N-acetylcysteine

N-acetylcysteine also known as Acetylcysteine or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is most commonly used to treat paracetamol overdose and to loosen mucus in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or cystic fibrosis.

Evidence
In a presentation to the 2016 IACFS/ME conference Dr Dikoma Shungu of Cornell University gave a presentation on a trial of NAC in ME/CFS patients. Previously his team had found a 36% deficit of the tissue anti-oxidant occipital cortex glutathione (GSH) in ME/CFS patients.

The trial supplemented patients with 1800g daily of GSH precursor n-acetylcysteine for 4 weeks and looked at levels of GSH. The study found that GSh had increased in patients and that symptoms were significantly reduced.

Clinical use
No official use yet.

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Acetylcysteine
 * Wikipedia - Glutathione
 * Wikipedia - Oxidative Stress
 * N-Acetylcysteine Alleviates Cortical Glutathione Deficit and Improves Symptoms in CFS: An In Vivo Validation Study using Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: Dikoma Shungu et al (page 35 IACFS/ME Syllabus 2016)