Supplement may help treat gambling addiction

A U researcher says an immune booster could dampen urge to bet, but more research is needed to confirm results.

Last update: September 12, 2007 - 12:02 AM

Could a health food supplement help curb the urge to gamble? A small study by the University of Minnesota suggests that it may.

The supplement, N-acetyl cysteine, was given to 27 pathological gamblers for eight weeks. By the end, 60 percent said they had fewer urges to gamble, according to the study in the Sept. 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry.

Dr. Jon Grant, the lead scientist, called it promising, but said a much larger study will be needed to prove that it works.

Grant, a university psychiatrist who has studied other drugs to treat addiction, decided to try the supplement after animal studies showed that it helped curb cravings for cocaine. He said such addictions are believed to involve "the same circuitry in the brain."

In his study, he gave 27 gambling addicts up to 1,800 mg. of the supplement, an amino acid that's sold as a natural immune-system booster at health food stores. (It's also used in hospitals to prevent liver damage in drug-overdose cases, Grant said.)

Sixteen habitual gamblers reported a benefit: "They gambled less, and their urges were less," said Grant. Of those, 13 remained in a follow-up study, with roughly half getting the pill and half a placebo. Five out of six on the supplement reported continued improvement, compared to two out of seven on a placebo.

"There does seem to be some effect, but you would need bigger numbers," said Grant, who is planning more studies. But he warned that no pill alone will cure gambling addicts. At most, he said, it may be a "possible helper in people's struggle with this addiction."

MAURA LERNER