[spoaceman7777]

Yeah, the body-wide mucous thinning properties of NAC are one of the reasons it has racked up papers showing its efficacy in a truly staggering number of illnesses and conditions. (Including neurodegenerative diseases.)

Highly recommend reading the actual literature on its effects in regard to cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, COPD, neurodegenerative disorders, high blood pressure, ulcers, IBD, liver and kidney problems, OCD...

The list goes on at a pretty extreme length, and it sounds too good to be true, but the papers are out there.

[Aurornis]

NAC is in the category of supplements that sound unbelievably amazing on paper, but are frequently discontinued by people trying to take it long term. Some people seem to like it, but it’s common for people to take it for a while and realize it’s causing side effects like anhedonia, apathy, minor sleep disruptions, or other subtle negative effects. Not everyone, but it’s a common outcome.

It also doesn’t quite live up to a lot of the incredible sounding papers for many conditions. It’s really common to find papers or even small trials purporting to find amazing effects from supplements that fail to replicate at scale. NAC does have some legitimate applications and is even used medically for certain conditions. I’m a little more skeptical that all of the amazing positives for every condition under the sun will hold up.

[itchyouch]

When considering NAC's mechanisms, it seems that it's efficacy is likely dependent on an individuals's glutathione status.

I doubt that folks with a solid diet, high in sulfur would find much benefit from NAC.

However, as someone who's gotten to use it first hand and have dealt with lifelong, mild inflammation (puffy fingers, clogged nose here and there), it's definitely been a huge quality of life enhancer.

[Aurornis]

> When considering NAC's mechanisms, it seems that it's efficacy is likely dependent on an individuals's glutathione status.

NAC interacts with a lot of things. Not just glutathione.

It modulates glutamate activity in the brain. That’s a key neurotransmitter. It’s why it can be helpful in some specific psychiatric conditions, but also why many people discovering it to be cognitively dulling or to induce blunt effect.

It also interacts with trace minerals in your body. Taking it for a long time can reduce these levels, creating multiple secondary problems.

The list of things it does goes on and on. It’s not a simple supplement for glutathione.

[ridgeguy]

Can you suggest a review article or two? Interested in this as my dad passed from hemorrhagic stroke, my mom from occlusive stroke. Thanks.

[Loughla]

Would also like to ask for a starting point in this. Googling has not really gotten me anywhere credible. Specifically related to stroke or high blood pressure (both family traits).

[refibrillator]

Here’s a starting point:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5241507/#B1

TLDR: NAC is a derivative of an amino acid called cysteine, as such it is a precursor for one of the most important antioxidants in the body and it can modulate key metabolic pathways associated with good health across a variety of organs, notably for decades it has been a universally successful antidote for acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose, it’s available over the counter but NAC is not naturally found in foods, eating cysteine-rich foods like chicken turkey yogurt etc is the next best bet.

[thelastgallon]

I used NAC supplement for 1 year and it changed my life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEC3gH0GC8E

[Trasmatta]

It's also very effective at helping reduce the damage of alcohol, if you take it before drinking. Lessens hangovers too.

[clankenfoot]

Potentially dangerous to put this idea in others' heads without being more explicit about the role of timing and the risk of harm.

A dual effect of N-acetylcysteine on acute ethanol-induced liver damage in mice - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16439183/

> By contrast, post-treatment with NAC aggravated ethanol-induced hepatic lipid peroxidation and worsened acute ethanol-induced liver damage in a dose-dependent manner.

Mice be warned!

[n8henrie]

Citation?

[flowerthoughts]

I can't find anything in the article about NAC or N-acetylcystein. What's the relevance?

[spoaceman7777]

The article is about improving the flow of lymph in the brain, and NAC thins mucous, lymph, and various other bodily fluids, which leads to improved flow and general clearance.

[clankenfoot]

Thins lymph? And other bodily fluids?

[AnthonBerg]

Seconded.

I... I don't know how to get it across; For the love of God read the literature on NAC, alpha lipoic acid, bromhexine, and ambroxol.

Just... read. Read the molecular biology papers.

[p1esk]

Would regular engineers like us understand molecular biology papers?

[AnthonBerg]

I'm just some rando and I do!

