Germ gangs, otherwise known as biofilms, indicate that a ``call to war'' is linking bacteria together in a hostile mode that attacks the human host. A new study shows that NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) can reduce biofilm formation by 62% - a rather astounding finding for a nutrient.
The researchers tested NAC against a wide variety of problematic bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Klebseilla pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris. Once these organisms form biofilms they are often resistance to antibiotics and very difficult to get rid of. Too bad NAC wasn't tested against Candida albicans biofilms, as I bet it works on them too.
The precise mechanism of how NAC works its anti-biofilm magic is unknown. NAC is an important antioxidant that fuels the production of cellular glutathione. NAC is known to dissolve mucous and is an excellent respiratory support nutrient. Low levels of NAC reduce the functionality of immune troops that patrol mucosal surfaces. However, to dissolve a biofilm there must be a direct communication into the germ gang that fools its defense shield. Right now we don't know how it works - we just know it works.
Posts: 2747 | From Unites States Of America | Registered: Apr 2009
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Carol in PA
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
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posted
Ahh, this explains why NAC is recommended for bronchitis.
I knew that Serrapeptase, a systemic enzyme, worked against bronchitis because it reduces fibrin.
Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a cardiologist in New England, has written that Wobenzym, a systemic enzyme blend, when used with cat's claw, is good for Lyme.
The systemic enzymes reduce the biofilm protecting the bacteria, and the cat's claw invigorate the white blood cells to phage them.
Carol
Posts: 6947 | From Lancaster, PA | Registered: Feb 2004
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sammy
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posted
I take 1200mg NAC twice daily for liver support. Hopefully it helps.
Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
I've been taking NAC for over a year because of its use as a glutathione precursor. I'm happy to hear that it's also supposed to help with biofilms!
I can't say how effective it is at biofilms, but I am fairly certain it's made my liver happy. My monthly lab tests all show totally normal liver enzymes, despite my fairly aggressive antibiotic regimen.
Posts: 398 | From By the Salish Sea | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Hubby has taken this off and on for several years -- have tried several different brands. Don't know if it does anything for biofilms, but do think it helps with glutathione production if taken with alpa lipoic acid.
The brand he is currently using is Jarrow -- NAC Sustain is a sustained release tablet which is supposed to keep the blood levels more constant. Available from Vitacost.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Tincup
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posted
Great feed back.... and very much appreciated.
Did anyone notice a worsening of your condition when using it? Or did you have to start slowly and work up on the dose?
posted
NAC is used in hospitals to detoxify tylenol overdoses, as well as treatment for respiratory illnesses - pretty impressive for a nutrient! Yale is conducting a clinical trial using NAC, coupled with an antidepressant for the treatment of OCD. Apparently, it is also a glutamate modulator, and recent MRI studies have shown a glutamatergic dysfunction in people with OCD. I think many lyme patients have an overproduction of glutamate, which leads to glutathione deficiency. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter and in excess is toxic!
Sounds like NAC should be a part of any lymie's protocol.
Posts: 422 | From Herndon, Virginia | Registered: Oct 2005
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gwb
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posted
When's the best time to take NAC? With food, without food? Does it matter if you take it with other vitamins at the same time?
What's the recommended dosage? Anyone experiencing side effects with this?
posted
I take 2400 a day. Yes I did notice a worsening of my symptoms so I backed off and started with 600 and worked up. It is also antibacterial. Do a search for its antibacterial properties, you will find several articles.
Posts: 433 | From new york | Registered: Dec 2004
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gwb
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posted
Thanks, cleo. Do you take it with food or without food? Does it matter? Does it upset your stomach at all?
lymewreck36
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posted
Hi all. Catching the tail end of this discussion. Been quite busy trying to stay alive these days, so I frequently catch the tail end of things.
Where does one buy NAC? What are the top "adjunctive" nutritional supplements, say, if you had to name 5 to treat lyme or babs, or both?
