Earlier this week, Dr. Drew interviewed NAD+ expert Dr. Charles Brenner (FAQs) to discuss NAD+ boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews). Here are some highlights on the importance of NAD+, NR vs NMN, NR dosage, and more (full video interview embedded below):

Segment begins at the 47:35 mark below:

DR. DREW:

“…I have interviewed Dr. Brenner before.

And I was thoroughly convinced the first time I interviewed him that this was breakthrough biological sciences.

And I have been on his supplement ever since.

DR. BRENNER (At the 50:21 mark):

“NAD is the central catalyst of metabolism.

…the center of the metabolism that allows the conversion of food into energy is NAD co-enzymes.

And NAD coenzymes are also required for us to build and repair our bodies to maintain homeostasis.

And NAD gets disturbed in the aging process and as we’re exposed to conditions of metabolic stress.

And so that’s the use case for taking NAD boosting vitamins of which NR is the superior form.

DR. BRENNER (at the 53:30 mark):

“I always say if we were to have a giveaway on this program, and offer people a free trip to Ibiza, everybody would enter.

And they would jump on a plane and have a time zone disruption.

Then they’d be out in the beautiful sunlight, and they’d be eating and drinking at all hours of the day, listening to loud music maybe on the beach.

All of those things — the sunlight, the oxygen exposure, certainly the alcohol, overnutrition, and noise — disturb the NAD system.

And, so, in the course of our life, we experience conditions of metabolic stress that disturb the NAD system.

Taking a supplement basically allows your cells and tissues to repair and to be resilient in the face of these conditions of metabolic stress

DR. BRENNER (at the 57:59 mark):

“There’s increasing evidence that as we age that our NAD system comes under attack.

It’s not entirely clear whether it’s a timer or aggravated by inactivity and inflammatory processes.

But NAD declines in aging.

And so that’s part of the use case that NAD is critically important for life and particularly for healthy aging.

And we think that NR is the most effective NAD booster.

It’s also the one that’s fully legal, known to be safe, and is produced by a company that cares about safety and quality.

DR. DREW:

“If I had access to only one supplement, NR would be that supplement.

I’m just so enthusiastic about it.

The fact that it’s not more widely used and distributed, I just can’t get over it.

I want to be a part of it being used widely.

DR. BRENNER on DOSAGE (at the 1:00 minute mark):

“NR is orally available.

And safety tested in that manner.

The clinical dose is a gram a day.

And the initial consumer dose was 300 milligrams.

But if you look at the 80 registered clinical trials, almost all of them are using one to two grams of NR per day.

And, we know it’s safe.

DR DREW (at the 1:00:55 mark):

Why NR and not NMN?

DR. BRENNER:

“So, NR is the biggest piece of NAD that can get into cells.

And, I guess we should thank David Sinclair (FAQs) for popularizing NAD.

He’s gotten people to take NMN.

So, that’s good.

But NMN is just delivering NR, because NMN has a phosphate on it that can’t get into cells.

And, there have been some people that promoted the idea that there’s a transporter for NMN.

There really isn’t.

There’s also not a safety path for NMN because NMN is being tested as a drug. So it’s not approved as a new dietary ingredient. Companies that are selling it don’t really care about what is in the bottle and are doing so in violation of some of the laws.

So, Niagen, which is the form of NR that was developed by chromadex is the best and the only fully legal form of NR.

And this is really the gold standard for NAD boosting vitamins.

DR. BRENNER on Age to Start Taking NR:

“There are ball players that start at 20.

So, very early on, we were contacted by a number of pro football coaches.

Two Chromadex advisers, Rudy Tanzi and myself have been photographed with Bill Belichick, who, as you know, had a long career with the Patriots.

So, the use case for athletes is that they’re in a collision sport, and they’re getting beat up on a Sunday, they go back to practice on a Tuesday.

…So, they’re in a line of work in which there’s a lot of repair.

I think that as we age, the use cases for something like NR that boosts repair are obvious to people — that when you fall and have a cut or scrape or a mild burn, people that are taking niagen notice that their repair occurs much more rapidly.

This is now the subject of randomized clinical trials in order to establish claims in this regard.

…in small trials of Parkinson’s, there’s been a positive signal.

In seven different trials, there’s an anti-inflammatory signal in human beings.

And so we’re really excited about the potential uses in medicine.

But, as for now it’s healthy aging and promoting repair”

DR. DREW (at 1:05:16):

“There’s few things I can say with such great enthusiasm and clarity as this.

That not only is it not going to harm you, I am convinced there are significant benefits.

And the way longevity is, the way aging is, the earlier you start the better.

I mean certainly in your 40s, because the aging is kicking in for real and you really want to start early on exercise and diet.

…to me this is a cornerstone of progress, and everyone should take.

…I’m convinced it has helped me along the way.

DR. BRENNER (1:07:25):

“The key is for healthy aging, repair is really important.

And the data really strongly indicate — initially from animal systems, but it’s now being tested in humans — that NR’s supporting liver function, it’s supporting heart function.

The differences between the NAD precursors — the NR pathway gets jacked up when tissues are under metabolic stress.

And, so, we we think that during conditions of metabolic stress your body is looking for NR.

That’s why it turns on the Nicotinamide Riboside kinase genes.

And, so, we’re very happy that there’s a safe form of NR that’s available to people.

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