For as long as I can remember, Dr. Peter Attia has been a vocal critic of NAD+ boosting supplements Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs)  (Anecdotes) and NMN (FAQs and Anecdotes). But what would change his mind? Here’s what he said on the Huberman Lab podcast last week:

At the 55:00 minute mark below:

Dr. Peter Attia:

“NAD levels are declining with age in most tissues.

It appears most prevalent in the skin of all places.

And, I think we should come back to this because there’s one interesting finding associated with augmenting NAD levels in the skin.

And, my thought is, I wonder if it has to do with the fact that skin experiences the greatest decline in NAD”

At the 1:27:40 mark below:

Dr. Peter Attia:

“There’s one benefit (to taking NR, NMN) I could find that I think is genuine.

…One study I could find that actually had what looked like a signal to me.

And it was a study that looked at skin cancer rates.

And I can’t remember if it was NR or NMN — but honestly I don’t think it matters because I think they’re basically equivalent. (NOTE: Attia was likely referencing this Nicotinamide study)

…So, this one study found somewhere between a 60 and 80% reduction in basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.

It found no difference in melanomas.

So, again, you know this because you just did a podcast on this: Melanoma’s the skin cancer that kills you.

But that’s not to say that squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas aren’t problematic.

They can be very deforming.

They can require pretty aggressive surgeries to address them.

And so if indeed there is something that can reduce the risk of basal and squamous cell carcinomas, THAT may be a rationale for taking it (NR/NMN).

…They (skin cancers) are very common and they are very clearly associated with sun exposure — in a way that even melanoma is more complicated and has a genetic component and there are other things going on.

But squamous and basal cell carcinoma are very clearly related to sun exposure.

As you said, they’re quite common.

And, so, personally, that’s an experiment I would like to see repeated because if indeed NR and/or NMN reduce the risk THAT significantly of squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas, I think you could make a case that if you’re an individual who’s at risk for those things — clearly I’m not, I’ve never had a sunburn in my life. I don’t work outside so it wouldn’t matter to me.

But there are a lot of people for whom either their skin color makes them more susceptible or their pastimes or frankly their line of work makes them more susceptible.

Maybe there is a case to be made for it there.

If you could literally take 60 to 80% of your risk away on squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas, that could matter.

And, by the way, I don’t know if this is true, but you may recall at the outset I said that when you look at all the tissues in the body where we see a reduction in NAD, do you remember what had the biggest reduction?

It was skin.

So there’s a part of me that wonders: is the reason that the only place we see a really good signal potentially for NR and NMN supplementation is in a skin cancer?

Although it’s not melanoma which is the one we’d really want to see — if this reduces the risk of melanoma, I would take it because even though I’m dark skinned I’m still susceptible to melanoma.

But that’s the first thought that crossed my mind when I came across that literature was: I wonder if the enormous reduction in tissue NAD in this particular tissue explains why maybe there is a benefit to it.

At the 1:38:30 mark below:

Dr. Peter Attia:

“I think the strongest argument I could make based on the data would be potentially on the basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma risk reduction.

If indeed those results are reproducible, that would be justification again for the right individual — wouldn’t be a justification for me, might be a justification for somebody”

Related:

  • 11 Consumers Explain the Skin Benefits They Experienced from Supplement Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) (Link)
  • Are Claims of Skin Benefits from Taking Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) Evidence-Based?  (Link)
  • Could a Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) Skin Cream Be More Effective than a Nicotinamide/Niacinamide Skin Cream? (Link)
  • NAD+ boosting supplement NR (Consumer Reviews)

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