Aging is inevitable. So are the slew of health concerns that come with it. For anyone looking to stay healthy, that ticking clock can mean a massive decline in performance and a skyrocketing risk of injuries. The good news? Researchers have been analyzing the effects of aging and potential supplements that can help prevent age-related deterioration. Let's discuss one of the more promising options, Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), and learn about how this supplement could hold the key to helping you stay in the game, regardless of age.
NMN is a nucleotide found in all living cells and is a key component of energy metabolism in the body. However, the real power of NMN is that it's the immediate precursor to an essential coenzyme called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). NAD+ is required for all life and cellular functions. It's so essential that if NAD+ levels in your body drop to zero, you'd be dead in about 30 seconds.
Worryingly, researchers have found that our NAD+ levels at age 50 are about half what they were when we were 20. Those plummeting NAD+ levels are what many researchers believe are the leading cause of all sorts of age-related declines.
NAD+ not only regulates many processes in the body but is also critical for energy production. This essential coenzyme is crucial for converting nutrients into cellular energy and repairing damaged DNA. In addition, NAD+ plays a role in cell signaling to ensure that cells can effectively communicate with each other and the brain.
Additionally, several studies have shown that raising NAD+ levels can improve insulin sensitivity (which can protect against the risk of many diseases, including diabetes) and could reverse mitochondrial damage (helping to protect your heart, muscles and brain from damage).
Just this year, Janssens et al. published a study in Nature Aging that found that NAD+ was one of the most depleted metabolites in the muscle tissue of older adults when compared to younger adults. The lower levels of NAD+ were even more pronounced in physically impaired older individuals. In comparison, the NAD+ levels in older adults who trained or exercised regularly were closer to those of young adults. This work suggests a clear association exists between NAD+ and healthy human aging.
NAD+ is vital for turning nutrients into cellular energy, keeping your DNA healthy, activating anti-aging sirtuins, and hundreds of other metabolic processes. While we all get some NAD+ through a regular diet that contains its precursors, one can't eat enough of anything to boost NAD+ levels significantly.
That's where an NMN supplement can help mitigate the inevitable NAD+ decline.
There's a lot of research that is still required to determine the efficacy of NMN supplementation, but there are initial studies that have shown that NMN is rapidly absorbed and converted to NAD+. NMN has been shown in several studies to increase NAD+ biosynthesis while reducing age-related tissue inflammation, improving insulin release and action, enhancing mitochondrial function, improving neuronal function in the brain, and more.
NMN has been studied extensively, and human trials continue to explore the benefits. A Japanese study published in the Endocrine Journal
