Sulfur clearance route
Homocysteine-to-cysteine conversion
Also searched as Homocysteine-to-cysteine conversion.
This is why glutathione is not simply a Matter of Taking Glutathione. Cysteine is the limiting amino acid, and it arrives either from diet or from this pathway. NAC works by supplying cysteine directly and bypassing the bottleneck. Requires vitamin B6; hydrogen sulfide is a by-product of the same enzymes.
In depth
Homocysteine to cystathionine to cysteine — the rate-limiting supply line for glutathione.
What drives it
Homocysteine increases it.
The alternative fate - committed to cystathionine and then cysteine. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
Micronutrient status increases it.
Vitamin B6 is the cofactor for cystathionine beta-synthase. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
What it drives
It increases Master antioxidant.
Cysteine is the rate-limiting amino acid for glutathione synthesis. This is why glutathione status is not simply a matter of taking glutathione. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Gasotransmitter signaling.
Hydrogen sulfide is a by-product of the same transsulfuration enzymes. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Phase Two, Route Two.
Sulfate supply traces back to cysteine. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
It increases Taurine status.
Taurine is a product of the same cysteine branch that makes glutathione - supply is shared between them. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.