N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Reduces Hair Pulling Compulsion and May Also Be Useful for OCD
(NOTE: Updated some of the products and vendors mentioned on July 25, 2010.)
N-Acetylcysteine is an inexpensive and highly absorbable form of the amino acid cysteine which has numerous health benefits. Previously, I’ve mentioned NAC for use as a preventive measure against the common cold and flu infections (see Preventive Measures for Swine Flu), to help prevent liver damage from Tylenol (see Health Risks from Tylenol, Acetaminophen, and Paracetamol), and to detoxify your body of the mercury in dental fillings, predatory fish, and high fructose corn syrup (see High Fructose Corn Syrup is Dangerous for Many Reasons).
NAC Also Useful in Mental Health
It turns out that NAC also has uses in mental health and psychiatry, too. There is now clinical trial evidence that it can be used to treat trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder involving pulling the hair out of one’s head, eyelashes, eyebrows, or elsewhere on the body. This disorder affects somewhere between 1% and 5% of the world’s population and is strongly female predominant. Estimates are that 70% to 93% of trichotillomania patients are female. There is a belief that the disorder may have genetic origin, but so far the related genes found don’t explain all cases of the disorder.
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