N-Acetylcysteine Hampers Adaptive Response To Exercise. 50% Reduction in JNK Phosphorylation Entail Reduced Expression of Genes Involved in Cell Proliferation, Apoptosis, Inflammation and DNA Repair.
Image 1: The "beneficial" bad guys under the microscope: Reactive oxygen species (green-yellow) within endosomes of human smooth muscle cells ( Circulation Research . 09/2007 ) If you listened to my dissertation on the sulfur-amino acids on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio (cf. shownotes ), you will be aware that I was and still am quite skeptical as far as the touted beneficial effects of n-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplementation on exercise performance are concerned . A very recent study that has been conducted by a team of Australian scientists from Deakin and Victoria University in Melbourne appears to warrant this skepticism. In a 2006 study ( McKennah. 2006 ) the same group had found that N-acetylcysteine can attenuate the decline in muscle Na+,K+-pump activity and thus delay fatigue during prolonged exercise in humans. But even then, the data on real-world and long-term benefits of n-acetylcysteine supplementation was conflictive and the authors' conclu...