Where to buy NAC

[thewellerman]

Where do you buy NAC?  I'm not confident in the options I'm seeing.  

[kristin0713]

I buy mine at a local health food store. 

[prairiewindmomma]

IHerb

[busymama7]

Swansons 

[AbcdeDooDah]

I  Found some at Vitamin Shoppe.

[KatieJ]

I herb. Buy 2 and it’s free shipping.

[gardenmom5]

I just buy off amazon.

There are a number of websites, or pharmica if you prefer in person.

I use NOW brand.  There are good brands, and brands not worth my time.

Brands I trust:

Thorne

Integrative Theraputics

Allergy Research group.

Brands I trust - that might not be "quiet" as good, but are cheaper

NOW

Jarrow

Swanson

 

I will not use naturemaid (I did before I knew better) or most other brands from drugstores or costco.

[mom2samlibby]

I bought from Seeking Health. 

[thewellerman]

I'm glad to know Iherb is reputable.  I was looking at them specifically, but wasn't sure.  Thank you!

[AbcdeDooDah]

55 minutes ago, thewellerman said:

I'm glad to know Iherb is reputable.  I was looking at them specifically, but wasn't sure.  Thank you!

They're great!

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

I just buy off amazon.

Amazon no longer sells it because of the FDA issue

[gardenmom5]

2 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Amazon no longer sells it because of the FDA issue

Amazon is selling it- I just went and looked and it came up for sale.

Sawnson's, Pharmica, Viatmin world 

any compounding pharmacy

[mathnerd]

24 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Amazon no longer sells it because of the FDA issue

What is the FDA issue related to NAC? Thank you!

[mathnerd]

I ordered the NOW brand from vitacost - if you order $49 worth of stuff, you get free shipping. I usually combine the NAC order with other vitamins, omega-3, groceries etc when I order from them.

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

Amazon is selling it- I just went and looked and it came up for sale.

The only NAC that shows up on Amazon when I search is shipped and sold from outside the US by Dhayat Exports; they are charging $45-$65 for a bottle of NOW brand NAC and are offering delivery in late Feb or early March. I suspect Amazon just hasn't noticed the listings yet, which were just posted a couple of weeks ago.

The fact that Amazon banned sales of NAC has been widely reported in the press, if you google "Amazon bans NAC" you'll get lots of hits. Here are a few examples:
Amazon Confirms Plans on Removing NAC Supplements
Amazon Bans Sale of N-Acetyl Cysteine
NAC Supplements Pulled For Sale By Amazon

Basically, the FDA decided that NAC should no longer be sold as a dietary supplement because it was originally approved by the FDA as a drug. The supplement industry is fighting against it; you can read a good summary of the legal issues here.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Corraleno

[Corraleno]

48 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

What is the FDA issue related to NAC? Thank you!

Here is the FDA's position in their own words:
“FDA has concluded that NAC products are excluded from the dietary supplement definition under section 201(ff)(3)(B)(i) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(ff)(3)(B)(i)]. Under this provision, if an article (such as NAC) has been approved as a new drug under section 505 of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355], then products containing that article are outside the definition of a dietary supplement, unless before such approval that article was marketed as a dietary supplement or as a food. NAC was approved as a new drug under section 505 of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355] on September 14, 1963. FDA is not aware of any evidence that NAC was marketed as a dietary supplement or as a food prior to that date.”

As I understand it, the organizations that are fighting against it are arguing that the rule cannot be applied retroactively, so the fact that it was approved as a drug in 1963 is irrelevant, and they only need to prove that it was being sold as a supplement before the rule went into effect (which I think was around 1994?). But the FDA is only giving them to January 25th to make their arguments and provide proof of how long it's been sold as a supplement. Another argument that's being made is that the drug that was approved in 1963 was inhaled, not taken orally, so it shouldn't apply to NAC capsules and tablets.

Of course the elephant in the room is that the FDA only seemed to become concerned about this after NAC was being recommended to treat or prevent covid, and it certainly looks like they've only gone after it for that reason.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Corraleno

[KSera]

27 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Health and Education Act said you can't market any substance as a dietary supplement if it was first approved as a drug. Apparently an inhaled form of NAC was approved as a drug at some point, and because of that the FDA suddenly decided that NAC could no longer be sold OTC

Can it not be sold OTC at all, or is it just that it needs to be approved in a different category, as an over-the-counter medication? I can think of quite a few medications, like allergy medications, that were prescriptions before they were over the counter. I take a different daily supplement that was originally a prescription drug long ago, but is now an over-the-counter supplement. It is part of my treatment plan from my doctor, and this kind of worries me that it could be made unavailable. Taking this has allowed me to drop my prescription medication. I expect the NAC issue must be causing problems for people who use it to help manage OCD symptoms. How frustrating. 

[popmom]

35 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

 

Of course the elephant in the room is that the FDA only seemed to become concerned about this after NAC was being recommended to treat or prevent covid, and it certainly looks like they've only gone after it for that reason.

