Guest Writer Weighs In: Medical Bias

I liked what Dr. Jim Fain had to say about this issue so much that I just had to get him to let me post it ver batim. We need to lead the blind to the truth with Facts, nothing but the Facts.

Medical Bias Plus Benefits of NAC
Jim Fain, PhD
The Natural Way Column Published 2/04/09 -The Lovely County Citizen
Can you imagine that the MD who writes a health column for the big newspaper basically believes supplementation to be useless, potentially harmful and irrational? Amazing isn't it that this sort of bias still exists and comes from a well educated science based professional. Trouble is his opinion still carries a lot of weight especially for those who don't think for themselves. Contrast this with what I found about the nutritional supplement N-Acetyl Cysteine also called NAC.
Over 10,000 published scientific studies came up when I did a search on PubMed for N-Acetyl Cysteine. You just can't say that using NAC is useless or irrational in all due respect to the MD columnist. I couldn't find anything that said it was harmful either. Rather, I found that it was very helpful for a very wide range of ailments and also for the prevention of some major illnesses.
Obviously, I didn't read every one of the 10,000 plus listings on PubMed but just listing the first two pages was an eye opener. NAC has been shown to have benefit for reducing tissue damage to the heart, radiation damage, surgical complications, X-ray contrast dye damage to the kidneys and for what's called pathologic gambling. To me, if it helps reduce pathologic gambling then it should reduce most other compulsions like smoking, spending, eating, etc. PubMed showed NAC beneficial for emphysema (COPD), bronchitis, cocaine abuse, lead and cadmium detox and overdose of Tylenol (R) aka acetaminophen. In terms of disease malaria, hepatitis C and HIV had studies done showing a profound impact. For instance, one study I read said that people exposed to HIV who had enough NAC and selenium in their systems didn't get the disease. This is important. NAC has anti-cancer benefits, too. I take two capsules (1200mg)/day with selenium and molybdenum. I'm 56 almost 57... just try to keep up with me.
MDs across the globe are aware of NAC. Many of the studies were done in people as well as in laboratories. The studies were not done with the intention of proving NAC as a prescription as it is a natural supplement and frankly wouldn't make big pharma much money. NAC is in the amino family group of natural health supplements. After digestion it does create glutathione in our liver. If we supplement with glutathione it has to be "reduced" and it isn't as effective as taking NAC and producing our own in our own system. NAC becomes a powerful antioxidant that our bodies need in order to stay healthy and to reduce negatives of living. Especially, the negatives of living that come with excess.
Deciding to take action to improve our lives and health with supplements isn't useless, necessarily harmful and certainly isn't irrational, in fact taking care of yourself with good supplement choice may be one of best things you can do.
Jim Fain, PhD can be reached at 866-210-1264 toll free - Fain’s Herbacy, Eureka Springs, AR