Why Is NAD+ Supplements Good for Optimizing Health and Wellness?
During our eating and fasting cycles, our bodies typically perform recycling within our cells. This recycling is called autophagy and is essential for cell health. When our cells are healthy, then our body can function optimally. If cell recycling does not happen, the cell will become cluttered to the point of dysfunction. Our cells will not build proteins and enzymes necessary for life because there will not be room in the cell to make these molecules. The dysfunctional cell will slowly die because there is insufficient room to build cellular components. One of the internal cellular mechanisms regulating autophagy is Sirtuin 1 (SIRT 1) (Golbidi et al., 2017). NAD+ is necessary for proper SIRT 1 function and autophagy. Ensuring sufficient NAD+ levels in the body allows our cells to recycle appropriately and gives room for normal cellular function.
Our cells can recycle and maintain all of their components when proper NAD+ levels are circulating throughout our body. Low levels of NAD+ could compromise this function and lead to cell dysfunction, ultimately leading to disease or other problems. These problems are generally unwanted as they can be painful, debilitating, or just otherwise troublesome in life. Ensuring your cells can retain their function helps to maintain the health and wellness that most people desire. This is simple to accomplish for most people due to all of the options available to boost NAD+ levels.
What Can NAD+ Supplements Do to Optimize Health and Wellness?
There are numerous ways to ensure NAD+ levels are at proper levels for optimal health and wellness. One of the most obvious ways to do this is using the NAD+ molecule. This can be done in two ways, intravenous (IV) NAD+ and transdermal iontophoretic patches. The cost of IV NAD+ can be prohibitive. However, NAD IV therapy is the most effective way of delivering this essential coenzyme into your system. IV therapy bypasses the digestive system so that nothing is lost during your infusion.
Having the transdermal option reduces the price but still allows for the direct addition of NAD+ into circulation. Other forms of NAD+ boosting supplements are niacin, nicotinamide, nicotinamide riboside (NR), and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) (Shi et al., 2017).
NAD+ should be taken either IV or through a transdermal iontophoretic patch. Niacin, nicotinamide, nicotinamide riboside (NR), and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) can all be taken orally.
How Does NAD+ Supplements Help to Optimize Health and Wellness?
Our bodies rely on NAD+ to create cellular energy (Fania et al., 2019). Having this energy allows for our cells and the tissues made of these cells to function correctly. Other functions such as DNA repair, kidney function, and calcium regulation are modified through NAD+ levels (Ralto et al., 2020; Roh & Kim, 2020; Wilk et al., 2020). All of these functions are very important for our health. Ensuring proper NAD+ levels are consistently maintained in the body is a great way to work towards optimal health.
NAD+ supplements have different forms, prices, and availability. The best type is the kind that works for you. Each person has different needs and resources that they can use to help ameliorate issues they might be dealing with. Others might not have any problems but would instead maintain the healthful state that they currently enjoy. Considering which type will be the most effective and how much that type will cost can help you discern which supplement you should use. Niacin is one of the most affordable forms, but the downside to this version is that most people experience an uncomfortable flush. Nicotinamide should not be taken in large doses due to a potential risk for toxicity. Nicotinamide riboside is more costly but does not have known issues related to its use. Nicotinamide mononucleotide is more expensive, and there has been less research conducted on this version. NAD+ is the most-costly version but can help with issues that the more affordable versions might not overcome.
The Health Optimizing Possibilities of NAD+ Supplements
Our bodies rely on NAD+ to properly function on a cellular level. Having enough energy to complete all the tasks a cell needs will help keep everything organized and properly working. Having a properly functioning body can keep our mood up and allows us to be productive. The ability to complete tasks and care for ourselves through other actions such as exercise and self-care boosts our chances of living a long and happy life. Our bodies will maintain their function into our older years, and we will not have to worry about some of the diseases of aging that occur with most of the population. This will help keep our minds at ease as our functioning is retained even as our age approaches 100. Being healthy and enjoyable can also help motivate those around us to embrace NAD+ supplements to live the life they want to.
References: Fania, L., Mazzanti, C., Campione, E., Candi, E., Abeni, D., & Dellambra, E. (2019). Role of nicotinamide in genomic stability and skin cancer chemoprevention. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20235946
Golbidi, S., Daiber, A., Korac, B., Li, H., Essop, M. F., & Laher, I. (2017). Health Benefits of Fasting and Caloric Restriction. Current Diabetes Reports, 17(12), 123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0951-7
Ralto, K. M., Rhee, E. P., & Parikh, S. M. (2020). NAD+ homeostasis in renal health and disease. Nature Reviews Nephrology, 16(2), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-019-0216-6
Roh, E., & Kim, M. (2020). Hypothalamic NAD+-Sirtuin Axis: Function and Regulation. Biomolecules, 10(3), 396. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10030396
Shi, H., Enriquez, A., Rapadas, M., Martin, E. M. M. A., Wang, R., Moreau, J., Lim, C. K., Szot, J. O., Ip, E., Hughes, J. N., Sugimoto, K., Humphreys, D. T., McInerney-Leo, A. M., Leo, P. J., Maghzal, G. J., Halliday, J., Smith, J., Colley, A., Mark, P. R., … Dunwoodie, S. L. (2017). NAD Deficiency, Congenital Malformations, and Niacin Supplementation. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(6), 544–552. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1616361
Wilk, A., Hayat, F., Cunningham, R., Li, J., Garavaglia, S., Zamani, L., Ferraris, D. M., Sykora, P., Andrews, J., Clark, J., Davis, A., Chaloin, L., Rizzi, M., Migaud, M., & Sobol, R. W. (2020). Extracellular NAD+ enhances PARP-dependent DNA repair capacity independently of CD73 activity. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57506-9
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