GlyNAC glycine and n-acetyl cysteine seems very helpful

[ecstatichamster]

I thought I’d start a thread for people supplementing with glycine (either isolated or through collagen which is how I do it) and NAC.

My experiences are quite good so far. I do about 4 - 6 scoops of Great Lakes Collagen daily and about 3g or so of NAC. I just feel like I’m functioning better. In every way.

 

[Validus]

I remember haidut stating on a recent podcast NAC tends to push people toward being more hypothyroid. That may be a good idea if you're hyperthyroid, but not optimal or already have hypothyroid symptoms.

That being said, I've used NAC and glycine in the past. I prefer glycine personally.

 

[Blossom]

I thought I’d start a thread for people supplementing with glycine (either isolated or through collagen which is how I do it) and NAC.

My experiences are quite good so far. I do about 4 - 6 scoops of Great Lakes Collagen daily and about 3g or so of NAC. I just feel like I’m functioning better. In every way.

That’s awesome. I’m taking glycine to help with sleep right now. Keep us posted please.

 

[GTW]

NAC has beneficial effects mediated by glutathione AND hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is an antioxidant signaling molecule, like NO, which is harmful at higher levels.
NAC is poorly absorbed, increasing the risk of overdose.
A relatively new product/supplement apparently addresses these issues. NACET, NAC ethyl ester. The available product contains also glycine, molybdenum, selenium.
One study:
>Here, we demonstrate that N-acetyl-L-cysteine ethyl ester (NACET), a lipophilic cell-permeable cysteine derivative, increases the viability in oxidative stressed RPE cells more efficiently than NAC by reacting directly and more rapidly with oxidizing agents, and that NACET, but not NAC, pretreatment predisposes RPE cells to oxidative stress resistance and increases the intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH) pool available to act as natural antioxidant defense. Influence of Sorghum Kafirin on Serum Lipid Profile and Antioxidant Activity in Hyperlipidemic Rats (In Vitro and In Vivo Studies)N-acetylcysteine has been shown to chelate toxic metals in animal studies as well as in human studies with little or no effect on essential metals. Mercury, lead, gold, and arsenic have been removed in humans although the studies are limited. The evidence for removal of lead is more robust because of a double-blind placebo-controlled trial [142]. Metal on metal hip prosthesis often results in increased chromium in the blood and NAC has been helpful in reducing levels safely [143]. Adverse effects of arsenic-induced hepatotoxicity in rats were countered by NAC [144]. In a case report of acute ingestion of a potentially lethal overdose of sodium arsenate ant poison, intravenous NAC reversed the clinical outcome of expected death [145].

 

[GTW]

Sorry, that was a partial mixup.
I won't try to edit/correct. Looking for the NACET study url...

Superior Properties of N-Acetylcysteine Ethyl Ester over N-Acetyl Cysteine to Prevent Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Oxidative Damage

Oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathophysiology of retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy, which are the major causes of irreversible blindness in developed countries. An excess of reactive ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[GTW]

And a tangential bonus

Mitochondria as novel mediators linking gut microbiota to atherosclerosis that is ameliorated by herbal medicine: A review - PubMed

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the main cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is characterized by endothelial damage, lipid deposition, and chronic inflammation. Gut microbiota plays an important role in the occurrence and development of AS by regulating host metabolism and immunity. As human...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[David PS]

I dissolve glycine into my coffee. It is sold as a sweetener and it is called "sweetamine". I just use plain glycine as a weak sweetener. I get glycine from other sources as well.

There is a separate thread about how supplementing with glycine and N-acetycysteine raises glutathione levels (see). Since glutathione levels decrease with age, above a certain age it may be more helpful than harmful.

source

High blood glutathione levels accompany excellent physical and mental health in women ages 60 to 103 years - PubMed

Earlier we found a high percentage of subnormal total glutathione (G(T)) levels in blood from elderly subjects and patients with chronic diseases. These findings suggested a hypothesis that high levels of G(T) in the blood occur in old persons who are in excellent physical and mental health. To...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[David PS]

Here is a recent article that adds to the benefits of GlyNAC supplementation.

GlyNAC (Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine) Supplementation in Old Mice Improves Brain Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, Glucose Uptake, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Genomic Damage, Inflammation and Neurotrophic Factors to Reverse Age-Associated Cogn

Cognitive decline frequently occurs with increasing age, but mechanisms contributing to age-associated cognitive decline (ACD) are not well understood and solutions are lacking. Understanding and reversing mechanisms contributing to ACD are important because increased age is identified as the...

www.mdpi.com

Abstract​

Cognitive decline frequently occurs with increasing age, but mechanisms contributing to age-associated cognitive decline (ACD) are not well understood and solutions are lacking. Understanding and reversing mechanisms contributing to ACD are important because increased age is identified as the single most important risk factor for dementia. We reported earlier that ACD in older humans is associated with glutathione (GSH) deficiency, oxidative stress (OxS), mitochondrial dysfunction, glucose dysmetabolism and inflammation, and that supplementing GlyNAC (glycine and N-acetylcysteine) improved these defects. To test whether these defects occur in the brain in association with ACD, and could be improved/reversed with GlyNAC supplementation, we studied young (20-week) and old (90-week) C57BL/6J mice. Old mice received either regular or GlyNAC supplemented diets for 8 weeks, while young mice received the regular diet. Cognition and brain outcomes (GSH, OxS, mitochondrial energetics, autophagy/mitophagy, glucose transporters, inflammation, genomic damage and neurotrophic factors) were measured. Compared to young mice, the old-control mice had significant cognitive impairment and multiple brain defects. GlyNAC supplementation improved/corrected the brain defects and reversed ACD. This study finds that naturally-occurring ACD is associated with multiple abnormalities in the brain, and provides proof-of-concept that GlyNAC supplementation corrects these defects and improves cognitive function in aging.

 

[GTW]

The NAC ethyl ester product I bought from Nutriisa.com contains also 575 Mg glycine.

 

[ddjd]

The NAC ethyl ester product I bought from Nutriisa.com contains also 575 Mg glycine.

Do people find this NAC esthyl ester to be a lot better than regular NAC??

 

[GTW]

>Here, we demonstrate that N-acetyl-L-cysteine ethyl ester (NACET), a lipophilic cell-permeable cysteine derivative, increases the viability in oxidative stressed RPE cells more efficiently than NAC by reacting directly and more rapidly with oxidizing agents, and that NACET, but not NAC, pretreatment predisposes RPE cells to oxidative stress resistance and increases the intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH) pool available to act as natural antioxidant defense. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability of NACET to increase GSH levels in rats’ eyes after oral administration. In conclusion, even if experiments in AMD animal models are still needed, our data suggest that NACET may play an important role in preventing and treating retinal diseases associated with oxidative stress, and may represent a valid and more efficient alternative to NAC in therapeutic protocols in which NAC has already shown promising results.

 

[GTW]

Another study:
>Our experiments highlighted that NACET is largely the most efficient molecule in increasing the intracellular levels of GSH, cysteine, and γ-glutamylcysteine. This is because NACET is lipophilic and can freely cross plasma membrane but, inside the cell, it is de-esterified to the more hydrophilic NAC, which, in turn, is trapped into the cell and slowly transformed into cysteine. The higher availability of cysteine is matched by an increase in GSH synthesis, cysteine availability being the rate limiting step for this reaction. Surprisingly, the increase in GSH concentration was not linear but peaked at 0.5 mM NACET and gradually decreased when cells were treated with higher concentrations of NACET. We demonstrated that this puzzling ceiling effect was due to the fact that NAC released from NACET turned out to be a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme glutamate-cysteine ligase, with a Ki value of 3.2 mM. By using a cell culture medium lacking of cysteine and methionine, we could demonstrate that the slight increase in intracellular levels of cysteine and GSH induced by NAC in HUVEC grown in standard medium was due to the reduction of the cystine present in the medium itself there rather than to the action of NAC as Cys pro-drug. This fact may explain why NAC works well as GSH enhancer at very high concentrations in pre-clinical and in vitro studies, whereas it failed in most clinical trials.

