Scientists around globe hopeful about nicotinamide mononucleotide supplement after positive human studies

Could your health, lifespan, energy levels and fertility all be improved by simply taking a supplement? It sounds like science fiction, yet research is increasingly showing that it might be possible. The crux lies with the body’s levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a coenzyme that is vital for life, and the body’s ability to make or get it. Naturally occurring NMN is one of NAD’s main precursors and has been heralded as the closest we have got to a fountain of youth. Taking nicotinamide mononucleotide as a supplement has the potential to treat various diseases and conditions and prevent the effects of ageing by boosting the body’s NAD levels. Stunning results in animal trials and a growing number of human studies have got scientists worldwide excited. Associate Professor and head of the Laboratory for Ageing Research at the University of New South Wales Lindsay Wu is one of them. “I think it has many applications in diverse disease areas,” he said. “There are publications looking at this molecule in inflammatory diseases, female infertility — I’ve been really interested in reducing the side effects of chemotherapy — neurocognitive disease, metabolic disease.” Andrea Maier, from the National University of Singapore’s Academy for Healthy KLongevity, has been conducting research into NMN’s effect on ageing and age-related diseases. “Potential benefits of NMN include improved energy metabolism, enhanced muscle function, better vascular health, and cognitive support, particularly in ageing individuals,” she said. NMN is a vitamin B3 derivative and is found naturally in the body after being consumed in our foods. It is used by the body to make NAD. While the existence of NAD has been known for decades, scientific research into its importance on our health and longevity has exploded in recent years. The problem is that NAD decreases in our bodies as we age, by up to 50 per cent in some tissues, and this is thought to be a cause of age-related disease and decline. Taking supplements of NAD or one of its precursors, such as NMN or Nicotinamide Riboside (NR), could be the solution to many of ageing’s ill-effects. Dr Wu and his team published research in 2020 showing that NMN supplementation reversed infertility in old mice. “It vastly improved fertility,” he said. “Around 60 per cent of them ended up having babies while in the untreated animals, it was down to 20 per cent.” NMN’s impact on female fertility is currently being tested on women at the Fertility and Research Centre at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. “The dream is that a couple is having trouble falling pregnant, so they go and speak to their GP, and before even referring them onto IVF, they try an NAD precursor, whether it be NMN or some other molecule, and they see if they can just fall pregnant naturally,” Dr Wu said. Dr Wu said his team published research last year showing how NMN could reduce the side effects of chemotherapy which also made a surprise discovery. “We also checked to make sure that the NMN wasn’t making the chemotherapy less efficient towards cancer,” he said: “We did this in a model of breast cancer, and in fact, what we saw is that the NMN slowed tumour growth more than either of those chemotherapy drugs.” In another study published in 2018, Dr Wu and his team found that NMN supplementation extended the physical endurance of old mice. “We could make them run 60 per cent further on a treadmill. It was really exciting,” he said. In new research that is still under peer review, Dr Wu and other scientists found that long-term NMN treatment improved late life health and extended lifespan in female mice, but not male mice. Dr Wu said it was well-known in scientific research that drugs often affected genders differently. Large-scale evidence of NMN’s efficacy and safety in humans is still scarce, though many trials are currently underway. In Dr Maier’s research, a group of 80 healthy middle-aged adults were given varying doses of NMN or a placebo daily for 60 days and tested on how far they could walk in six minutes. She said they found that NMN supplementation “significantly improved walking distance in middle aged to older individuals, suggesting enhanced endurance and muscle function”. “This supports NMN’s potential role in promoting mobility and physical resilience in ageing populations,” Dr Maier said. But she does not believe NMN is the silver bullet for anti-ageing. “NMN may support healthy ageing by improving physiological functions, but there is no scientific evidence that it can halt or reverse ageing entirely. It should be viewed as one component of a broader longevity strategy rather than a singular solution,” she said. Dr Wu said he believed people with a NAD deficiency were likely to benefit most from taking such supplements. “I know it’s popular with a lot of young healthy people as supplement,” he said. “My guess is that you’re not really going to see any difference because they’ve got plenty of NAD anyway.” But there are many people of all ages and states of health willing to try supplementation to increase their NAD levels. NMN, NR and NAD can be bought online as dietary supplements and becoming increasingly popular. The global NMN market was estimated to be worth US$385.7 million by 2027 according to one research paper. Dr Wu said while NR had been endorsed by Australia’s regulatory authority, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, to be safely taken, he was working with pharmaceutical company Metro BioTech to trial NMN as a drug. “This is a really rigorous route, so you have to prove a lot for the TGA in Australia or the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States to actually give you the approval,” he said. “You have to go through really detailed safety, and then years and years of efficacy