so the subcutaneous technique used for most peptides does not apply here; see the full Glutathione dosing page.

Hygiene and warning signs

• Use a new sterile needle and syringe for every injection and every time you enter a vial; never reuse them. ^[5][9][11]
• Never share needles, syringes or pens with anyone, even if the needle is changed; unsafe injection practices spread hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. ^[5][8][9]
• Put used needles and syringes in a sharps disposal container straight away (FDA-cleared if possible), never loose in the trash, recycling or toilet, and dispose of the container following your community's guidelines. ^[12][13]
• Contact a health care provider if the injection site shows signs of infection, such as redness, swelling, red streaks or a fever. ^[11]

How Glutathione works

• Glutathione is a small peptide made inside the cells of every mammalian tissue and is the most abundant non-protein thiol (sulphur-containing compound) in them. It defends cells against oxidative stress, helps detoxify foreign chemicals, and takes part in redox signalling and immune function. ^[14]
• Cells build it in two enzyme steps in the cytosol. How much they make depends mainly on the supply of the amino acid cysteine and on the activity of the first enzyme, glutamate-cysteine ligase. ^[14]
• Given intravenously to 10 healthy volunteers, glutathione raised plasma levels from about 17.5 to 823 micromol/L and was cleared with a half-life of about 14 minutes. Plasma cysteine rose sharply, and the pattern suggested cysteine was being taken up into cells. ^[15]
• For skin lightening, the proposed mechanism is that glutathione blocks the tyrosinase pathway and shifts pigment production from darker eumelanin towards lighter pheomelanin. A 2026 review judges that link to real-world results uncertain. ^[16]

What the Glutathione research found

Human evidence: limited human data. Each result says what was studied.

• Human studyIn a 6-month randomised, double-blind trial in 54 non-smoking adults, oral glutathione at 250 or 1,000 mg a day raised glutathione levels in blood; at the higher dose, levels in red cells, plasma and lymphocytes rose 30-35%. Levels returned to baseline within a month of stopping. ^[17]
• Human studyIn a 4-week randomised, double-blind trial in 60 medical students, oral glutathione 500 mg a day lowered the skin melanin index more than placebo at 2 of the 6 sites measured. ^[18]
• Human studyIn a 12-week randomised, double-blind trial completed by 83 Indonesian adults, an oral supplement of glutathione with vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid and zinc reduced pigmentation measures slightly more than placebo, but the differences were not statistically significant. ^[19]
• Human studyA 2025 systematic review found only one placebo-controlled trial of intravenous glutathione for skin lightening, and its result was not statistically significant (6 of 16 responders against 3 of 16, p = 0.054). The authors concluded IV glutathione is contraindicated for skin lightening, citing lack of efficacy and side effects. ^[20]
• Human studyIn an open-label study with no control group, 34 people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease took oral glutathione 300 mg a day for 4 months after 3 months of lifestyle change; in the 29 who finished, the liver enzyme ALT fell significantly. ^[21]

Glutathione side effects and risks

No glutathione product has been approved by FDA as a drug, and no study has examined the safety of repeated intravenous glutathione over the long term.

