Most people have no idea what NAC and glutathione are, let alone why it's beneficial for the body. NAC is short for N-acetylcysteine. You might see variations on the spelling such as N Acetyl l Cysteine, acetylcysteine, n-acetyl cysteine or n acetylcysteine, but each describes the same substance. It's a by-product of cysteine, an amino acid. However, the body absorbs NAC far better than it does cysteine.
While scientists aren't sure whether NAC is an antioxidant, they do know it stimulates the body into making antioxidants.It also helps the body to repair damage to the cells and increases the efficiency of the immune system. NAC is a precursor to glutathione, meaning the body changes it to make glutathione just as it uses beta-carotene to produce vitamin A.
Boosts the Immune System
Glutathione is the antioxidant produced by your body. It's responsible for detoxifying your body, boosting your immune system and reducing oxidation stress that causes heart disease, cancer, arthritis, asthma and all other types of disease. Glutathione is high in sulfur compounds too.
One older study completed by Dr. Johanna Budwig used a combination of quark, similar to cottage cheese and flaxseed oil to combat cancer. The cottage cheese or quark has sulfurated amino acids and the flax seed oil contains omega-3 fatty acids, which enhance the detoxification effects of glutathione. While still unconfirmed, the potential for the combination to improve the body's production of the antioxidant glutathione could be the reason some of the cancer victims improved on her protocol.
Helps with Strength and Endurance
Glutathione also helps recycle the antioxidants in your body as well as boost your immune system. In addition, it aids in detoxifying the body and aiding liver and kidney health. It also helps you keep at peak mental and physical fitness. Studies show that people with high levels of glutathione tend to have less muscle damage, more endurance and strength.
Since there's a link between NAC and glutathione, with NAC being necessary to produce glutathione, increasing the amount of NAC in the diet should also increase the body's capacity to create the glutathione. According to some studies, it does.
Food Sources
One of the primary components of both NAC and glutathione is sulfur. Therefore, eating foods higher in sulfur can also increase your NAC intake and the production of glutathione. Normally, your body seems to slow down on the production of glutathione as you age, it gets even worse if you're ill, since the illness can overwhelm the body's production of the substance. Adding sulfur rich foods such as broccoli, kale, cauliflower and collards to your diet can improve the levels of glutathione in your body.
Other foods such as whey protein, provide cysteine, the building blocks for glutathione. Again, you can get this from cottage cheese and other dairy products. However, you must use products where the manufacturing process doesn't denature the protein (break it down through pasteurization). It's also is important to use organic products that are pesticide, hormone and antibiotic free.
Finally, exercise is one method of increasing the production of glutathione in the body. Increasing your NAC and glutathione as a result can help you overcome illness quicker and avoid some problems altogether. It boils down to exercising and consuming healthy foods to increase the NAC and glutathione, besides providing the body with other necessary and important building blocks.
