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Health News Archive 698 - Gambling / Addiction
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N-Acetyl Cysteine Supplementation Helps Gamblers Curb Addiction

N-Acetyl Cysteine, an amino acid helps diminish pathological gambling addictions, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota (UM) uncovered the link following an eight-week trial involving 27 people who were given increasing doses of N-acetyl cysteine. By the end of the pilot study, published in Biological Psychiatry, 60 percent of the participants reported having less urges to gamble.

The potential significance of these findings is huge - given the widespread damage caused by addictive gambling.

According to figures compiled by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), a national gambling impact study in 1999 estimated the annual cost to society of problem gambling was $5 billion. While in 1997 alone, Americans - both in terms of recreational and so-called 'problem' gambling - frittered away more than $500 billion.

Specialists in the field say it is difficult to get exact statistics on the number of people suffering from gambling additions, but they assert that incidence has been on the rise.

Like any addiction, treatment for compulsive gambling is a challenge - according to the Mayo Clinic - because people often have difficulty admitting their problem and therefore do not look for help. However, when treatment is undertaken it traditionally involves psychotherapy, self-help groups and/or medication.

And this is where the potential for a dietary supplement to help comes in.  "It looks very promising," said Dr. Jon Grant, UM associate professor of psychiatry and principal investigator of the study. "We were able to reduce people's urges to gamble."

As such, the researchers are now in the process of trying to get a federal grant to fund a larger study.

Thirteen of the 16 participants who responded to the amino acid the first time around agreed to continue in the double-blind study (the other three did not want to risk quitting the drug they were on) for an additional six weeks. Of these, around 83 percent who received the supplement continued to report fewer urges to gamble and nearly 72 percent of those who took the placebo went back to gambling. N-acetyl cysteine is said to have an impact on the chemical glutamate, which is often associated with reward in the brain.

The particular nature of the participant selection process for the second round means further research will be necessary to corroborate the findings. In addition, subjects knew they were taking a dietary supplement during the first phase of the study and there was a relatively small number of subjects in the double-blind portion.

"This research could be encouraging for a lot of addictions," said Grant. Grant is currently investigating whether the drug could help methamphetamine, also known as 'crystal meth', users quit.

Similar studies using N-acetyl cysteine have shown its ability to curb drug addictions in animals, but Grant claims this study was the first to look at a glutamate-modulating agent for the treatment of pathological gamblers.

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