We’ve been waiting patiently for results of the Harvard/Mass General Hospital study assessing the efficacy of NAD+ boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews) in alleviating symptoms associated with “long haul COVID”. Well, the results are finally here.

Effects of nicotinamide riboside on NAD+ levels, cognition, and symptom recovery in long-COVID: a randomized controlled trial (Link)

”In long-COVID, NR increased NAD+ within 5 weeks but did not significantly improve cognition, fatigue, sleep, or mood vs. PBO. Exploratory analyses suggested within-group benefits after 10 weeks of NR, supporting the need for larger trials”

In an interview, the scientists running the study shared the following:

”Of the 58 people who joined the study, 37 started NR right away, and 21 began with the placebo. Only 18 people completed the full 22-week protocol. The others left the study for reasons such as getting COVID again, moving, changing medications or experiencing possible side effects.

When we compared the two groups, we didn’t see major differences in thinking or memory scores, which were the main focuses of the study. Other symptoms like fatigue, sleep and mood also didn’t show big differences between groups.

However, in exploratory post hoc analyses with a slightly larger sample size of everyone who took NR for at least 10 weeks, we observed improvements in self-reported fatigue, sleep, and depressive symptoms after 10 weeks of NR supplementation compared to baseline. Some also performed better on a task of executive functioning, a set of mental skills that help us, for example, plan, organize, and switch between tasks. This suggests that some people may benefit from the use of NR, even if the overall results didn’t show clear differences between groups.

…Future studies should include larger and more diverse groups to confirm these findings and identify who benefits most. For example, do men and women respond differently? Are people with lower baseline NAD⁺ levels or higher inflammation more likely to improve? Because long COVID often involves inflammation, an important question is whether boosting NAD⁺ can help reduce it.

We also plan to analyze physical activity data collected during the trial, as well as examine whether other supplements taken by participants influenced NR’s effects.”

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