Supplement may help curb gambling

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A common amino acid -- N-acetyl cysteine -- may help curb a gamblers’ addiction, a University of Minnesota researcher found.

"It looks very promising," study leader Dr. Jon Grant, an associate professor of psychiatry said in a statement. "We were able to reduce people’s urges to gamble -- this research could be encouraging for a lot of addictions."

The eight-week study of 27 people, who were given increasing doses of N-acetyl cysteine, resulted in 60 percent of the participants reporting fewer urges to gamble, the journal Biological Psychiatry reported.

N-acetyl cysteine, which impact the chemical glutamate, is often associated with reward in the brain, said Grant.

Thirteen people who responded well in the first round of the study were asked to continue to participate in a double-blind study for an additional six weeks -- neither the researcher nor subjects knew who received the supplement and who received the placebo. About 83 percent who received the supplement, reported fewer urges to gamble.