Blood changed. Health gains weren’t proved
NAD+ went up in blood. Better health wasn’t proved
You’ll see who took the pills, what their tests showed, and why no study proves they felt better or lived longer.
Pills raised a blood reading, not health or lifespan
Pill studies measured blood first. NR and NMN capsules raised NAD+ in blood. No study proved freedom from illness or a longer life. Every living cell uses NAD+ when it gets energy from food. As bodies age, they often make more of an NAD+-breaking protein. Many pills use NR or NMN because swallowed NAD+ has trouble getting through the gut; after you take either pill, your cells change its contents into NAD+ for use. That higher blood number still doesn’t prove you became healthier.
NAD+ is used for energy and DNA repair
NAD+ has a long chemistry name, but the short name is enough. Your cells spend NAD+ as they get usable energy from food. They also use NAD+ while mending DNA. Sirtuins are proteins that switch some cell jobs up or down. With enough NAD+, one such protein helped mouse cells make usable energy and resist damage [5]. Your body then replaces the spent NAD+.
Lower amounts have been found in people, mice, worms, and yeast [5]. As a body ages, it may make more of an NAD+-breaking protein. Old mice lost NAD+ more slowly when researchers removed that protein [2]. A mouse result may not hold true for you. The side-effect page tells you what people reported in short tests.
NAD+ isn’t a peptide, a protein, or an approved drug. Your cells make the supply they use. Taking more hasn’t been shown to help your health. The next pages separate blood-test changes from real health gains.
NAD+ pills changed blood tests, not proven health
Here’s the catch. No NAD supplement is approved to treat a disease. Swallowed NAD+ also has trouble passing from your gut into your cells. Human tests mainly use NR or NMN. Your cells can turn both into NAD+. Niacin and nicotinamide, two forms of vitamin B3, also help with that work [5].
For 8 weeks, one test followed overweight adults with no stated illness. They took NR, one vitamin form at 100, 300, or 1000 milligrams a day. Their NAD+ blood readings rose by 22%, 51%, and 142%, in that order. The placebo looked like the test pill but held no NR. Side effects were just as common in both groups [4]. Only the blood test changed. Longer life or less illness wasn’t proved [13].
NMN raised blood NAD+ in two trials with people
NMN is a brief label for something your cells turn into NAD+. One trial gave 300, 600, or 900 milligrams a day to middle-aged people with no stated illness. After 60 days, every group had more NAD+ in its blood. Tests on days 30 and 60 found the rise. Researchers favored 600 milligrams a day among the amounts tried. No safety problem was reported at any amount [3].
A second trial enrolled women past menopause who had prediabetes. They took 250 milligrams a day for 10 weeks. Their muscles needed less insulin to pull sugar from blood. Body weight didn’t change. Neither did their long-term blood sugar [1]. The test didn’t ask whether they noticed a change. That’s one narrow result, not a cure.
Under the FDA’s current view, sellers may not market NMN as a dietary supplement because the agency says drug research started before supplement sales, a rule sellers now dispute. For you, the point is simple: this fight is about the legal label, not proof of safety. You can compare NMN with NR, a vitamin form.
Three kinds of protein spend the same NAD+ supply
Three kinds of protein spend NAD+. Sirtuins switch cell jobs up or down. A second kind mends DNA. A third is the NAD+-breaking protein that grows more common with age [5]. Your cells may still need NAD+ as the supply falls.
In 1 study, researchers looked at cell parts that make energy. A sirtuin helped those parts keep working [9]. That work used NAD+. In old mice, blocking the NAD+-breaking protein brought the tissue supply back up. Their bodies also dealt with sugar and fat better [8]. People weren’t tested.
Ads may turn mouse work into a promise for you. The studies can’t. Read how sirtuins use NAD+ for more. See results from people before weighing a claim. The study amounts page lists what was tested without giving you a dose.