N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) Helps Manage Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

General Health

N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) Helps Manage Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

N-acetyl cysteine is a peptide that your body can use to manufacture glutathione. It is the most important building block for allowing your body to make glutathione. People with autoimmune disease use up their glutathione too quickly. This raises inflammation in their body and can worsen their condition. Lupus can cause significant harm to the connective tissue of the body. NAC can help protect against this.

Glutathione is an antioxidant. It’s actually the most powerful antioxidant because it is made in your own body, helping to protect you from the chemicals we are all exposed to each day. Glutathione is made in your liver. You need an extremely healthy liver in order to make sufficient glutathione. Many common health conditions such as fatty liver, gut problems like irritable bowel, food sensitivities, chronic infections, nutrient deficiencies and immune problems all impair glutathione production. Acetaminophen depletes your body of glutathione.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory connective tissue disease that can affect multiple organs. Lupus involves the production of autoantibodies and inflammatory chemicals. The condition can cause a wide range of symptoms, including a rash, mouth ulcers, joint pain, and sometimes life threatening damage to organs. Lupus is capable of attacking the kidneys and causing kidney failure.

The severity of lupus can vary enormously among individuals and in a patient over the course of the illness. Lupus usually causes significant fatigue and unrefreshing sleep. Even if mild and well managed, the disease can significantly impair quality of life.

How is glutathione manufactured in the body?

N-acetyl cysteine is a small peptide made from 3 amino acids (building blocks of protein). These amino acids are glutamine, cysteine and glycine. Several nutrients are required for the manufacture of glutathione, especially selenium, vitamin C and glutamine. Being deficient in these will impair your production of this vital compound. Fortunately, there are several ways of boosting your production of glutathione.

N-acetyl cysteine can reduce the severity of lupus

A randomized double blind clinical trial was published in the journal Trials. 80 SLE patients were divided into two groups. 40 patients received 1800 mg of NAC daily for 3 months and 40 patients received conventional medical therapies for lupus. Blood test measurements and disease activity were determined before the start of treatment and after the study ended.

There was a statistically significant improvement in both blood test results and disease activity in the patients receiving 1800mg of NAC each day. This means NAC helps improve quality of life and reduces the risk of dangerous complications in patients with lupus.

Other strategies for improving lupus

Ensure you’re getting enough selenium. You probably know how important selenium is for the health of your immune system and thyroid gland. It is also a powerful antioxidant and this is largely because of its role in glutathione production. Many parts of the world have selenium deficient soils and very few foods are a rich source of this mineral. The best food sources of selenium include Brazil nuts, seafood, onion and garlic. Getting plenty of those foods in your diet should help, but if you wish to improve your health significantly, you may need to take a selenium supplement.
Remove inflammatory foods from your diet. People with autoimmune disease suffer with excessive inflammation, therefore it’s important to avoid foods that aggravate this. Gluten, dairy products, sugar and alcohol usually need to be avoided. It’s quite common to have additional unique food sensitivities, thus an elimination diet may be necessary. It is best to base your diet on animal protein, vegetables, fruits and natural fats.
Sulfur is required for glutathione production. Sulfur is found in cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garlic, leek and eggs. If you don’t include much of these foods in your diet, you can take a natural sulfur supplement called MSM, which can be found in our Collagen Food powder. This stands for methyl sulfonyl methane. It is traditionally taken by people who want to improve their liver health and also reduce joint pain, but MSM is also necessary for glutathione production.
Healing the gut is critical. People with autoimmune disease have an intestinal lining that is excessively permeable and they usually have unbalanced gut bugs. Removing sugar from your diet should help reduce harmful bacteria and yeast but sometimes a more powerful strategy is required. BactoClear capsules contain the antimicrobial herbs clove, oregano, thyme and berberine. Glutamine helps to heal and seal the gut lining. It is found in bone broth or you can take a glutamine powder.