Earlier this week, City of Hope’s Dr. Charles Brenner (who discovered Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews) as an NAD boosting vitamin) joined The Genius Life Podcast with Max Lugavere to talk all things NAD and NR. You may recall we covered Dr Rudy Tanzi’s (Harvard professor / Alzheimer’s expert) appearance on the same podcast in mid-November. As usual, Dr Brenner delivered with some actionable comments explained in plain English.

Dr. Charles Brenner on The Genius Life Podcast:

On Concerns that Raising NAD Levels Might Lead to Tumor Growth (16 minute mark):

“We’ve not seen that…

…One of the things that we see in the laboratory is protection of diabetic nerve and chemotherapy induced damaged nerves — chemotherapeutic neuropathy, diabetic neuropathy.

And so we did diabetic neuropathy in male mice.

Our collaborator Donna Hammond at the University of Iowa did chemotherapeutic neuropathy in female rats.

And Dr Hammond is thinking….

“this Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) is amazing.

It’s protecting rats from chemotherapeutic neuropathy.

Wouldn’t that be something amazing if women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer could supplement with NR and potentially be spared the neuropathy that you get.”

So, everybody asked her the same question: “Will boosting NAD promote tumor growth?”

And they’ve recently shown that it doesn’t — and if anything, it’s protective.

In models of liver cancer NR was protective.

In models of breast cancer NR is protective — we think largely because DNA repair is better, cellular fidelity processes are better.

Is it conceivable that there are some tumors that could be driven by higher NAD?

Conceivable.

But there’s no evidence of that.

And, in fact, in the largest studies that have been done — not with NR but with conventional Niacin — there’s an association between higher B3 use and lower skin cancer.

And that’s human populations, big numbers.

So, we don’t think that’s likely to be a big problem.”

On Future Health Claims for NR (25 minute mark)

“…We think that in the fullness of time we think that there might be health claims on the bottle (NR / TRU Niagen) and NR may benefit people under diseases and conditions of metabolic stress even more than the person trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Right now it’s all basically a wellness thing — saying it’s not making a disease or condition claim.

And you and I are having a conversation about what it does for health and wellness.

But if you read the pre-clinical literature, you read what happens to the NAD system in animal models what you come away with is that it does much more for the stressed animals than for the perfectly balanced animals.

But then here’s the other thing…

We go through stresses on a daily basis.

Oxygen itself is a stress itself because it produces reactive oxygen species.

Sunlight — we love it — but it damages our DNA 24/7 with exposure.

Time zone disruption — although not a lot of us are crossing time zones right now.

Overweight.

Alcohol.

Noise.

I sometimes go to meetings and I say — “ok, show of hands. If I said we’re going to have a giveaway at the end of this seminar and the winner is going to be able to fly to Ibiza and stay out in the sun and drink red wine and eat a lot of food and listen to loud music into the night” — time zone disruption, sound, food, alcohol, sun, and air…

It’s the inevitable stresses of life that actually disturb NAD.

…Basically, we think that this system that we discovered largely in rodents applies to humans.

And so going forward, in addition to understanding more of the mechanisms of what NR does in the healthy well person we want to be able to design the right human clinical trials of people under metabolic stresses that could include other things that we don’t have full control over.”

On the Safety of Supplementing with NR (38 minute mark)

“First, we’ve assessed safety.

Safety first.

This won’t be the first time I reveal that I was the first human that took Nicotinamide Riboside (NR / TRU Niagen).

…What all of these studies show is safety.

And the longest safety study went 12 weeks of people taking 2 grams of Niagen per day — which is a lot. And it’s placebo controlled.

So, sure, over 12 weeks somebody has a tummy ache.

But when you look at adverse events in the placebo group versus the NR group there’s no product related adverse events.

There’s no dose dependence.

There’s no NR dependence.

Safety looks great.

And we know that from many many studies.”

On Effectiveness of Nicotinamide Riboside (NR):

“Now, what do we know really really clearly in terms of efficacy?

And I would say we know less.

BUT there’s indications that NR may help human beings mobilize fat in terms of their body composition and potentially their fatty liver.

And there’s indications that it’s anti-inflammatory.

…It looks like fatty liver clearance is a very serious possibility in 12 weeks or longer.”

On NR Dosing (52 minute mark)

“I’m not your doctor.

I’m a PhD scientist.

What it says on the label (TRU Niagen) is 300 mg is the daily dose.

There’s a TRU Niagen PRO that is 500 mg.

Most clinical trials are being done at 1g – 2g per day.

So that would be like taking one 500 mg in the morning and one in the evening OR even two potentially in the morning and evening.

And those are trials that can concern like chemotherapeutic neuropathy, mild cognitive impairment, COVID-19 treatment — I’d like to do a COVID-19 prevention trial.

Fatty liver trials will be done at 2 grams just like the first one was done at 2 grams for weight loss — but the effect seemed to be in fatty liver.”

On What to Expect from Supplementing with Nicotinamide Riboside (NR)

“So, the observation that we tend to hear from people that are taking 300 mg daily is that the next time they clip their fingernails, cut their hair — there seems to be more of that happening — that’s something that could easily be seen in 2 or 3 weeks.

And whether people notice it or not I think depends upon the person.

..A highly tuned athlete might find that their workout recovery is easier…

We’ve had people wipe out on bikes and skis and find that their repair and healing is a lot faster (NOTE: Chromadex CEO Rob Fried experienced that HERE).

That’s a multiple anecdotal type result.

But we know that safety has been established in multiple populations up to 2 grams.

We know that millions of people have experienced TRU Niagen at 300 mg and many many people have experienced at 500 mg or higher as well.”

From RaisingNAD:

  • Listen to the full podcast HERE.
  • FAQs on taking NAD boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) can be found HERE.
  • NR supplementation may have helped sufferers of these diseases & conditions (Consumer Reviews)

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