One of the main challenges for vitamin supplement companies is they can’t make health claims. It doesn’t matter how much science might back those claims — the FDA simply won’t allow supplement companies to market to specific disease states. So, how can consumers determine for themselves whether elevating NAD levels with Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews) might help reduce the risk for diseases like Alzheimer’s? Well, we know that world renowned Alzheimer’s expert Dr Rudy Tanzi is launching a clinical trial with NR and believes it might work. And then there’s the following from Chromadex CEO Rob Fried on last week’s Patients Rising Podcast:

At the 21 minute mark of the podcast below:

“…I do agree that there is a classification…

If you are a dietary supplement company or a food company that does the research and does the data, and there’s science to show that it’s an efficacious product or there’s some sort of actual therapeutic benefit, there should be a way to communicate that — even if you’re talking about a disease state.

Why do I think that?

Because there are a lot of people for example who are suffering from cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment that may actually have reached the level of Alzheimer’s or early stage Alzheimer’s.

They would benefit by taking a dietary supplement.

Perhaps, they would benefit by elevating NAD levels — because brain cells obviously have NAD levels.

Cognitive decline is clearly related to inflammation.

We know that it’s not so much the plaques and the tangles — but it’s the inflammation as a result of the glial cells — the brain cells trying to fight off the plaque and the tangles.

So, it’s the inflammation that causes the cognitive decline.

What are the things that we could take to treat the inflammation?

Because if we could treat the inflammation we could restore perhaps the cognitive issues.

Maybe not the plaques and the tangles — but it’s the cognition that is the thing that we’re most concerned about — cognitive clarity.

But you can’t say that if you have a dietary supplement that it could actually work.

Maybe there should be a middle ground where if you have the data to support it or you have enough consumer experience to support it that there’s a way to responsibly communicate it.”

More on NR for Alzheimer’s:

Twitter: @RaisingNAD