How do you feel about this? Do you think it is the right thing to do? I have NAC because "body focused repetitive behaviors" are a thing with me and my kids. It's hereditary.

My favorite pet compounding pharmacy online was shut down last year for similar reasons. They were selling and had been selling Ivermectin (which was just one of many very beneficial preventatives they sold) at a much lower cost than at my vet. This was a huge blessing to our rescue family--especially my daughters who have fostered so many dogs. I had been buying from this business for years. Very good quality products. This is/was a minority, woman owned company, too. I'm still really pi%%#$ about it. 

 

[Corraleno]

2 minutes ago, KSera said:

Can it not be sold OTC at all, or is it just that it needs to be approved in a different category, as an over-the-counter medication? I can think of quite a few medications, like allergy medications, that were prescriptions before they were over the counter. I take a different daily supplement that was originally a prescription drug long ago, but is now an over-the-counter supplement. It is part of my treatment plan from my doctor, and this kind of worries me that it could be made unavailable. Taking this has allowed me to drop my prescription medication. I expect the NAC issue must be causing problems for people who use it to help manage OCD symptoms. How frustrating. 

The FDA's claim (so far at least) is just that it can't be sold as a dietary supplement. It's still sold as a medication (e.g. for acetaminophen toxicity), and I guess in theory it could be sold OTC — but I assume it would have to go through a whole separate OC medication approval process, with a whole lot more hoops to jump through compared to a dietary supplement. How many vitamin companies are going to want to go through all the time and expense involved in getting drug approval? 

 

[Corraleno]

3 minutes ago, popmom said:

How do you feel about this? Do you think it is the right thing to do? I have NAC because "body focused repetitive behaviors" are a thing with me and my kids. It's hereditary.

I think this was a really stupid fight for the FDA to pick, and it will only give ammunition to the conspiracy folks who think the government is purposely withholding all the cheap, effective drugs so they can force vaccines, keep everyone living in fear, yadda yadda. NAC is a perfectly safe supplement when taken at the levels normally sold, and it's used in hospitals for acetaminophen poisoning at intravenous doses up to 20 grams/day. IMO, banning it as a supplement serves no useful purpose, doesn't increase public safety, deprives people who benefit from it, and will likely decrease availability and increase the price if it's eventually sold as an OTC medication. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people hate and distrust the FDA! 

[Kanin]

Is NAC shown to be helpful/safe? I have a bottle and it says something about elevated liver values as a side effect.

My mom has a sinus infection and I'm wondering if it could be good for that. 

[kristin0713]

11 hours ago, KSera said:

Can it not be sold OTC at all, or is it just that it needs to be approved in a different category

It is still being sold OTC at my local health food store. The only brand they have on the shelf right now is their name brand (they carry a huge line of supplements under their store brand) whereas before they carried a few different brands. I started buying it a few years ago to help with OCD, but did not find any significant benefit from it for that purpose. 

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

Is NAC shown to be helpful/safe?

My DH's neurologist stays very current on research. We have to clear everything with him before DH can take it because of the meds that he is on. There have been supplements in the past that we asked him about and he said "don't waste your money" and other ones that he said to avoid because they were not good for the kidneys or liver or something. When I asked him about NAC, he said it's perfectly harmless and may even help and he sent me this study - I can't seem to attach the file but here is the abstract https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34182881/ 

Edited January 16, 2022 by kristin0713

[Kanin]

4 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

My DH's neurologist stays very current on research. We have to clear everything with him before DH can take it because of the meds that he is on. There have been supplements in the past that we asked him about and he said "don't waste your money" and other ones that he said to avoid because they were not good for the kidneys or liver or something. When I asked him about NAC, he said it's perfectly harmless and may even help and he sent me this study - I can't seem to attach the file but here is the abstract https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34182881/ 

Thank you!

[Corraleno]

4 hours ago, Kanin said:

Is NAC shown to be helpful/safe? I have a bottle and it says something about elevated liver values as a side effect.

My mom has a sinus infection and I'm wondering if it could be good for that. 

NAC is a mucolytic as well as an anti-inflammatory and immune booster, so it might be worth a try. It can interact with blood thinners, though, so check that she's not on those. It's hard to overdose on the pills that are commercially available, unless someone is purposely taking handfuls of them, and the main side effects of an oral overdose are nausea and GI issues. It's actually used at very high doses (10-20 g) intravenously to prevent liver damage from acetaminophen poisoning, and the only reports of deaths I've seen have been from hospital errors (e.g. a woman died after she was mistakenly given 100g instead of 10 g).

Here's an article about the various benefits. The article provides links to the scientific studies for each of the listed benefits, and the links with blue checkmarks are all on PubMed.

[KSera]

I seem to recall NAC being one of those supplements that breaks down and loses its potency more quickly than a lot of other things, so something to be aware of. Perhaps that’s mostly for the powdered version, which was the kind that we needed to use when we were using it here, because the person taking it couldn’t swallow pills. One of the brands we used came in individual foil packets to try to keep it fresh longer. We have several bottles of capsules in the house now left over, but I am guessing they might not be any good anymore.