Issue 11/2022
Prof. Dr. Donka Baikova, MD, PhD
Specialist in Nutrition and Dietetics,
Medical Center “Markovs”, Sofia
Problem: The increasing prevalence of fans of healthy nutrition globally has generated in recent decade a new scintific and practical problem – an increased interest in medical-biological effects and food safety of ingredients of foods (written on the label). Subject of this work is to analyse, evaluated and present scientific data regarding health aspects of L-cysteine (L-Cys) as supplement (to enrich the imbalanced diet of modern people) and as additive – technological improvement. In this work there are summarized the scientific data available in the specialized literature about the health benefits and risks of this nonessential amino acid. Ihe data show that the main beneficial health effects of L-cysteine are: to protect the liver parenchyma (whereat is applicated in severe parenchymal damage of liver parenchyma in which endogenous synthesis is impossible); to support of mucolytic expectorant functions of the respiratory tract; to reduce the cancerogenous risk (antioxidant function. Another important aspect of of L-cysteine use is as food additive based on its antioxidant, chelating and flavoring properties. In conclusion: At present, the results we have been presented are obtained in ”in vitro” studies, becausе data from clinical studies are too scare. Therefore scientific discussions about the health effectiveness and risks from long-term applicatioof L-cysteine continue, and the answers to many questions remain open.
Address for correspondence:
D. Baikova
MC „Markovs“, 20, „Bademova gora“, Str., 1404, Sofia