In brief
NAD is the cell's hydrogen carrier for redox enzymes, and this review is about its second life as a signalling molecule. By acting on NAD⁺-sensing enzymes, it controls hundreds of processes from energy metabolism to cell survival, and its levels rise and fall with food intake, exercise and the time of day. Levels decline steadily with age, and the authors connect that decline to altered metabolism and greater susceptibility to disease. Restoring NAD⁺ in old or diseased animals promoted health and extended lifespan in the studies reviewed, which is why there is a search for safe and effective NAD-boosting molecules; the authors' stated hope is resilience to many diseases at once rather than one.
Study design
Review of the in-vivo evidence for NAD-boosting molecules, by authors who have had commercial interests in NAD⁺ precursors.
What it does not show
The in-vivo evidence in the title is animal evidence. Human trials of NAD⁺ precursors have been small and mostly measure blood NAD⁺ rather than health outcomes.
A review summarises other papers and inherits every limit of the work it cites. It adds no new experiment, and where a review is written by the group that developed the compound, the selection of what to include is theirs.
Where this paper is cited
- NAD+ — Review of the in vivo evidence for NAD-boosting compounds across tissues and models.
Other papers cited for NAD+
- Review NAD+ metabolism and its roles in cellular processes during ageing Covarrubias et al. (2021), Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol
- Review NAD+ Intermediates: The Biology and Therapeutic Potential of NMN and NR Yoshino et al. (2018), Cell Metab
Further reading
- Research library: every paper cited on this site, by compound and by study type.
- Cognitive and longevity peptide comparison
- How to read a certificate of analysis
- Lyophilised peptide storage and stability
How this page was made: the citation was retrieved from PubMed by PMID and checked against the title on the product page; the summary was written from the paper's abstract and reports only what the abstract reports. Read the paper itself before relying on any figure here.