At the core of the chronic neurological conditions that are so common in our society today lies, oxidative stress, immune dysregulation,  neuroinflammation and reduced neurogenesis. This underlying pathophysiology is implicated in such chronic neurological conditions as: depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Many factors play a role in initiation of the neuroinflammation from genes, environment and lifestyle. One of the most prevalent and often over looked chronic triggers is the chronic stress. Chronic stress requires more and more hysiological resources to overcome and deal with the “stressors”. Bruce McEwen PhD a leading neuroscientist eloquently described this as “allostatic load”. Allostatic load is a way to describe the totality of stressors impacting our neuroendocrineimmune system that can either improve performance or breakdown biological performance leading to pathology or “dis-ease”. At the center of allostatic load or chronic stress lies our immune system. Chronic stress radically lower one’s immune system making one more susceptible to infection, cancer, dementia and many other chronic conditions. If we step back for a moment and consider the amount of stress we collectively are under and individually we will come to the conclusion that it is imperative, we begin to bolster our immune systems with safe and effective tools. One of the proven nutraceuticals that has proven extremely useful as an immune support is an acetylcysteine or NAC. NAC is an amino acid form of cysteine and provides the essential building block for your bodies most abundant and often depleted antioxidant called glutathione. Glutathione is rapidly depleted under stressful conditions including: depression, anxiety, Alzhiemer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, heart disease and many other common chronic conditions.

NAC and Viral protection: NAC has been a mainstay supplement with in the HIV immune compromised community for over 3 decades, using it to support and bolster immune competency. Viral infections are often characterized by low levels of the anti-oxidant glutathione along with the excessive inflammation yielding a deadly combination to those infected.

DOSAGE: Establishing the correct dosage takes some trial and why one would be using NAC. Take for example in the emergency rooms all across the world NAC is used as the cure for Tylenol toxicity (Tylenol is the #1 cause of liver failure today) and dosage range from 10-15 grams. Because NAC is extremely safe and free of any major side effects, it is common to use dosages from 900mg to 4000mg a day.

NAC is particularly useful for lungs diseases and is also used in hospital setting for this reason.