A graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Ronald Hoffman MD hosts The Intelligent Medicine Podcast (300 episodes). He often talks about taking NAD boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews) and why he recommends it to his patients. During last week’s podcast with co-host Leyla Muedin, MS, RD, CDN, Dr Hoffman responded to a question about the potential for NR to promote cancer tumor growth:
Starting at the 12:45 mark of the podcast embedded below:
Leyla Muedin (“LM”):
“We have (a question) from Michael — who often writes us with great, thoughtful questions.
“Hi Dr Hoffman and Leyla, I’d appreciate your comments that Dr Cooperman of Consumer Labs made about Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) — especially the possibility that it may facilitate the growth of cancer cells if a person already has some that are latent or active?”
Just to quote a little bit — and this answers it for me anyway — the first sentence: “there’s a theoretical concern that compounds like Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) as well as NADH raise NAD levels that may promote the growth of existing cancers”.
Now, one article is quoted here, the Journal of Explorational Oncology — this is out of Slovenia…
Dr Ronald Hoffman (“Dr H”):
It’s not a big journal.
And Slovenia is not known for…
That’s not that authoritative.
I looked at that study.
It’s a test tube study and it’s a more hypothetical thing.
We really need to confirm that it happens in live animals.
And, then, we perhaps observe humans who are taking it and see if there are reports of worsening cancer.
I guess, hypothetically, since it’s a nutrient — any nutrient might be advantaged by cancer.
And even cancer cells have mitochondria.
So, if you support the mitochondria, hypothetically you could support cancer cells.
So, what do you do?
Look, let’s put it this way..
I take Nicotinamide Riboside (NR).
I don’t think it’s going to give me cancer.
If I have a patient who has active cancer — just as with the B vitamins, I might withhold it (NR).
I might withhold bombing people with B vitamins when they have cancer — except for the protective effects of B6, for example, in chemo — it might help reduce neuropathy — but then it’s a short term use while you’re taking that — or B1 to recover from neuropathy — you might have some bonafides.
But I can’t see this being a barrier to taking something that supports your mitochondria because…
What are you going to do? Penalize all the mitochondria in your body because you think you might have a cancer cell?
LM:
Well, there’s another article that’s quoted here from the Washington University School of Medicine…
Dr H:
…Consumer Labs (the company who published the report this whole discussion is based on) — they’re independent.
They have fairly balanced reports.
They’re better than the one we knocked the other day (Labdoor).
Consumer Labs — there’s an element of “pay to play” where you sign up to get your products evaluated — which is a soft form of “pay to play”.
Consumer Labs has interesting information — I would say.
But I think they’re speculating on a hypothetical here.
LM:
Another article is quoted here from the Washington University School of Medicine.
(Quoting from the article) “One member said, after one year of taking this Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) supplement, I experienced a sharp rise in PSA levels from 1.8 to 4.9. And after stopping these supplements for one month, my PSA returned to 1.9″
Dr H:
So, hang tight.
How often do men experience a rapid rise in PSA?
It happens with cancer.
It happens if you have prostatitis — or some inflammation of your prostate.
LM:
It also happens if you’re an avid cyclist.
Dr H:
Right. It can happen if you put pressure on the Perineum.
It can even happen if you take it immediately after having sex.
But, one thing about cancer — his PSA doesn’t go up and then it doesn’t go down.
So, let’s say that Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) caused this guy to get cancer.
Well, stopping it (NR), wouldn’t stop the cancer.
Hello???!!!
It (PSA) would just keep going up — it would be 4.9; it would be 6.2; it would be 9.3; it would be 11.5.
It would just keep going up.
In cancer, PSA seldom goes down without treatment.
So, this is not to me conclusive proof.
It’s an anecdote.
And I don’t care where this guy is — Harvard, Washington University.
It doesn’t reflect research.
It’s just an anecdotal report from this dude who is scared because he took a new supplement and his PSA went up.
Well, correlation is not causation.
It’s an anecdote.
LM:
And “The Nutraceutical” said they have no data that point to a correlation or interaction between their products and PSA levels which contained the Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) — although, they did acknowledge that a handful of people have reached out to us about POSITIVE changes to their PSA levels.
Dr H:
Right…which could happen because sometimes it gets better.
…I don’t think this (NR) is causing the problem”
—
RELATED:
- Dr Hoffman on why he personally takes NR (Link)
- Dr Hoffman on why he recommends NR to patients (Link)
- What are Pre-Clinical Studies Saying about Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) and its Impact on Cancer? (Link)
- NR supplementation may have helped sufferers of these diseases & conditions (Consumer Reviews)
FAQs on taking NAD boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) can be found HERE.
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