An important antioxidant
• Protects the heart
• Boosts levels of the body's best antioxidant
• Improves immunity
• Protects against toxins

An antioxidant precursor
NAC is a highly efficient form of cysteine and has a number of health benefits. Cysteine is the most important precursor for glutathione (GSH), one of the body's hardest working antioxidants. NAC also helps heart health, immunity, and detoxification.

Heart health and other benefits
NAC protects the heart by preventing bad cholesterol from being oxidized, lowering levels of the dangerous amino acid homocysteine, and quenching free radicals to prevent cellular damage. NAC also protects against the damage caused by ischemia and reperfusion. GSH, which has a strong influence on the function of immune cells, is impaired during HIV infections. NAC increases GSH levels, and has been shown to block HIV production in cellular studies. It also helps prevent influenza. NAC provides protection against toxins such as pollutants, drugs, microorganisms and heavy metals. It also reduces the viscosity of mucus to help people with diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and cystic fibrosis.

Accessible to cells
Cells cannot absorb preformed glutathione. As the precursor for this important antioxidant, NAC provides a wide range of health benefits.

N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine, or NAC, is an amino acid that acts as an antioxidant and is a precursor in the body to glutathione (GSH), a critical antioxidant. NAC is a more stable form of the amino acid cysteine. NAC is also more bioavailable and 6 times as cost-effective as the tripeptide glutathione. Glutathione consists of three amino acids: cysteine, glutamic acid and glycine. The body breaks this tripeptide apart before absorption, but the rate limiting (most valuable) amino acid for the purpose of making glutathione is the cysteine. Therefore, simply taking NAC makes much more sense.

Mechanism of action
Most of the beneficial effects of orally administered NAC are theorized to be a result of increased source of GSH groups. NAC can stimulate GSH synthesis, enhance glutathione-s-transferase activity, promote detoxification and act as an antioxidant.

Clinical Applications

1. Heart disease: Research has pinpointed a specific lipoprotein called Lp(a) as one of the two most reliable indicators of heart disease. Lp(a) is a much more reliable indicator than blood cholesterol levels, low density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, or the ratio of LDL to HDL. Diets and drugs designed to lower blood cholesterol levels do not lower Lp(a) levels. Recently, it was reported that NAC is the most effective nutrient known to lower Lp(a) levels. NAC also inhibits heart damage by preventing LDL from being oxidized, by reducing plasma homocysteine levels, and by free-radical quenching effects. NAC also protects against ischaemic and reperfusion damage.

2. Immunity and AIDS: NAC affects immunity via its role in intracellular GSH production. This role becomes clinical when normal GSH production pathways are impaired, as for example, by HIV. Intracellular GSH has a powerful influence on how well T- and B-lymphocyte cells function and on the production of certain other immune cells. NAC has been shown to block the AIDS virus production in-vitro.

3. Detoxification & Chelator: Sulphydryl groups such as the ones found in NAC protect against toxins. These groups react directly with many poisons, including herbicides, drugs (acetaminophen), environmental pollutants such as carbon tetrachloride, microorganisms including E. coli and aflatoxin, and against heavy metals. Indirectly, NAC helps with detoxification by producing optimal amounts of GSH for conjugation reactions, making harmful compounds less toxic. NAC is approved as a drug for use to prevent liver damage from acetaminophen overdose.

4. Respiratory effects: NAC has been used for over 30 years as a mucolytic in persons having bronchopulmonary diseases including chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, sinusitis, and pneumonia. NAC helps reduce the viscosity of mucus so that it may be more easily coughed up. Finally, a number of studies have appeared studying the role of NAC in preventing influenza.