Science of NAD
How are your NAD levels today?
Replenishing NAD levels is more likely to improve your healthspan than your lifespan -- the health of your years rather than the number of years. On the other hand, as one study points out, nicotinamide riboside has lengthened lifespan in every animal that has been tested. But we don't know yet in humans...
ARTICLE: Can NAD Help Me Live Longer?
Here are the studies:
Aug 31, 2023
Cancer - Aging
Aging Cell
Nicotinamide riboside intervention alleviates hematopoietic system injury of ionizing radiation-induced premature aging mice
Li, Wenxuan
Summary
This mouse study is the first to show NR's potential to be a therapeutic agent for delayed effects of acute radiation exposure in patients receiving radiotherapy and exposed populations.
Aug 31, 2023
Cancer - Aging - Radiation
Aging Cell
Nicotinamide riboside intervention alleviates hematopoietic system injury of ionizing radiation-induced premature aging mice
Li, Wenxuan
Summary
This mouse study is the first to show NR's potential to be a therapeutic agent for delayed effects of acute radiation exposure in patients receiving radiotherapy and exposed populations.
Aug 22, 2023
Aging - Metabolism
Advances in Nutrition
The Safety and Anti-Ageing Effects of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide in Human Clinical Trials: An Update
Song, Qin
Summary
From a biochemist's perspective, NR holds an edge over NMN since cells cannot directly absorb NMN, and NMN must be converted to NR before entering cells. Thus, [NMN's greater popularity among consumers] may be attributed to the fact that NMN is a more direct precursor in the biosynthesis pathway of NAD+ when viewed from a layman's standpoint. This illusion, probably further fanned by the manufacturers, is responsible for the hyped demands and sales of NMN for consumers that causes more people to be exposed to NMN compared to other NAD+ precursors.
Mar 4, 2023
Metabolism - Aging
Trends in Cell Biology
The autophagy–NAD axis in longevity and disease
Wilson, Niall
Summary
Both NAD levels and autophagy activity decline with age, and genetically or pharmacologically boosting either promotes lifespan extension and attenuates age-related pathology in laboratory animals...It was recently shown that autophagy deficiency induces fatal depletion of NAD+/NADH, that is rescuable by NAD precursor supplementation, suggesting a role of autophagy in NAD maintenance. Therefore, NAD and autophagy form a bidirectional feedback relationship which may be linked to longevity and age-related disease, and could represent a target for therapeutic intervention.
Feb 27, 2023
Aging - Smell
Aging Cell
Loss of smelling is an early marker of aging and is associated with inflammation and DNA damage in C57BL/6J mice
Dan, Xiuli
Summary
Supplementation of NAD+ through NR in water improved longevity and partially enhanced olfaction in aged mice. Our studies provide mechanistic and biological insights into the olfaction decline during aging and highlight the role of NAD+ for preserving smelling function and general health.
Feb 4, 2023
Heart / Vascular - Aging
Antioxidants
NAD+ Homeostasis and NAD+-Consuming Enzymes: Implications for Vascular Health
Campagna, Roberto
Summary
Although future studies are required to better clarify the potential of targeting NAD+ homeostasis, the strategies based on administering NAD+ precursors or inhibiting NAD+-dependent enzymes seem to be an attractive approach for reducing chronic low-grade inflammation, enhancing mitochondrial biogenesis, and improving oxidative metabolism in vascular cells.
Feb 3, 2023
Aging - Metabolism
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
The Central Role of the NAD+ Molecule in the Development of Aging and the Prevention of Chronic Age-Related Diseases: Strategies for NAD+ Modulation
Poljsak, Borut
Summary
This article reviews the NAD+ molecule in the development of aging and the prevention of chronic age-related diseases and discusses the strategies of NAD+ modulation for healthy aging and longevity.
Nov 28, 2022
Diabetes - Aging
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Effects of nicotinamide mononucleotide on older patients with diabetes and impaired physical performance: A prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind study
Akasaka, Hiroshi
Summary
In older male patients with diabetes and impaired physical performance, NMN supplementation for 24 weeks was safe, but did not improve grip strength and walking speed.
Oct 26, 2022
Aging
Life Medicine
A comparative study of metformin and nicotinamide riboside in alleviating tissue aging in rats
Geng, Lingling
Summary
Here, we showed that Metformin (MET) and Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) exhibited a geroprotective effect on aged human stem cells and various tissues in aged rats. Both MET and NR repressed systemic inflammation and inhibited aging markers across multiple tissues in aged rats. MET and NR treatment attenuated aging-associated gene expression across tissues, with the most protective effects in adipose and aortic tissues. We found that that both MET and NR alleviated the aging-associated phenotypes, especially systemic inflammation, tissue fibrosis, and aggresome formation in aged rat tissues. We further showed that both MET and NR partially rescued aging Differentially Expressed Genes in several tissues, and the most remarkable effects were found in adipose and aortic tissues
Oct 12, 2022
Aging - Progeria - Bioavailability
Frontiers in Aging
The use of progeroid DNA repair-deficient mice for assessing anti-aging compounds, illustrating the benefits of nicotinamide riboside
Birkisdóttir, María B.
Summary
Interestingly, mice supplemented with NA revealed a significant delay in the onset of imbalance, whereas NR supplementation showed a trend towards delaying the median age of onset of tremors. Furthermore, NR significantly extended median lifespan by approximately 25% or 5 weeks, while animals receiving NA lived about as long as control-fed animals.
Oct 11, 2022
Circadian Rhythm - Aging - Heart
American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology
Circadian cardiac NAD+ metabolism, from transcriptional regulation to healthy aging
Carpenter, Bryce J.
Summary
...Recent studies have expanded on the role of circadian rhythms and the core clock factors that maintain them in the regulation of NAD+ levels in the heart. This has revealed that NAD+ pools and their use are tightly linked to cardiac function, but also heart failure. The convergence of these fields, namely, clock regulation, heart disease, and NAD+ metabolism present a complex network ripe with potential scientific and clinical discoveries, given the growing number of animal models, recently developed technology, and opportunity for safe and accessible precursor supplementation...
Oct 10, 2022
Muscle - Aging - Stem Cells
JCI Insight
A randomized placebo-controlled trial of nicotinamide riboside and pterostilbene supplementation in experimental muscle injury in elderly individuals
Jensen, Jonas
Summary
...The objective of this study was to investigate if supplementation with nicotinamide riboside and pterostilbene (NRPT) promotes skeletal muscle regeneration after muscle injury in elderly individuals by improved recruitment of MuSCs...Daily supplementation with 1,000 mg NR and 200 mg PT is safe but does not improve recruitment of the MuSC pool or other measures of muscle recovery in response to injury or subsequent regeneration in elderly individuals.
Sep 28, 2022
Skin - Aging
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
The Role of NAD+ in Regenerative Medicine
Conlon, Nichola
Summary
Addressing aging at the cellular level is now critically important. Many surgical procedures rely on the healing and regenerative capacity of the skin which is known to decline with age, leading to disappointing results or negative postsurgery outcomes. Improving health and resilience at the cellular level with NAD+ restoration could be harnessed as a way to ensure consistent results and recovery irrespective of patient age. It should also be noted that the efficacy of many nonsurgical aesthetic procedures such as microneedling and laser technologies ultimately rely on the activation of cellular stress pathways to trigger the clearance of damaged cells and stimulate the production of new collagen. Many of these pathways require adequate NAD+ levels for optimal function, meaning NAD+ restoration before treatment could be a strategy to ensure the underlying cells are in an optimal condition to respond to the treatment.
Sep 26, 2022
Aging - Longevity - Sirtuins
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
A Science-Based Review of the World’s Best-Selling Book on Aging
Brenner, Charles
Summary
Lifespan, a book by Harvard scientist David Sinclair, has become an influential source of misinformation on longevity, featuring counterfactual claims about longevity genes being conserved between yeast and humans, the existence of supposed activators of these genes, and claimed successful age reversal in mice based on partial reprogramming. The book has popularized a stack of drugs and supplements with significant potential to harm the general public.The reviewer suggests that scientists and physicians emphasize to the general public that aging is known to be a highly polygenic developmental process and that the most important things that people can do to age better are to maintain high physical and mental activity.
Sep 22, 2022
Aging - Longevity - Sirtuins
Life Metabolism
Sirtuins are Not Conserved Longevity Genes
Brenner, Charles
Summary
While sirtuins carry out interesting biochemical reactions and perform important functions for organisms, their degree of regulation is modest compared to most other enzymes that function in the NAD system. In addition, the degree of hype, framing, and nonreproducibility in the sirtuin literature is persistently misleading. Dispassionate analysis of their functions does not support assignment as longevity enzymes or as principal mediators of the effects of NAD repletion.
Sep 20, 2022
Pancreas - Aging
Molecular Metabolism
Nicotinamide Riboside Kinase 1 protects against diet and age-induced pancreatic β-cell failure
Circillieux, Angelique
Summary
Disturbances in NAD+ metabolism have been described as a hallmark for multiple metabolic and age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes. While alterations in pancreatic β-cell function are critical determinants of whole-body glucose homeostasis, the role of NAD+ metabolism in the endocrine pancreas remains poorly explored. Here, we aimed to evaluate the role of nicotinamide riboside (NR) metabolism in maintaining NAD+ levels and pancreatic β-cell function in pathophysiological conditions...
