These blogs are from my anti-aging supplement in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal October 2022. “The Role of NAD+ in Regenerative Medicine.” We plastic surgeons are interested in this on many levels – anti-aging, improving skin health, and healing from surgery. Plastic surgeons train in wound healing.
What have the mice studies shown so far?
They presented a synopsis, which I will repeat because it sounds exciting to me.
NAD+ levels decrease twofold by midage. This correlates with age related issues. Restoration of NAD+ to “youthful levels” resulted in
- cardiovascular improvement,
- reversal of metabolic conditions,
- improvement in muscle function and endurance, increased mitochondrial function, increased number and quality of muscle stem cells,
- increase organ protection and regeneration after injury for heart/liver/kidney
- Reversal of retinal (eye) degeneration
- Neuro: improved cognition
- Fertility: restored fertility in aged mice by improving egg quality
So with findings like this, the studies are shifting over to humans.
They listed 10 published human studies from 2016 to now. They looked at oral NAD, usually 300mg or 1000mg a day. (Most were 1000 mg/day, and many would show a dose escalation)
- Escalation is done as it appears you need to “work up” to higher dosing so it is better tolerated/less side effects
- They measured NAD+ increase while on the oral medication. Most of the studies showed about a 60% increase when the dose was 300mg, and 90+% increase when dosing was 1000 mg.
- They found it was safe and well tolerated.
- The studies were generally small- 4 patients, 13 patients, 40 patients. The largest study was 115 patients, which was a randomized, double blinded study which also included pterostilbene.
- Interesting tidbits: one study found nonsignificant trend to lower blood pressure. Another found reduced proinflammatory gene expression. One study of 13 obese patients found a “small but significant improvement to body composition, sleeping metabolic rate.” Two studies showed no change in mitochondria.
My thoughts?
It is SUPER interesting, and I think the future of medicine. Improving our bodies at a cellular level, letting us “reboot” like we do with our computers. The questions are what is the dose? The ideal method to administer it? (IV form better? pills?) Can you stop it? Go on a maintenance dose? WHAT IS THE UNDERBELLY? Again, some things I have read have discussed sleep issues, Parkinsons, other things. All treatments have unintended effects. And remember: more is not always better.
These studies are interesting, but overall too small to draw conclusions. I do like that they all seemed to think it was well tolerated.
Stay tuned.