Supplement could ease hair-pulling urge

[apothecary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07...9.htm?site=news

A debilitating condition in which people feel compelled to pull their hair could be treated by a supplement called N-acetylcysteine, US researchers say.

Dr Jon Grant and colleagues at the Minnesota School of Medicine in Minneapolis report on their small study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Estimates of how many people suffer from chronic hair-pulling, or trichotillomania, vary between one and seven out of every 200 people.

The compulsion can create bald spots, and anxiety if sufferers resist the urge to yank out hair. Some pull out the hair of others.

Antidepressants and other drugs are generally not helpful for the condition.

Dr Grant and colleagues tested whether trichotillomania could be treated using N-acetylcysteine, an amino acid, which has shown to be of benefit to people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The researchers conducted a 12-week trial among 50 people with trichotillomania, giving an initial daily dose of 1,200 milligrams of N-acetylcysteine and then doubling it after six weeks if no improvement occurred.

"Fifty six per cent of patients were much or very much improved with N-acetylcysteine use compared with 16 per cent taking placebo," write Dr Grant and colleagues.

They say no participants reported adverse effects.

As for the 44 per cent of people who did not respond to the treatment, the researchers say there are types of hair-pulling that may respond better to other drugs and to talk therapy.

Remarkable compound

Psychiatrist Professor Michael Berk from the University of Melbourne describes N-acetylcysteine as a "remarkable compound".

He says historically it has been used as a treatment for a range of purposes including paracetamol poisoning and to dissolve mucus.

"It seems to do all kinds of things in some otherwise very diverse disorders," Professor Berk said.

Professor Berk was involved with the first trials that found N-acetylcysteine helped people with psychiatric disorders.

He says other studies suggest it helps people with cocaine and heroin abuse.

In a paper yet to be published, Professor Berk has found N-acetylcysteine also helps people who compulsively bite their nails.

"That's related to trichotillomania," he said, adding that trichotillomania is not a huge problem but can be disfiguring and cause significant distress.

He says more research needs to be done before N-acetylcysteine could be used as a routine treatment for psychiatric disorders.

Professor Berk says N-acetylcysteine is exciting because it is helping to shed light on the mechanisms involved in various mental disorders.

"It's a precursor of glutathione, which is the brain's major anti-oxidant and there's evidence that in major psychiatric disorders there's high levels of oxidative stress," he said.

The compound also appears to boost the supply of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which in certain parts of the brain controls compulsive, repetitive behaviour.

Glutathione precursors eh...anyone got some.