Amino Acid Supplement May Help People With HIV - Brief Article

Agricultural Research, Jan, 1999 by Farook Jahoor

Can people infected by HIV improve their antioxidant status with supplements of cysteine, an amino acid? Scientists in Texas have findings that may help answer this question. Antioxidants boost the body's immune system. They also protect our organs from damage by a destructive form of oxygen normally produced in cells' metabolic reactions.

But medical researchers know that levels of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) can fall as a result of HIV infection. HIV patients with low GSH levels have increased secondary infections and cancers and higher mortality. But some scientists have shown that a form of cysteine called NAC, short for N-acetylcysteine, can raise GSH. Other studies suggest NAC is ineffective. In the Texas study, HIV-infected volunteers who took NAC increased their GSH-making efficiency. The amount of GSH in blood cells increased. This confirms other findings--in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Germany--that NAC is helpful. The Houston study may also shed light on why HIV infection lowers GSH. The scientists concluded that the HIV-infected volunteers may have been producing the antioxidant too slowly rather than using it too quickly. The study of GSH synthesis was small--five HIV-infected volunteers and five healthy ones. But researchers used an in-depth method, amino acids tagged with stable isotopes, to measure GSH synthesis. Farook Jahoor, USDA-ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; phone (713) 798-7084, e-mailjjahoor@bcm.fmc.edu.