Will Brink
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD) is one of the most hyped anti-aging supplement of the current day. It promises to literally reverse aging, improve cognition, stave off some neuro-diseases and much more. In fact its so popular that the company that owns the patent threatened to pull it as a raw material from other manufacturers. So does it live up to the hype?
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Show Notes:
[3:20-3:37] “They always do this stuff on us… we produce less as we age, so it must be a miracle molecule.”
[4:58] Did will approach NAD with a bias?
[6:18] Price for NAD?
- Some clinics run up to 1000 dollars per treatment.
- Sometimes you are paying for experience of clinician and safety.
[8:37] Isn’t NAD pretty bioavailable?
- It is a downstream product of niacin, but it is produced less effectively as we age.
[10:46] What is the limiting reagent in the formation of NADH?
- Cytochrome cascade.
- P-450 can decrease this cascade and indirectly lower NAD levels.
[13:05] Will doesn’t fell that those younger than 30 will benefit from NAD supplementation.
[13:48] What if the body doesn’t want that much NAD? Are there any unwanted changes that come with increasing NAD levels with supplementation?
- No known deleterious effects yet, butwe are far from fully understanding it.
[15:25] What does research in vivoshow?
- Oral Nicotinamind Riboside (NR) raised NAD levels.
- We need studies that focus on more than just low NAD levels ( ie. Supraphysiological NAD levels)
- Vitamin D suffered similar problems with studies.
- Low NAD levels are most likely negative, but what about higher than average levels?
- There are implications in improving neurological disorders and potential as a nootropic for those with low NAD levels.
- Will didn’t notice anything concerning sleep. He does feel that NAD has nootropic potential, however, he has not had all three treatments.
[21:00] Carl’s problem with NR.
- Why not just take nicotinic acid (niacin)?
[22:00] NR isn’t too far removed from NAD. There isn’t much loss of conversion.
- Will would not put stock into a study that wasn’t done on subjects age 40 and up.
[25:10] Will’s experience with high dose niacin.
- Original Gatorade was supposed to have 100mg of niacin in it.
[32:00] Chromadex decided to stop selling NAD to companies. Other companies start selling NR (NAD precursor).
- The enzyme that degrades NAD does notdegrade NR to any appreciable degree.
- NR could actually be a better alternative.
[34:45] NAD and cellular senescence.
- Lowered senescence in animals that initially had low NAD levels.
[37:45] Zombie cells.
- Lead to what we refer to as aging.
[38:55] Does NAD influence mTOR or AmpK?
- We don’t know yet.
- Creatine is a true anti-aging supplement.
[42:59] Carl’s thoughts on limiting leucine, fasting, and protein cycling.
- Rodents will eat higher calories just to get a sufficient amount of protein.
- mToR is probably not meant to be activated all of the time, however.
- Why not just resveratrol instead of metformin?
- Resveratrol is not very bioavailable.
- 1 study showed that resveratrol was more effective than metformin for blood sugar management on a gram per gram basis.
[47:58-48:30] “Don’t know if probiotics are actually helpful as a supplement.”
[1:00:13] Is raising NAD fueling an existing cancer?
- Many things such as GH or sugar can fuel an existing cancer.
- Will’s initial instinct says no.
- Cancer can evolve to survive in almost any scenario in the body.
- It will leverage anything that is good for healthy cells.
[1:09:48] Medical reasons for taking HMB?
- Sarcopenia in older individuals.
[1:17:25] Bombproof coffee.
- Coffee
- Creatine
- Tyrosine
- Cocoa
