Dr Mercola Dr Mercola NAC Liver Support with Milk Thistle

Dr Mercola's Liver Support contains N-Acetyl L-Cysteine (NAC), Milk thistle and Organic broccoli sprouts to help support healthy liver function and your body’s normal detoxification process.

Together, these unique ingredients are designed to:

• Provide on-going support to help minimise the damaging effects of contaminants on your liver.
• Help restore intracellular levels of glutathione.
• Provide antioxidant mitochondria support.
• Support your body’s normal detoxification process.
• Provide short-term support for occasional acute events.

Glutathione is your body’s principal antioxidant, and exists in each of your cells. It functions by keeping all the other antioxidants in line and performing at their peak.

This super-antioxidant’s primary task is to help protect your body from free radical damage, wastes, and potentially harmful substances. Glutathione is one of the most important factors in your body’s detoxification arsenal and is crucial for your liver’s well-being.

As you age, your body’s ability to produce glutathione declines. And many substances like alcohol, drugs, and contaminants can deplete your glutathione levels.

One of the best ways to restore those levels is to use a derivative of the amino acid cysteine, called N-acetyl cysteine, or NAC for short. NAC comes with four decades of scientific validation, and has been used in traditional medicine for over 30 years.

One of NAC’s primary roles in conventional medicine is as a treatment for acute poisoning with acetaminophen-containing pain-relieving drugs – the number one cause of acute liver failure in the U.S.

Too high of an acetaminophen dose can exhaust the body’s glutathione reserves, leading to permanent liver damage. As its precursor, NAC quickly restores glutathione levels, and, in effect, helps save lives.

NAC’s Actions Beyond Its Role as Precursor to Glutathione

By replenishing your cells’ supplies of glutathione on a regular basis, NAC helps your cells regain their ability to protect themselves against free radicals and other damage. This is especially desirable as you age.

Researchers have found that NAC does more than just replenish levels of glutathione within your cells. NAC provides additional potential benefits in these areas:

• Helps regulate the expression of many genes involved with your body’s inflammatory response
• Supports normal healthy insulin sensitivity
• Supports respiratory health*
• Protects tissues and cells from the effects of oxidative stress from exercise*
• Supports normal healthy cellular growth and development*

There’s no question that NAC offers valuable potential for the support of your liver health.

Milk thistle has been treasured for over 2,000 years for its value in supporting liver, kidney, and gall bladder health.

When the leaves of the plant are crushed, they release a milky sap. Hence the name.

The herb milk thistle is an excellent source of the antioxidant compound silymarin, its primary active component.

Extracted from the plant seeds, silymarin consists of three flavonoids – silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin – all of which may help repair liver cells that have been damaged by environmental pollutants, alcohol, and fructose.

Silymarin has been found to increase glutathione and help prevent its depletion in your liver. It also helps support a normal inflammatory response in your cells through its effect on gene expression.

Support Your Liver With Up to 100 Times More of the Sulforaphane Precursor in Fresh Broccoli

Glucoraphanin is a precursor to sulforaphane, a potent liver-supporting substance found in regular organic broccoli – its best-known source.

However, fresh, young broccoli sprouts – grown from organic broccoli seeds – can contain up to 100 times the amount of this glucoraphanin!

When animals in studies chewed or swallowed vegetables containing glucoraphanin, the resulting sulforaphane fired up the body’s waste disposal system.

This not only helped the body rid itself of pollutants, it also helped protect the body from potential harm.

Researchers wanted to see how these substances would work in humans, so they travelled to one of the most heavily industrialised and polluted regions in China to put their theory to the test.

They recruited a total of 291 men and women living in a rural farming community in Jiangsu Province, China, about 50 miles north of Shanghai for their 12-week trial.

The treatment group received a half-cup of a beverage made with broccoli sprout powder containing glucoraphanin and sulforaphane, combined with sterilised water, pineapple and lime juice.

Urine and blood samples were taken during the trail to measure inhaled air pollutants.

The results were astounding… Excretion of a common and potentially hazardous airborne pollutant increased the very first day in the broccoli sprout powder group – by a whopping 61 percent! And increased excretion continued during the entire 12-week period.

Researchers concluded that the sulforaphane in the sprout powder might in some way be signaling to the cells the need to adapt to and survive a broad range of environmental contaminants, including those in water and food.