Although often advertised as a product to fight aging, nicotinamide riboside is an alternative to vitamin B3 with no adverse consequences. It can safeguard brain cells and decrease the risk of developing heart disease.
Each Jahr, Americans are spending billions on products to combat aging.
While many anti-aging treatments attempt to stop the signs of aging on your skin, nicotinamide's riboside—also known as Niagen—is designed to reverse the signs of aging within the body.
In your body, nicotinamide's Riboside is transformed to NAD+, a chemical found in all cells. NAD+ is a vital molecule that supports numerous aspects of healthy old age.
This article provides all the information you should know about nicotinamide riboside, including its benefits, adverse effects, and dosage.
What Is Nicotinamide Riboside?
Nicotinamide Niagen, also known as riboside, is a different vitamin B3, sometimes referred to as Niacin.
Like the other types of vitamin B3, nicotinamide-riboside is transformed by your body into nicotinamide dinucleotide (NAD+) as a coenzyme or molecule that helps you.
NAD+ functions as fuel for many critical biological processes, including:
- Converting food items into energy
- Repairing damaged DNA
- Cells that strengthen their defense systems
- The internal clock of your body or the circadian rhythm
However, the quantity of NAD+ in your body naturally decreases as you age.
The low NAD+ levels were linked with health problems like chronic illness and aging like heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and vision loss.
Astonishingly, animal studies have discovered that increasing NAD+ levels can assist in reversing the signs of aging and decrease the risk of developing chronic illnesses.
Nicotinamide supplementation with ribosides, like Niagen, has rapidly been gaining popularity because they seem to be particularly effective in increasing NAD+ levels.
Nicotinamide Riboside can also be found in small amounts in cow's beer, yeast, and milk.
SUMMARY
Nicotinamide Riboside, or niagen, is a different version of Vitamin B3. It's promoted as a dietary supplement for aging prevention since it increases your body's levels of NAD+, which serves as a fuel source for various critical biological processes.
Potential Benefits
Since the majority of studies on nicotinamide riboside and NAD+ are based on animal studies, no definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the effectiveness of NAD+ for humans.
In the meantime, here are some possible benefits to nicotinamide riboside's health.
Easily Converted Into NAD+
The coenzyme NAD+ acts as a molecule that is involved in a variety of biological reactions.
Although it's vital to maintain good health, research has shown that NAD+ levels continue to decline as we advance over the years. Low NAD+ levels are related to aging problems and many dangerous illnesses.
One way to boost NAD+ levels is to eat NAD+ precursors, the components of NAD+, like nicotinamide and riboside.
Research on animals has shown that nicotinamide riboside increases the blood NAD+ levels about 2.7 times. It's also more easily absorbed by the body than other NAD precursors.
Activates Enzymes That May Promote Healthy Aging
Nicotinamide riboside can help boost NAD+ levels within your body.
Then, NAD+ activates certain enzymes that can aid in healthy aging.
One of the sirtuins is believed to increase longevity and overall health in animals. Research suggests that sirtuins can help repair DNA damage, improve resistance to stress, decrease inflammation, and provide additional advantages that support healthy longevity.
Sirtuins are also accountable for the benefits of longevity that come with restricting calories.
Another category is poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), which repair DNA damage. Research suggests higher PARP activity leads to fewer DNA damages and more extended longevity.
May Help Protect Brain Cells
NAD+ plays a vital role in helping brain cells to age gracefully.
In brain cells, NAD+ helps control the production of PGC-1-alpha, a protein believed to shield cells from mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress.
Researchers believe that both the effects of oxidative stress as well as diminished mitochondrial function are connected to brain diseases that are aging-related, like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
In mice suffering from Alzheimer's, nicotinamide-riboside increased the brain NAD+ levels and PGC-1 alpha production by 70% and 50% in both cases. At the end of the study, mice showed significantly better performance in memory-based tasks.
In a study on test tubes in a test-tube study, nicotinamide riboside increased NAD+ levels and dramatically improved mitochondrial function in the stem cells of a patient with Parkinson's disease.
However, it's unclear how effective increasing NAD+ levels can be for those who suffer from age-related brain diseases. More studies on humans are needed.
May Lower Heart Disease Risk
The aging process is a major risk cause for heart disease, which is the leading cause of death.
It may cause blood vessels such as your aorta to get larger, more stiff, and less flexible.
These changes could increase blood pressure and cause your heart to work more efficiently.
In animals, increasing NAD+ helped reverse age-related changes to the arteries.
In humans, nicotinamideriboside increased NAD+ levels, which helped to reduce the stiffness of the aorta and decreased systolic blood pressure for those at risk of excessive blood pressure.
However,, more human-based research is required.
Other Potential Benefits
Additionally, nicotinamide riboside could also provide other advantages:
- It could aid in weight loss. Nicotinamide riboside has been shown to increase the metabolic rate of the mice. It's not clear if it has the same effect on humans and if the effect is.
- may lower the risk of developing cancer: High NAD+ levels can help prevent damage to the DNA and oxidative stress, which are linked to cancer growth.
- Could help in treating jet lag NAD+ regulates the internal clock of your body and niagen can aid in the treatment of jet lag and other irregularities in the circadian rhythm by resetting the organ's internal clock.
- Could help promote healthy muscle aging? Increased levels of NAD+ improved strength, endurance, and muscle endurance in older mice.
SUMMARY
Nicotinamide riboside enhances the amount of NAD+ and is associated with the potential benefits of aging for brain health, as well as heart disease risk.
Potential Risks and Side Effects
Nicotinamide Riboside is most likely safe and has very few, if any, adverse effects.
In studies on humans, consuming 1,000-2,000 mg daily had no negative side effects.
However, most human studies are of a short time and contain only a few participants. For a more precise understanding of the safety of it the more thorough human research is required.
A few people have experienced mild to moderate adverse effects, including headaches, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, and digestion.
In animals, consuming 300 mg per kilogram in body mass (136 mg/pound) daily for 90 days showed no adverse consequences.
Furthermore, in contrast to vitamin B3 (niacin) supplements, nicotinamide riboside shouldn't cause facial flushing.
SUMMARY
Nicotinamide Riboside is non-toxic and causes no adverse reactions. However, the long-term effects of this drug in humans are not yet fully understood.
Dosage and Recommendations
Nicotinamide can be purchased in capsule or tablet form and is known as the niagen.
It's sold at some health food stores, Amazon, or online retailers.
Niagen supplements usually contain only the nicotinamide riboside. However, certain manufacturers mix the ingredient with others, such as Pterostilbene which is a polyphenol an antioxidant chemically identical to Resveratrol.
The majority of niagen supplement brands suggest taking between 250 and 300 mg daily that is the equivalent of about 1 or 2 capsules daily, depending on the product.
SUMMARY
Many niagen manufacturers suggest taking between 250 and 300 mg of nicotinamide each day.
The Bottom Line
Nicotinamide Riboside is a different vitamin B3 that has very few adverse consequences. It is typically advertised as a product to combat aging.
The body converts it to NAD+. This powers the cells in your body. Although NAD+ levels decline naturally as you age, increasing NAD+ levels can slow the aging process by preventing several of its signs.
However, the majority of research into Nicotinamide Riboside and NAD+ has been conducted in animals. Higher-quality human studies are needed before treatment is recommended.