Sep 14, 2022
Heart / Vascular - Aging
Journal of Cardiovascular Aging
Metabolic targets in cardiac aging and rejuvenation
Liu, Chang
Summary
NAD+ repletion can delay several hallmarks of aging and suppress the deterioration of age-related diseases[95]. This suggests a significant potential for the treatment of cardiac diseases in the elderly population with supplementation of NAD+ precursors. Indeed, the dietary intake of NAM could reduce cardiac hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction in aged mice
Aug 26, 2022
Hearing - Aging
Preprint
Long-term NAD+ supplementation prevents the progression of age-related hearing loss in mice
Okur, Mustafa
Summary
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is the most common sensory disability associated with human aging. Yet, there are no approved measures for preventing or treating this debilitating condition. With its slow progression, continuous and safe approaches are critical for ARHL treatment. Nicotinamide Riboside (NR), a NAD+ precursor, is well tolerated even for long-term use and is already shown effective in various disease models including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. It has also been beneficial against noise induced hearing loss and in hearing loss associated with premature aging. However, its beneficial impact on ARHL is not known. Using two different wild-type mouse strains, we show that long-term NR administration prevents the progression of ARHL...
Aug 7, 2022
Brain - Aging - Cognitive Decline - Alzheimers - Stroke
Nutrients
Supplementation with NAD+ and Its Precursors to Prevent Cognitive Decline across Disease Contexts
Campbell, Jared
Summary
A large body of preclinical research supports the potential effectiveness of NAD+ precursor supplementation for preserving cognitive health across a variety of disease contexts, with the strongest evidence presented for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
May 9, 2022
Heart - Vascular - Circadian Rhythm - Aging
Frontiers in Molecular Medicine
Nicotinamide Riboside Improves Cardiac Function and Prolongs Survival After Disruption of the Cardiomyocyte Clock
Dierickx, Pieterjan
Summary
Here, we show that supplementation with the NAD+ precursor NR as a dietary supplement improves heart function and extends the lifespan of female mice lacking cardiac REV-ERBs. Thus, boosting NAD+ levels can improve cardiac function in a setting of heart failure caused by disruption of circadian clock factors, providing new insights into the links between the circadian clock, energy metabolism, and cardiac function.
May 1, 2022
Muscle - NMN - Aging
NPJ Aging
Chronic nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation elevates blood nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide levels and alters muscle function in healthy older men
Igarashi, Masaki
Summary
NMN oral supplementation at 250 mg/day in healthy older men for 12 weeks was safe and well-tolerated and significantly increased the levels of NAD + and NAD +-related metabolites in whole blood. Furthermore, NMN administration partly improved muscle performance, evaluated using gait speed and grip strength, in healthy older men...NMN did not affect the skeletal muscle mass of participants in our study...Thus, the chronic oral administration of NMN could be a therapeutic strategy for aging-related disorders in humans, such as sarcopenia.
Dec 27, 2021
Aging - NAD Levels
Nutrients
Age-Dependent Decline of NAD +-Universal Truth or Confounded Consensus?
Peluso, Augusto
Summary
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is an essential molecule involved in various metabolic reactions, acting as an electron donor in the electron transport chain and as a co-factor for NAD+-dependent enzymes. In the early 2000s, reports that NAD+ declines with aging introduced the notion that NAD+ metabolism is globally and progressively impaired with age. Since then, NAD+ became an attractive target for potential pharmacological therapies aiming to increase NAD+ levels to promote vitality and protect against age-related diseases. This review summarizes and discusses a collection of studies that report the levels of NAD+ with aging in different species (i.e., yeast, C. elegans, rat, mouse, monkey, and human), to determine whether the notion that overall NAD+ levels decrease with aging stands true. We find that, despite systematic claims of overall changes in NAD+ levels with aging, the evidence to support such claims is very limited and often restricted to a single tissue or cell type. This is particularly true in humans, where the development of NAD+ levels during aging is still poorly characterized. There is a need for much larger, preferably longitudinal, studies to assess how NAD+ levels develop with aging in various tissues. This will strengthen our conclusions on NAD metabolism during aging and should provide a foundation for better pharmacological targeting of relevant tissues.
Oct 1, 2021
Aging - Metabolism
Mechanisms of Ageing and Development
The balance between NAD+ biosynthesis and consumption in ageing
Strømland, Øyvind
Summary
The progression of some age-related diseases can be halted or reversed by therapeutic augmentation of NAD+ levels. NAD+ metabolism has therefore emerged as a potential target to ameliorate age-related diseases. The present review explores how ageing affects NAD+ metabolism and current approaches to reverse the age-dependent decline of NAD+...As NAD+ is constantly consumed in these reactions, there is a need for continuous NAD+ biosynthesis. Imbalances between these NAD+ consumption and NAD + biosynthesis may result in insufficient NAD+ supply, which has been linked to several diseases, such as neuropathy, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
Oct 1, 2021
Aging
Mechanisms of Aging and Development
Preclinical and clinical evidence of NAD(+) precursors in health, disease, and ageing.
