N-acetylcysteine (NAC) Anti-Oxidant May Not Be Safe

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) Anti-Oxidant May Not Be Safe
Submitted by News Account on 5 September 2007 - 12:18am. Pharmacology

According to new research at the University of Virginia Health System, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an anti-oxidant commonly used in nutritional and body-building supplements, can form a red blood cell-derived molecule that makes blood vessels think they are not getting enough oxygen. This leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a serious condition characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood to the lungs.

“NAC fools the body into thinking that it has an oxygen shortage,” said Dr. Ben Gaston, UVa Children’s Hospital pediatrician and researcher who led the study. “We found that an NAC product formed by red blood cells, know as a nitrosothiol, bypasses the normal regulation of oxygen sensing. It tells the arteries in the lung to ‘remodel’; they become narrow, increasing the blood pressure in the lungs and causing the right side of the heart to swell.”

Gaston notes that this is an entirely new understanding of the way oxygen is sensed by the body. The body responds to nitrosothiols, which are made when a decreased amount of oxygen is being carried by red blood cells; the response is not to the amount of oxygen dissolved in blood. He says that this pathway was designed much more elegantly than anyone had previously imagined. “We were really surprised”, he said.

The research team administered both NAC and nitrosothiols to mice for three weeks. The NAC was converted by red blood cells into the nitrosothiol, S-nitroso-N-acetylcysteine (SNOAC). The normal mice that received NAC and SNOAC developed PAH. Mice missing an enzyme known as endothelial nitric oxide synthase did not convert NAC to SNOAC, and were protected from the adverse effects of NAC, but not SNOAC. This suggests that NAC must be converted to SNOAC to cause PAH.

Could regular use of NAC produce the same effects in humans" The next step is to determine a threshold past which antioxidant use becomes detrimental to heart or lung function, according to Dr. Lisa Palmer, co-researcher of the study.

“The more we understand about complexities in humans, the more we need to be aware of chemical reactions in the body,” said Palmer.

According to Gaston and Palmer, NAC is being tested in clinical trials for patients with cystic fibrosis as well as other conditions; and clinical trials with nitrosothiols are being planned. These results, Palmer says, should motivate researchers to check their patients for PAH.

The results also open up a range of possibilities in treating PAH. Palmer added that the signaling process could be restorative and healing if they figured out how to keep NAC from fooling the body.

“From here we could devise new ways for sensing hypoxia or we could in theory modify signaling to treat PAH,” Palmer said.

Source: University of Virginia Health System

IH has addressed this before, doesn't harm us apparently.

sissi - That study is one of numerous examples of how the press is not worth its weight in salt.

Rats have a very different mechanism concerning the pulmonary system and glutathione.

There's plenty of human studies on NAC showing benefit. Pigs are much better study animals than rats, since their physiology is very similar to humans.

NAC helps pigs and it helps humans. NAC is standard for use in COPD and other lung disorders.

I actually got this for my dad who has copd in an early stage, is there other stuff besides nac that
can help him? He doesnt take any supps at all, maybe a multi vitamin pill.

But CPIO,your dad used NAC,before being diagnosed with COPD????

cpio - For COPD, the best thing is to have him get a prescription for inhaled Glutathione.

Either a family physician or pulmonologist can give the prescription, although sometimes they are ignorant about Glutathione (maybe most of the time they are). The prescription is 300 milligrams nebulized twice daily.

So he'll need an nebulizer, and have vials of glutathione that are poured in the nebulizer and breathed in.

If to find a physician that is most likely to prescribe Glutathione, here's the ACAM search listing:

http://www.acamnet.org/site/c.ltJWJ4MPIwE/b.2071557/k.7C1E/ACAM_Homepage.htm

Two drops of SSKI (Super Saturated Potassium Iodide) in water per day, this will help keep away microbes and loosen up any mucus.

Magnesium is important, getting adequate Vitamin D is a must and he's probably very low, at least most COPD patients are, so getting him on 5,000 IU of D, daily would be very helpful.

Resveratrol has been very promising in studies for COPD, this is really recommended. Last, but not least, Co-Q10, Omega-3 fatty acids and other minerals, like zinc are important.

CausticSymmetry wrote:sissi - That study is one of numerous examples of how the press is not worth it's weight in salt.

Rats have a very different mechanism concerning the pulmonary system and glutathione.

There's plenty of human studies on NAC showing benefit. Pigs are much better study animals than rats, since their physiology is very similar to humans.

NAC helps pigs and it helps humans. NAC is standard for use in COPD and other lung disorders.

For what its worth I have read in Life Extension that if you are taking NAC, your vitamin C intake should be 3x the amount of the NAC intake(prevent kidney stone formation from oxidized cysteine).

Also, they have said that NAC has an insulin blocking effect, so diabetics should be careful accordingly in using it. I wonder if your not diabetic, but demonstrate some insulin resistance, is it still something to consider??

I use NAC 2x600mg per day and am not diabetic and have no ill effects from it and I do try to do 3x vitamin C.

CS, any thoughts on the Life extension article??

NAC improves insulin regulation from what I've looked at research wise. The only caution is that chronic use of NAC will use up some copper and zinc levels. Generally speaking, it's a good idea to take a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement to allow any needed reserves. I didn't know about the vitamin C factor, good to know, thanks.

Thanks for the info y'all.