Overview
NAD+ stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme found in every living cell and one of the most fundamental molecules in all of biology. A coenzyme is a helper molecule that enzymes need in order to do their work, and NAD+ takes part in an enormous number of cellular reactions. Its defining role is in energy, since it is central to how cells convert food into usable fuel. Researchers have observed that NAD+ levels decline gradually with age across many organisms, including humans, which is why it sits at the heart of modern longevity research. Within the catalog it leads the cellular energy and antioxidant category and pairs with Selank in The Clarity kit.
How it works
NAD+ carries electrons, the basic currency of energy transfer, through the core reactions that turn food into cellular fuel, including glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and the oxidative phosphorylation steps that take place inside the mitochondria. It cycles back and forth between its two forms, NAD+ and NADH, as it picks up and drops off those electrons, which is what makes it a workhorse of metabolism. Beyond energy, NAD+ is a required partner for several families of enzymes that depend on it, including the sirtuins, which are studied in aging biology, and the PARPs, which are involved in DNA repair. Because so many maintenance processes draw on the same NAD+ pool, a decline in available NAD+ is studied as one of the ways cellular upkeep slips with age.
What researchers study
Research examines NAD+ and the precursor molecules the body uses to make it for their effects on energy metabolism, DNA repair, cellular stress, inflammation, and the age related decline in NAD+ documented across animal and human studies. In preclinical models, strategies that raise NAD+ have been linked to improvements in several markers associated with aging. The literature is candid that important questions remain open, including how well these findings translate to people and what the right measures of success are, and it calls for large, well designed human trials. So while the basic biology of NAD+ is firmly established, its applications in aging and metabolic research are still being worked out. That mix of settled fundamentals and open questions is what makes it such an active field.
Published references
- NAD+ Metabolism and Its Roles in Cellular Processes During Ageing
- Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide in Aging Biology: Potential Applications and Many Unknowns
Research Use Only. Not for human or animal use.