Reviewing Nicotinamide Riboside as a Strategy to Increase NAD Levels

The vitamin B3 derivative nicotinamide riboside is one of the more studied ways to increase nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels in aged tissues. NAD is important in mitochondrial function, but for incompletely understood reasons becomes less available with advancing age. Delivering precursors to NAD synthesis such as nicotinamide riboside can help to boost NAD levels, but researchers have failed to show that the increase in NAD levels and resulting health benefits of this sort of approach are any better than those produced by regular exercise. Clinical trials of various means of increasing NAD levels have produced mixed to uninspiring results. The open access paper here is in part a review of this history, and in part a pitch for using a different, more stable form of nicotinamide riboside to improve the effect size. Many studies have suggested that the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is involved in an extensive spectrum of human pathologies, including neurodegenerative disorders, cardiomyopathy, obesity, and diabetes. Further, healthy aging and longevity appear to be closely related to NAD+ and its related metabolites, including nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). As a dietary supplement, NR appears to be well tolerated, having better pharmacodynamics and greater potency. Unfortunately, NR is a reactive molecule, often unstable during its manufacturing, transport, and storage. Recently, work ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs