About NAC - N-acetylcysteine

Produced by the body, N-acetylcysteine (commonly called NAC) is a form of the amino acid cysteine. Because it enhances the production of the enzyme glutathione, one of the body's powerhouse antioxidants, NAC can both stave off disease and play an important role in boosting the immune system.

NAC has also proved invaluable in the treatment of acetaminophen overdose; it appears to protect the liver from this potentially toxic substance. NAC is one of many antioxidants which are believed to protect the body's cells from altered oxygen molecules called free radicals. Damage from free radicals is thought to be a significant factor in such degenerative conditions as cancer and heart disease.

Reduce congestion related to sinusitis, bronchitis, asthma, and other respiratory diseases. For more than three decades, NAC has been used as a mucolytic ("mucus dissolving") agent to help break up the thick mucus often present in people suffering from chronic respiratory ailments, including asthma, bronchitis, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, and emphysema. Conventional physicians routinely use NAC to dilute thick mucus, making it much easier to cough up or drain from the nasal passages and other congested areas. It's often used to ease congestion in people with pneumonia and other chronic respiratory diseases. It has even been shown to reduce mucus secretions in people who smoke or who are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.

Lessen flu symptoms by thinning mucus and weakening the flu virus, supplemental NAC could potentially lessen the severity and duration of the flu.

Prevent heart disease. In some studies, NAC appears to significantly lower levels of homocysteine and possibly lipoprotein(a), substances associated with an increased risk of heart disease. As an antioxidant, it also helps prevent the damaging oxidation--and thereby the precipitation--of LDL ("bad") cholesterol from the material that lines blood vessels. More research in this area is needed, however.

Delay age-related cataracts and macular degeneration. Both of these conditions have been associated with damage from oxygen free radicals. By boosting antioxidant activity in the eye's lens and macula, NAC may have a role to play in preventing cataracts (which cause the lens to become cloudy) and macular degeneration (which can result in blindness as this area of the retina deteriorates).

Counter environmental toxins. NAC-supported glutathione interacts with the dangerous byproducts of many toxic substances, promoting their excretion through the liver. These substances include carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, and carbon monoxide; alcohol; such heavy metals as mercury, chromium, and boron; and the microorganisms aflatoxin and Eschicheria coli.

For the majority of ailments mentioned: Take 500 mg capsules, two to three times a day, on an empty stomach.

For sinusitis: Take 500 mg twice a day between meals.

To help prevent liver toxicity from taking Tyelenol (acetaminophen), alcohol and other toxins, take 500mg 1-2 times a day or combine (smaller dose) with other liver protecting nutrients like those found in the Essential Therapeutics Liver Formula.

Note: High doses (2000mg or more) of oral NAC may cause gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting, or in rare cases a rash possibly accompanied by fever.

From:  Dr. Roger Murphree's Newsletter
 

NAC May Remedy Brain Cell Damage in Boys

4/03/04:-  A supplement form of the amino acid cysteine may be able to help treat brain damage in boys, say US researchers, by replenishing the body’s levels of the powerful antioxidant glutathione.

Scientists at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh showed in animal models that levels of glutathione, which protects brain cells from death when deprived of oxygen, drop by as much as 80 per cent in males after brain injury. When glutathione levels drop, brain cells die much more quickly.

The findings could expand the use of N-acetylcysteine, also known as NAC. Because it enhances the production of the enzyme glutathione, NAC is thought to both stave off disease and play an important role in boosting the immune system. It is already widely administered to protect the liver from paracetamol overdoses, which cause glutathione levels to drop, but it is also available in supplement form in Europe, recommended for preventing and treating a wide variety of ailments that may respond to its antioxidant properties.

Lead investigator Dr Robert Clark said: “Now that we’ve identified low glutathione levels in males with brain injuries, we can begin looking at NAC as a live-saving treatment for those injuries.�?

He added that NAC potentially could be an effective treatment for any injury in a male in which the brain is deprived of oxygen, including cardiac arrest, drowning accidents and severe trauma.

The team also reported that females in the same study responded differently to brain injury : glutathione levels remained constant demonstrating that boys with brain injuries may require different life-saving treatments than girls.

“There is a built-in difference at the brain cell level between males and females. Injured brain cells may eventually die, but they take different pathways to get there in males and females. This means that we may need to develop or use gender-specific therapies for brain injury from any cause,�?said Dr Clark.

The same team are planning further studies to evaluate the effectiveness of NAC in reducing brain damage after an injury.

From www.YoungAgain.com