It sounds like a hero story – it's not, it's more an existential nightmare and funny story? – but I kind of accidentally came to start reading all kinds of papers. Then fiancée was diagnosed with a severe condition. And just by having read stuff I found myself needing to interject doctors during her treatment, quite pointedly, to avoid risk of harm to her and unborn child – with my view being confirmed every single time by another doctor's second opinion.

It's mostly about reading fast enough, not actually requiring a feeling of comprehension. Skimming and going fast through lots of stuff. With extreme humility!! And then bit by bit an intuition kind of grows and you cut through the jargon and get a feeling for the core things. The mights and maybes and relationships in things. And then sort of learning to trust and not trust that intuition and have it guide your reading. It mostly shows up as doubt – an active doubt? – rather than an opaque sense of not having any feeling for things. Then that sometimes refines away from doubt into a sense of clarity towards some mechanism that's probably at play. Keeping absolutely humble towards it is suuuuuuper important, and it's always necessary to retain the perspective of oneself as limited and fallible.

It's also very hard to get this stuff into words. Seems more nebulous and "cosmic" than it is. It's just how our minds and reading comprehension work. It's about feeding the pattern detection systems with... substrate? A handle on things?

There are a few reasons why it works. "Works" as in is beneficial and useful to read, beyond just trusting doctors. (Do trust doctors!, –Jusr... help them help you. That's the thing.) One reason is that doctors do not have time to read, even if they'd very much want to. This is sort of force-multiplied?... with the personalization aspect: It is immensely valuable to read molecular biology from the personal perspective of operating and being inside a specific instance of that molecular biology machinery. The doctor's view is always more general (and is always a guardrail of safety, in part because of that). Then another reason is that there is SO MUCH actionable science out there. Just eminently safe and very, very actionable. It's so hard to get it across how it might be so, how it could possibly be, but it is. It really is.

[p1esk]

Sure, I get it - trying to understand a specific condition affecting someone close to you. I personally have very little trust in doctors.

But, outside of this need, what actionable science have you learned and applied to your own life?

[AnthonBerg]

Good question; It's also hard to get this into words.

Basically I'm fine but I shouldn't be, people are fine who wouldn't have been, lost one unborn child and the next one not; Got a pretty good handle on some significant sleep issues, pulmonary issues, one of the real autoimmune diseases, autonomic nervous system issues, recovery from a life-threatening endocrine issue, pregnancy and placental viability with same issue. All completely opaque to healthcare, all surprisingly mechanistic and actionable by just... reading. Very unbelievable but this is just how it's been.

It's not about me being special or a hero or anything. The gap between really truly actionable knowledge and medical practice is so big and generally so unseen that it's hard to talk across it. Classically maddening. So easy to get there though, by just... reading.

[DANmode]

You’ll understand the abstract and the conclusion!

:eyeroll:

[p1esk]

OK, I just read the abstract and conclusion of the NAC paper posted above. But then I saw a comment from Aurornis saying it’s not that good. Not sure who I should listen to.

[DANmode]

Keep reading papers until you decide for yourself.

[vixen99]

Or browse these; https://www.freefullpdf.com/search_gcse/?q=NAC#gsc.tab=0&gsc...

[FrustratedMonky]

"just read the paper" is a bogus argument.

There are thousands of subjects with thousands of papers. To read them all would take thousands of years.

The reason we use summaries is because there is no time to be an expert at everything.

[AnthonBerg]

This isn't an argument. This is a description of an angle on staying alive, better, for longer. It's a competitive advantage in a Darwinian situation.

Don't read thousands of papers. Read some papers. Not too carefully. Mostly published ones.

Why talk to people? There are billions of them? It would take many years? C'mon.

[FrustratedMonky]

Which ones? This one in particular is special? See the problem? I still need to trust some authority on which ones to spend time on.

I think the parent was implying that we should try to avoid bias by reading it ourselves, but I still need to trust someone, so still getting biased feedback. "reading the paper" does not remove the bias, because I still need to narrow it down to read only specific ones.

[TripleTree]

Where would you recommend?

[clankenfoot]

Why uh.. why is this ludicrous threadjack the top comment?