Reiten, Ole Kristian
Summary
NAD+ is a fundamental molecule in human life and health as it participates in energy metabolism, cell signalling, mitochondrial homeostasis, and in dictating cell survival or death. Emerging evidence from preclinical and human studies indicates an age-dependent reduction of cellular NAD+, possibly due to reduced synthesis and increased consumption. In preclinical models, NAD+ repletion extends healthspan and / or lifespan and mitigates several conditions, such as premature ageing diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. These findings suggest that NAD+ replenishment through NAD+ precursors has great potential as a therapeutic target for ageing and age-predisposed diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we provide an updated review on the biological activity, safety, and possible side effects of NAD+ precursors in preclinical and clinical studies. Major NAD+ precursors focused on by this review are nicotinamide riboside (NR), nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), and the new discovered dihydronicotinamide riboside (NRH). In summary, NAD+ precursors have an exciting therapeutic potential for ageing, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.
Sep 21, 2021
Aging - Brain - Ataxia - Stem Cells - Bone Marrow - Inflammation
Aging Cell
NAD+ augmentation with nicotinamide riboside improves lymphoid potential of Atm−/− and old mice HSCs
Zong, Le
Summary
Our data suggest that NR administration in compromised hematopoietic systems (NAD+ depleted system) drives cell-intrinsic changes of the HSC compartment together with an overall reduction in circulating inflammatory cytokines. However, once the aged system has been exposed to NR, the effects of removing the supplementation may have undesirable consequences. Thus, once a deficient system is exposed to NAD+ supplementation, to maintain the benefits we have demonstrated, the regimen may need to be sustained long-term...Our results showed significant alterations in lineage commitment of HSCs after NR treatment, with enhanced lymphoid potential. This correlated with changes in inflammatory cytokines and transcriptional alterations of the HSCs. While transplantation of aged NR-treated HSCs reproduced the enhanced lymphoid output seen in the transcriptional profiles, the changes in potential are not sustained after NR withdrawal in the aged mice, and the rebound phenotype appear to exacerbate aging phenotypes. Our results highlight the importance of the duration of NR exposure and the timing of initial exposure to derive robust, balanced lineage outputs from HSCs.
Aug 22, 2021
Aging - Metabolism
Experimental Gerontology
Age-related NAD+ decline
McReynolds, Melanie
Summary
Our results suggested that oral administration of [combined metabolic activator cocktail including nicotinamide riboside] for 84 days has a considerable effect on cognitive function in AD patients..
Aug 4, 2021
Aging
Aging Medicine
Precursor comparisons for the upregulation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Novel approaches for better aging
Palmer, Raymond
Summary
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a coenzyme found in every human cell and regulates a number of systems across multiple cellular compartments and tissue types via an endogenous and exogenous influence. NAD levels are demonstrated to decline with age and therefore measures to counteract the waning of NAD have been devised. A number of NAD precursor candidates such as nicotinamide riboside (NR), nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), the reduced form of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMNH), nicotinic acid (NA) nicotinamide (NAM), and dihydronicotinamide riboside (DNR) increase NAD levels in vitro and in vivo. This discussion will focus on the precursors NR, NMN, NMNH, and DNR in the upregulation of NAD...Bioavailability and potency of NR, NMNH, NMN, and DNR is also examined on the light of the most recent literature.
May 27, 2021
Aging - Lungs - Epithelium
MedComm
Nicotinamide mononucleotide ameliorates senescence in alveolar epithelial cells
Fang, Tingting
Summary
We found that the long-term addition of NMN could effectively improve replication of alveolar epithelial cells and stress-induced senescence in vivo and in vitro. Dietary supplementation of NMN might be a new and effective way to prevent and reduce aging-related lung diseases and stress-induced lung injury in the future.
May 11, 2021
Bone Marrow - Stem Cells - Aging
Nature Communications
Nicotinamide riboside attenuates age-associated metabolic and functional changes in hematopoietic stem cells
Sun, Xuan
Summary
With age, hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) undergo changes in function, including reduced regenerative potential and loss of quiescence, which is accompanied by a significant expansion of the stem cell pool that can lead to haematological disorders. Elevated metabolic activity has been implicated in driving the HSC ageing phenotype. Here we show that nicotinamide riboside (NR), a form of vitamin B3, restores youthful metabolic capacity by modifying mitochondrial function in multiple ways including reduced expression of nuclear encoded metabolic pathway genes, damping of mitochondrial stress and a decrease in mitochondrial mass and network-size. Metabolic restoration is dependent on continuous NR supplementation and accompanied by a shift of the aged transcriptome towards the young HSC state, more youthful bone marrow cellular composition and an improved regenerative capacity in a transplant setting. Consequently, NR administration could support healthy ageing by re-establishing a more youthful hematopoietic system.