testing.” In 2022 the FDA declared that NMN could not marketed as a dietary supplement because it had been authorised for investigation as a new drug. This led to some retailers to stop selling it but now it is widely available again. Dr Maier warned people to be cautious of NMN supplements after research she published last year showed few were of high quality. She tested the actual NMN content in 18 products on the market and found it ranged from undetectable to 99.2 per cent of the total sample weight. WA already has a dedicated NAD clinic in Busselton, and owner Arjan Ruba plans to open a Perth clinic as early as May this year. Mr Ruba, an accredited exercise physiologist who is now doing a PhD into NAD supplementation, said he first became aware of NAD and its importance while doing his Masters at the University of WA. “NAD is literally responsible for allowing ourselves to work optimally, energy production at an efficient rate, cellular regeneration at an optimal level, so that our body functions appropriately and how it should and how it did back when we were between 20 and 30 years old,” he said. Since opening his Busselton clinic 18 months ago, Mr Ruba now has around 50 clients between the ages of 18 and 94 with conditions including depression, anxiety, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, chronic fatigue, brain fog and lack of focus and energy. He said seeing the results has been rewarding. “They just feel a lot more…alive is the word they say. They feel like they themselves again,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about living forever. It’s about having a quality of life.” Mr Ruba’s therapies include intravenous NAD infusions, intramuscular and subcutaneous NAD injections and NMN and NAD capsules. But it’s not just about taking supplements. Mr Ruba devises personalised programs for his clients, including dietary, lifestyle and exercise advice all aimed at increasing NAD levels. “Absolutely everything I say to consider is about your NAD because NAD levels are the most important thing,” he said. Mr Ruba said NAD levels can also be increased by eating vitamin B3-rich foods, exercising and eliminating lifestyle factors that can reduce NAD levels. “Other than the natural ageing process of reducing NAD, the main things are UV light, drugs, alcohol, smoke, preservatives, sugars, lack of sleep, caffeine,” he said. Mr Ruba said in his experience with his clients, NAD therapies were curing their ailments and improving their health. “Instead of people having to take all these medications, we’re just giving them a nutrient, a co enzyme that our body creates anyway and that we require for life, and they’re actually doing better,” he said It’s not an inexpensive option with a 500mg IV NAD treatment costing around $550 and a 2000mg course of 20 subcutaneous injections costing around $750. Mr Ruba said the clinic offers payment plans, and subsidies for pensioners or concession card holders. The investment into NAD therapies may have been worth it for three of Mr Ruba’s clients who say it is changing their lives. David Foster, 79, began taking NAD therapy after being diagnosed with dementia last year. “Some days I’m almost human again,” he said. “I was on another planet. I mean, my body was here, but I wasn’t with it.” Mr Foster’s wife Cora said they had seen a “very, very big improvement” since her husband began the NAD therapy. “He’s not wandering everywhere. He can go for a walk, take his dog, and he knows where he’s going now and comes home,” she said. “He will go and have a cup of coffee and he talk to people now, not like before.” Mr Foster, who also now eats a healthier diet with more good fats such as avocado and fish and goes for long walks daily, said he felt better. “The worry seems to have gone somewhere else,” he said. Earlier this month Mr Foster had a repeat MoCA test, which found his cognitive ability had improved considerably. Mrs Foster said the NAD therapy had given them hope. Kiera Christopoulos, a mother of two who works long hours as a finance broker, has recently turned to NAD therapy even though she doesn’t have any specific illness or disease. “After having kids, I want to make sure I live a long, healthy life,” the 36-year-old said. “I’m quite a highly stressed person in general, just with my business and my sleep is not the best. I don’t get enough sleep. So it just seemed like it (NAD therapy) would fit really well.” Ms Christopoulos said her sleep had improved since she had her first infusion last month. “I’ve noticed over the last six to eight weeks, looking back to what I was like, the difference in my sleep, my energy and I just feel overall better in myself,” she said. Nikki, 55, has suffered with painful back and shoulder problems, and autoimmune conditions, for many years. After trying numerous medications and therapies and wanting to avoid opiate painkillers long-term, her GP suggested she try NAD therapy. Nikki, who asked for her surname to be withheld, noticed an immediate reduction of pain with her first intravenous treatment a year ago. She said the pain is an ongoing issue but it is now manageable. “It’s definitely helped. I used to have such pain in my knuckles with arthritis, and it’s definitely helped with that,” she said. “I’m able to do strength training again. I hadn’t exercised for a while because I was in so much pain other than walking, and I have a personal trainer now.” Nikki uses a NAD nasal spray daily which she said helps with mood, brain fog and memory. She said she stopped the NAD supplements for two months to see what happened and many of her old symptoms returned. “I don’t think I can do without the NAD now,” she said. “Two months off was enough to convince me that my body had probably been depleted of it and needed it.

Scientists around globe hopeful about nicotinamide mononucleotide supplement after positive human studies

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