Comment · Fri, July 22, 2022 · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
Is NALT (N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine) really just placebo?
Original post in this thread
TheNootropicist · 4 points
So according to a study I've seen mentioned frequently, NALT is a waste of time and money, because it has poor bioavailability. But it also seems that surprisingly many say that it does work, some even say that it works better than regular L-Tyrosine. Even MisterYouAreSoDumb says this. I am very confused. The NALT-supporter camp says that the study is outdated. On the other side, someone even said that NALT sucks because "even" IV administration leads to poor bioavailability, and then others said that NALT is a prodrug, meaning that it can raise L-Tyrosine levels, but why would you use this when you can just get the regular Tyrosine? Then people also say that it works better because it is more water-soluble, but isn't lipophilicty (for large molecules) a factor that predicts BBB crossing, meaning that the less water-soluble L-Tyrosine would be better? So is NALT really just a sugar pill or does it work to some degree?
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
People parrot around shit they hear without fully understanding the complex pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of things. Why take N-acetylcysteine when you can just take cysteine? Did you know NAC is less efficient at raising plasma cysteine levels than just taking L-cysteine? Yet NAC has been proven useful for many things, and you don't see people asking this same question about it. NALT is very similar to NAC in that it is not as efficient at raising plasma levels as taking the parent amino acids themselves, yet they both produce unique effects.
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embr.201949211
Well would you look at that... Our bodies actually create N-acetyltyrosine in-vivo for specific processes, and it serves as an intrinsic trigger to hormesis. Everyone parroting around the idea that NALT is just placebo are a bunch of dimwitted Jabronis. "Everyone promoting NALT just wants to sell you more expensive things!" Yes, I am personally using NALT because I want to sell more of it... It's not that I find the research compelling, and have done back-to-back testing over a decade on it, and have found it works better for me.
Then people also say that it works better because it is more water-soluble, but isn't lipophilicty (for large molecules) a factor that predicts BBB crossing, meaning that the less water-soluble L-Tyrosine would be better?
Neither L-tyrosine nor N-acetyl L-tyrosine can pass the BBB via passive kinetics, so it is active transport that is happening there. They have a transporter that actively shuttles them into the brains, so the solubility differences are not a factor.