During an ongoing Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), NAD+ expert Dr. Charles Brenner (FAQs) was asked about clinical trials studying NAD+ boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Anecdotes). Again, keep in mind that Dr. Brenner takes NR daily. Here’s the Redditor’s question followed by Brenner’s response:

REDDIT Question:

“Can you address this video citing 12 studies concluding NMN and NR supplementation is largely ineffective?

Not trying to troll, have been taking NMN for a while, and this is quite disconcerting to me.

DR. CHARLES BRENNER:

“For clinical research to generate strong, meaningful results, you need to have sufficiently powered trials and you have to pre-specify outcomes that can be achieved within the time course of the study

In many cases, NR trials were designed by ppl with unrealistic expectations. for example, in male mice, we can induce obesity and type 2 diabetes within 2-3 months and treat it in 2-3 months. however, you cannot reasonably expect that older, overweight and insulin-resistant men will magically lose weight in 12 weeks without a serious lifestyle intervention or a GLP1 analog that alters food intake

Subgroup analysis of the danish weight loss study showed that NR lowered liver fat in almost every guy who started the study with a lot of liver fat. we didn’t reach statistical significance because the study was not randomized for starting liver fat

I’ve commented on this in the literature

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7398765/

My IP interests in NR preclude me from being the PI of clinical studies but I try to advise others to randomize and power their studies so that they can achieve their primary endpoints”

Related:

  • Reddit AMA: Dr. Brenner Responds to Qs about Why Take NR (Link)
  • Reddit AMA: Dr. Brenner Responds to Qs about NR & Cancer (Link)
  • How much NR should you take? When? (Link)
  • Dr. Charles Brenner supplements with NR daily (FAQs)
  • Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Life Changing Anecdotes)
  • Nicotinamide Mononucleotide “NMN” (FAQs and Anecdotes)

FOLLOW us on Twitter @RaisingNAD