Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Supplement Adjusts the Gut Microbiome

In today's open access paper, the authors report on their investigation of the effects of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) supplementation on the gut microbiome in mice. The gut microbiome changes with age, exhibiting a loss of helpful populations that produce metabolites necessary to health, and the growth in harmful populations that provoke chronic inflammation. Rejuvenating the aged gut microbiome via fecal microbiota transplantation from a young individual has been shown to improve health and extend life in short-lived species. Thus there is some interest in evaluating the effects on the gut microbiome produced by interventions thought to improve late-life health. I should say that I think much of the current enthusiasm for vitamin B3 derivatives such as NMN and nicotinamide riboside (NR) is probably misplaced. The clinical evidence from human trials is just not that compelling, and exercise appears to produce better outcomes in NAD metabolism and mitochondrial function. The point of interest to take away from the study here is that there may be both beneficial and harmful changes produced in the gut microbiome by NMN supplementation (and thus likely also by NR, niacin, and similar approaches). It isn't only the helpful microbial populations that are boosted in numbers and diversity by a supply of NMN. The researchers also looked at telomere length in mice and humans, and found it lengthened by NMN supplementation, but this data is not very interesting. Tel...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs