We’re all about sharing the truth and being transparent with you, which is why we think we need to have an open and honest discussion about L-Cysteine. Recently, N-Acetyl Cysteine was flagged as a non-compliant ingredient in dietary supplements. These two supplements are not the same, but we see how there can be some confusion, so we’d just like to clear that up. We don’t want you to miss out on the wonderful benefits of L-Cysteine.

What Is L-Cysteine?

L-Cysteine is an amino acid found in foods and supplements and is used to promote health. It is a semi-essential amino acid, or sometimes it’s called a conditionally essential amino acid. Essential amino acids are ones that your body needs but doesn’t produce on its own—you have to consume them. Semi-essential acids step in when you don’t get enough of certain essential amino acids. They’re not quite on the level of essential amino acids, but they are important and have significant health benefits.

L-Cysteine has been found in scientific journals dating back to 1950, with many different health benefits being chronicled. However, in the last two decades, the number of publications and interest in L-Cysteine has increased dramatically.

What Does L-Cysteine Do?

Cysteine is a non-essential amino acid that plays a big role in creating protein, and it’s useful in some metabolic functions in the body. L-Cysteine is a form of cysteine that has been linked to benefits associated with bone, heart, and respiratory health. 

Where Does L-Cysteine Come From?

L-Cysteine is found in many of the foods you eat, especially protein-rich foods. If you’re looking to incorporate L-Cysteine in your diet through foods, you should look to meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes. It’s also found as an important component in our Immune Hero supplement. Why would we incorporate it into an immune health supplement? Let’s take a look.

Why We Use L-Cysteine in Immune Hero

Immune Hero is designed to provide you with respiratory and immune health support. We’ve pulled together some of the strongest amino acids, minerals, and vitamins to support your immune function. These ingredients include L-Cysteine, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, and Vitamin E. The power of L-Cysteine is:

♦ Helps clear mucus from obstructed airways
♦ Stimulates the production of glutathione, an important antioxidant enzyme in the body

Other Potential Health Benefits

L-Cysteine has been used in alternative medicine for a long time; unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of research to back up many of its popular uses, but it is common in holistic settings for helping with:

♦ Heart health
♦ Respiratory health
♦ Proper blood sugar
♦ Seasonal threats
♦ Concerns associated with exercise exertion
♦ Bowel health
♦ Typical joint discomfort

It’s also been used to help in the maintenance of a healthy colon,  support sports performance levels, and it’s thought to promote detoxification.

Why Take L-Cysteine

You can see that L-Cysteine has been linked to many different health benefits, but it’s the immune support that we think is critical, especially at this time. We’re all aware of how important respiratory health is right now. This is why taking a supplement that supports immune health, and proper respiration can be so useful. If you’re looking for additional support to help your immune system and you’re especially concerned about your lungs functioning properly, this could be the supplement you find the most benefit from. L-Cysteine, glutamine, and glycine are three very important amino acids that form the building blocks of the powerful antioxidant glutathione.

What Is NAC?

If you’re still wondering what NAC is, N-Acetyl Cysteine is very useful for detoxification, and it could be what a doctor or hospital would prescribe for certain toxicities. This is part of why the FDA has decided it is a non-compliant ingredient because there have been medical uses of NAC, which means it needs to comply with other FDA approval criteria. The long and short of it, NAC is an essential amino acid that the body needs but cannot make naturally on its own. It’s a precursor to L-Cysteine. Prior to this ruling, NAC appeared in many supplements in much the same way that L-Cysteine does, and it’s believed that it has similar properties. 

Just the Essentials

At Essential Elements, we work very diligently to bring you the best ingredients in the healthiest way possible. This is why we use L-Cysteine and not NAC in our products. We are dedicated to being compliant and following best practices to give you the best products.

When it comes to your health, we suggest taking an immune-supporting supplement like our Immune Hero to give your body the essential elements it needs to keep fighting off invaders.