• Regulator reviewFDA's 2022 review of its adverse-event database for intravenous glutathione found two cases of anaphylaxis, one of which recurred when the person was given it again, and a case of liver injury with liver enzymes 22 to 26 times normal. Speaking for the compounding groups that nominated glutathione, a presenter at the same meeting argued that the published case reports FDA cited for liver injury and anaphylaxis did not show glutathione was the cause. ^[22]
• Regulator reviewIn clinical studies of intravenous glutathione reviewed by FDA, abnormal liver tests and anaphylaxis led to stopping treatment; other reported effects were infusion-site reactions, hair loss, digestive upset, sleep difficulties and dizziness. Oral glutathione was linked mainly to non-specific digestive complaints. ^[22]
• Regulator reviewIn January 2019, seven clinic patients given 1,400 mg of intravenous glutathione compounded from supplement-grade powder developed nausea, vomiting, light-headedness, chills, body aches or sneezing within minutes; one was taken to hospital with low blood pressure and breathing difficulty. FDA found the powder contained excessive bacterial endotoxin. ^[23]
• Human studyA 2025 case report describes a previously healthy woman taking tirzepatide, with a low food intake, who went into shock with a temperature above 41°C, liver injury and blood-clotting abnormalities within an hour of a high-dose unregulated glutathione infusion for skin lightening. She recovered with supportive care. ^[24]
• Human studyA 2016 review found that the glutathione trials it identified lasted only a few doses (intravenous) or 4 to 12 weeks, and that no study had reported long-term intravenous use. It warned that shifting skin pigment from brown to red melanin may raise the risk of sun-induced skin cancer in people whose skin was previously protected. ^[25]
• Human studyIn the oral skin-lightening trials, the 4-week study's authors reported both glutathione and placebo as very well tolerated, and in the 12-week study both groups had only mild side effects, confined to the first four weeks. ^[18][19]

Other things to know

• FDA's own compounding evaluation documented IV-specific adverse events: 2 cases of anaphylaxis (one patient reacted again on rechallenge), hepatotoxicity with liver enzymes measured at 22-26 times normal, plus infusion-site reactions, hair loss, gastrointestinal disturbances, sleep difficulties and dizziness. FDA's presenter stated plainly: "there are no studies on IV glutathione safety for chronic use."
• In February 2019, FDA warned that dietary-supplement-grade L-glutathione powder used by compounders to make sterile injectables tested positive for bacterial endotoxin at up to five times the acceptable limit, and documented hospitalizations in patients given IV doses of 1,400 mg and 2,400 mg in October 2018 and January 2019.
• FDA has taken enforcement action against injectable glutathione "whitening kits" sold as unapproved new drugs, including a January 2018 recall covering products like Relumins, Tatiomax, Saluta, Tationil, Reiki and TAD.
• Foreign regulators have gone further than the FDA: the Philippines FDA has warned against IV glutathione for skin lightening after adverse events including Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, and Thai authorities banned the practice over anaphylaxis risk.
• Shifting melanin production away from darker, UV-protective eumelanin toward pheomelanin may increase the risk of sun-induced skin damage in people whose skin was previously more protected - a concern raised in both FDA's own evaluation and the published literature.

Reported side effects and what the studies measured: Glutathione side effects.

Where this vial size comes from

Glutathione is sold as a 600 mg vial by the pages below, each checked on the date shown. I list them as evidence that this size exists, not as a recommendation to buy from them.

• Loti LabsvendorLists it as: Glutathione 600mg · checked 2026-09-28
• SwissChemsvendorLists it as: Glutathione, 600mg SKU: INJ-GLUTA-600 · checked 2026-09-28
• Next Level PharmvendorLists it as: Size dropdown options: 400mg / 600mg / 1500mg · checked 2026-09-28

The doses come from the sourced common protocol on the Glutathione dosing page, and every number on this page is arithmetic on those doses and this vial size.

Other Glutathione vial sizes

• 600 mg
• 1,500 mg vial

Questions

How much water do I add to a 600 mg Glutathione vial?

There is no single correct amount: water changes how many units a dose is, not how many doses the vial holds. With 10 mL the vial is 60 mg/mL and 200 mg is 3.33 mL (more than one 1 mL syringe holds). The units table gives 5, 10 mL.

How many doses are in a 600 mg Glutathione vial?

3 doses at 200 mg.

How long does a 600 mg Glutathione vial last?

At 200 mg a dose and 1-3 times weekly, about 1-3 weeks. How long a mixed vial keeps is a separate limit; see storage below.

How many 600 mg vials do I need for a 4-week run?

2 vials at 200 mg 1 time a week for 4 weeks; 24 vials at 1,200 mg 3 times a week for 4 weeks.

What does 1 unit equal in a 600 mg Glutathione vial?

1.2 mg with 5 mL, 600 mcg with 10 mL of bacteriostatic water, on a U-100 syringe.