The Amino Acid That Rebuilds Your Gut From the Inside Out

Send us Fan Mail A single nutrient can flip the body’s repair switch—and the path runs through the immune system. We unpack new MIT research showing that dietary cysteine doesn’t just act as an antioxidant; it primes CD8 T cells in the small intestine to release IL-22, the signal that tells intestinal stem cells to multiply and rebuild. By converting cysteine to coenzyme A and broadcasting that signal locally, gut cells recruit a specialized repair crew exactly where damage from chemotherapy ...