NAC and Cysteine
I get a newsletter from a person (Dr. H) that has been heavily invested in neurotransmitter testing and treatment for more than 20 years. He has published several peer reviewed articles on the topic. I am always interested in what he has to say as we have been using neurotransmitter support for the better part of two decades ourselves.
One of the topics that Dr. H mentions periodically is glutathione. We are always interested in ways to support glutathione as it is vital for detox and antioxidant pathways. I am pleased that Dr. H acknowledges the importance of glutathione but unlike just about everyone else he sees no reason to use NAC or N-acetylcysteine.
NAC is known as any of the following: N-acetylcysteine, N-acetylcysteine, N-acetyl cysteine, and N-acetyl-L-cysteine.
Effects of NAC
NAC seems to work in two primary ways. One is the glutathione pathway, and the other is the glutamatergic system.
NAC and Glutathione
NAC is a precursor to cysteine and the amount of cysteine is a rate limiting step in glutathione production. We have several blogs and videos on glutathione as it is the key antioxidant and detox agent of the body.
NAC and the Brain
NAC also helps modulate glutamate in the brain. High levels of glutamate have been indicated in psychological disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and some compulsive disorders. NAC and these effects have been and continues to be a subject of a fair amount of promising research.
ALA Helps with Glutathione Synthesis
Although NAC can be converted to cysteine which is one of the three amino acids that makes up glutathione, just adding NAC doesn't seem to increase intracellular levels of glutathione. Enter ALA or alpha lipoic acid.
Alpha lipoic acid is a powerful antioxidant in its own right but also has some other key benefits. ALA is sometimes referred to as a glutathione synthesis cofactor.
Cysteine is the Rate Limiting Step
Studies show that glutathione increases glutathione most likely by its effect on glutathione synthesis enzyme GCL and by helping stimulate cellular uptake of cysteine and as mentioned earlier, the amount of cysteine is a rate limiting step in glutathione synthesis.
ALA also helps recycle other antioxidants such as glutathione cofactors vitamin C and vitamin E and also coQ-10 from its oxidized (inactive) state to reduced (active) state. Alpha lipoic acid is recycled itself by glutathione, vitamin C and vitamin E so these biochemicals work synergistically.
This article began talking about NAC vs cysteine. If that topic didn't seem like a straight line to the conclusion, welcome to the path this investigation took to help come up with a reasonable suggestion for your better health.
Too Much Research Shows Effectiveness of NAC
After spending a fair amount of time looking at cysteine vs N-acetylcysteine, I have concluded that there is just too much research on the benefits of NAC to disregard it as Dr. H would recommend. To improve your chances of having good glutathione levels and therefore better overall health, you will do well to add NAC and alpha lipoic acid to your daily regimen.
Some Product Ideas
One product that could work for you is NuMedica Liver Defend. It contains 250 mg of NAC and 200 mg of alpha lipoic acid. It also contains selenium and Silymarin. If you are OK with extra ingredients, this will be a good way to go. Take one to two caps a day. If you just want the NAC and ALA, you can get NuMedica NAC and Protocol Alpha Lipoic Acid or Pure Encapsulations ALA. The Pure Encapsulations and Protocol formulas comes in several strengths. Many studies suggest that 200-300 mg a day of ALA will stimulate an increase so maybe get the 100 mg caps and take two to three of those a day with two to three NAC a day.
If you are taking a liposomal glutathione like NuMedica Liposomal Glutathione or EuroMedica Clinical Glutathione, I would still take a little NAC and ALA as glutathione is so critical for your health that a belt and suspenders approach will still serve you.