Mary
Posts: 1032 | From North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2003
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-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
I will give you an exact copy of my n otes on NAC as spoken by Dr. K. at a Conference several years ago to a large group of medical professionals:
"NAC is suicide. It is an amino acid -- a sulfhydril group containing amino acid that binds mercury where it finds it and drags it to wherever it goes; the redistribution problem is maybe more pronouned with N-acetyl cysteine than with any other thing."
He does have a way of saying what he thinks. I have heard it told exactly like that by another MD/researcher from Europe. And I have heard the same every year since.
This is an agent that should only be used (as some others) in the late detox phase. And only with the guidance of a professional.
I have posted about the problem with taking NAC many times. Please read some of my posts.
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Tincup
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posted
I am NOT ignoring you all and have checked some of the responses.. real helpful. I'm just kind of tied up with this NJ stuff... so will sit down later and read it all carefully!
posted
Perhaps some patients are heavily laden with biofilms which include various metals like mercury, iron et al. Maybe these people need to be extra careful with NAC. In the meantime, it seems ironic that some docs are prescribing it for the release of heavy metals - maybe it's more for patients that have ``recent" (non-Lyme) heavy metal exposures (or other poisons that bind/chelate with NAC). Gigi makes an interesting distinction about ``late detox phase'' that complements this point: be careful! In the meantime, here are some relevant abstracts below.
Please note: different mercury formulations may be a confusing factor in this issue. I'd be surprised if ANY evidence is conclusive; but I am happy to be wrong. Any biochemists in the house? This overlaps with vaccine concerns too. ________________________________________________
N-acetylcysteine as an antidote in methylmercury poisoning.
Methylmercury is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant and potent neurotoxin. Treatment of methylmercury poisoning relies almost exclusively on the use of chelating agents to accelerate excretion of the metal. The present study demonstrates that oral administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a widely available and largely nontoxic amino acid derivative, produces a profound acceleration of urinary methylmercury excretion in mice. Mice that received NAC in the drinking water (10 mg/ml) starting at 48 hr after methylmercury administration excreted from 47 to 54% of the 203Hg in urine over the subsequent 48 hr, as compared to 4-10% excretion in control animals. When NAC-containing water was given from the time of methylmercury administration, it was even more effective at enhancing urinary methylmercury excretion and at lowering tissue mercury levels. In contrast, excretion of inorganic mercury was not affected by oral NAC administration. The ability of NAC to enhance methylmercury excretion when given orally, its relatively low toxicity, and is wide availability in the clinical setting indicate that it may be an ideal therapeutic agent for use in methylmercury poisoning.
Differential effect of N-acetylcysteine on excretion of the metals Hg, Cd, Pb and Au Journal Archives of Toxicology Publisher Springer Berlin / Heidelberg ISSN 0340-5761 (Print) 1432-0738 (Online) Issue Volume 60, Number 5 / July, 1987 Category Letter to the Editors DOI 10.1007/BF00295763 Pages 401-402 Subject Collection Biomedical and Life Sciences SpringerLink Date Saturday, December 11, 2004
H. Ottenw�lder1 and P. Simon1 Institut f�r Arbeitsphysiologie an der Universit�t Dortmund, Ardeystr. 67, D-4600 Dortmund 1, Germany Received: 23 February 1987 Accepted: 6 April 1987
Abstract Male Wistar rats were subacutely treated with sublethal doses of HgCl2, CdCl2, Pb(NO3)2, or Na-aurothiomalate. The metal preparations contained trace doses of radioactive nuclide. Based on the doses given and on the radioactivity excretion in urine and faeces the body burden was determined. After the metal treatment periods, some of the animals received N-acetylcysteine (up to 100 mg/kg daily, on 6 consecutive days, i.p.), and the effect of this potential chelator on metal excretion was monitored. The excretion of Hg (after dosing with HgCl2) was not influenced by N-acetylcysteine. The elimination of Cd in urine (after dosing with CdCl2) was increased by a factor of four. Also, the elimination of Pb [after dosing with Pb(NO3)2] was gradually increased (in faeces and urine) by increasing doses of N-acetylcysteine. After dosing with Na-aurothiomalate, the excretion of Au in urine was increased to about 30%. The data suggest some activity of N-acetylcysteine in facilitating excretion of Pb, Cd or Au, but not of Hg.