N-acetylcysteine ethyl ester as GSH enhancer in human primary endothelial cells: A comparative study with other drugs - PubMed

Several drugs are currently in use as glutathione (GSH) enhancers in clinical, pre-clinical and experimental research. Here we compare the ability of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTC), glutathione ethyl ester (GSH-EE) and N-acetylcysteine ethyl ester (NACET) to...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[yerrag]

I thought I’d start a thread for people supplementing with glycine (either isolated or through collagen which is how I do it) and NAC.

My experiences are quite good so far. I do about 4 - 6 scoops of Great Lakes Collagen daily and about 3g or so of NAC. I just feel like I’m functioning better. In every way.

In what way are you feeling better, if I may ask?

I eat a lot of collagen in the form of beef tendons, but shun NAC because of the negative effects it has on metabolism, more so on the idea that it doesn't really so much as increase the beneficial antioxidant levels as much as contribute to lower metabolism in what Ray Peat refers to as reductive stress.

But there may be something to taking glycine together with NAC that could balance the oxidative and reductive yin and yang in these two substances?

 

[GTW]

Typical NAC ethyl ester dose is 100 mg.

 

[ecstatichamster]

In what way are you feeling better, if I may ask?

I eat a lot of collagen in the form of beef tendons, but shun NAC because of the negative effects it has on metabolism, more so on the idea that it doesn't really so much as increase the beneficial antioxidant levels as much as contribute to lower metabolism in what Ray Peat refers to as reductive stress.

But there may be something to taking glycine together with NAC that could balance the oxidative and reductive yin and yang in these two substances?

i have not gotten sick for many months. I have good energy too.
i think NAC increases zeta potential.

 

[Makrosky]

i have not gotten sick for many months. I have good energy too.
i think NAC increases zeta potential.

Really? I thought NAC had a very very bad reputation here in the forum. Like everyone advised against it.

Did I miss something?

 

[cs3000]

Really? I thought NAC had a very very bad reputation here in the forum. Like everyone advised against it.

Did I miss something?

it has some nice effects. but problems too e.g
metastasis increase, and i saw a study where lung blood pressure shot up in mice & it affected the right side of the heart due to something NAC gets converted to. think dose was ~7 or 8grams human dose spread out in drinking water.
so probably best to keep <1g if taking , but still the metastasis risk (which come with many things that protect healthy cells too e.g even vit C / retinyl palmitate can have this effect). also the hydrogen sulfide gas can be a problem

there's a cool case report where it cured a girls OCD skin picking disorder which wasn't responsive to anything over 4 years. 600mg lowered her impulses a lot by 2 weeks, 1.2g drastic reduction by a few weeks later, and 1.8g after that, she had remission by 10 weeks.
(maybe that was more of a time effect hitting into 10 weeks than dose effect? ive seen in other areas 1g had same protective effect as 2g or 4g)

also glutathione gets depleted by viral infections , so this is part of its efficacy there (cysteine glycine glutamic acid)

 

[Makrosky]

there's a cool case report where it cured a girls OCD skin picking disorder which wasn't responsive to anything over 4 years.

Oh yes, there are hundreds of anecdotal evidence of it on the internet for mental issues (depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.) it is not an isolated case. Thing is if you alleviate depression but **** up your metabolism in other ways... not good.

 

[youngsinatra]

NAC predictedly caused anhedonia for me.

There are studies on it’s effects on dopamine.

People on reddit report diminished responses to stimulants like adderall etc.

 

[GTW]

NAC is expectorant and mucolytic. For that purpose and others it's taken for a few doses. Not chronically, indefinitely.
If you have adverse effects, probably there was no deficiency or appropriate/relevant condition to correct.