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is an altered form of the non-essential amino acid cysteine, which is commonly found in food and synthesized by the body. The oral cysteine that is best tolerated is called N-Acetyl Cysteine.
NAC helps the body synthesize glutathione, an important antioxidant. Cysteine is the rate-limiting amino acid in the production of glutathione. In other words, if one is low in cysteine, the production of glutathione can not move forward. Many studies have shown that supplementation of cysteine has led to increased intercellular levels of glutathione.
Deficiencies of NAC have not been defined and may not even exist. Healthy people do not need to supplement NAC. The use of N-Acetyl L-Cysteine in medicine is well researched and documented for a variety of conditions. NAC is a precursor to one of the body's most potent anti-oxidants, glutathione. It is through this action, that NAC is used for help in liver support, and has even been used to prevent acetaminophen (Tylenol) poisonings.
Probably its best-known use is as a mucolytic. By breaking the disulphide bonds in the mucus of the intestines and especially the lungs, NAC is able to break down the mucus and make it less viscous. This is especially important during asthma, bronchitis, and bouts of hay fever.
As an antioxidant, NAC has a number of scavenging activities that benefit many organ systems and is often used in antioxidant supplements.
-------------------- My biofilm film: www.whyamistillsick.com 2004 Mycoplasma Pneumonia 2006 Positive after 2 years of hell 2006-08 Marshall Protocol. Killed many bug species 2009 - Beating candida, doing better Lahey Clinic in Mass: what a racquet! Posts: 830 | From Mass. | Registered: Aug 2006
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nefferdun
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In the book, Insights Into Lyme Disease Treatments by Connie Strasheim, on page 97 Dr. Susan M, MS MD, writes: "This is just my clinical obserbation, but when I use enzymes such as Boluoke, Nattokinase, Zyactinase and so on, in combination with N-acetyl-cysteine and lactoferrin to degrade the biofilm, patients seem to respond to antimicrobial agents much better".
So I started using NAC and nattokinase and lactoferrin. I don't know if it is helping.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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emla999/Lyme
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posted
Apparently, NAC supplements are not created equal because much of the NAC contained within "bottled" NAC supplements is not bioavailable ......hence less effective.
"All NAC supplements are NOT the same. The problem I have run into with most over the counter NAC supplements is their packaging. NAC is a strong thiol-bearing compound prone to air oxidization.
Once you open the bottle you bought on the Internet, the product has likely degraded since the time it was on the manufacturing line. Bioavailabilty (the amount that actually gets into your body) is likely low.
There is a company called BioAdvantex in Canada that makes a pharmaceutical grade NAC supplement that comes in an effervescent tablet form (see photo). Think of an Alka Seltzer with a wild berry flavor. Each PharmaNAC fizzy tablet is individually wrapped in a special paper/plastic/foil material to keep moisture and air from entering the package.
The manufacturing process is very well controlled to produce the most bioavialable form of NAC on the market today. Each tablet comes in 900mgs which I like."
****On pages 2-3 on the link down bellow the authors describe why the effervescent form of NAC is superior to other NAC supplements.
posted
Gigi, Is it possible that Dr. Klinghardt has retracted or revised his position on NAC? I found a document dated Aug 2009 that included NAC in Klinghardt's Mercury Chelation Protocol:
"His comprehensive approach to mercury detoxification is customized to the patient and methods used may include: chlorella, cilantro, minerals, probiotics, MSM, essential fatty acids, vitamins, DMPS, sulfur-bearing amino acids, DMSA and NAC, hyaluronic acid, and homeopathy."
Does he offer a more detailed or sequenced plan that anyone knows of?
This is such an important supplement, but we need professional guidance in using it. I can't get either of my daughter's doctors to give me more than an indifferent nod when I bring it up. I would love it if we could get an expert to look at recent studies and weigh in.
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