NAD+: A Vital Molecule to Your Health

NAD+ (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a molecular substance which has been popularly known as a cofactor to help produce ATP or energy in the mitochondria of a cell. In recent years, more research has been done to see how NAD has anti-aging effects, repairing DNA damage, and can help in mitochondrial dysfunction leading to inflammation and chronic illnesses like long-covid, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and more.

NAD+ tends to decline from birth. By the time that you’re 20 years old, you have half of the NAD+ that you had as a baby, and every 20 years, NAD+ will continue to half. So lets say you have 100% at birth, at 20 years of age, you now have 50%, and at 40 years of age you’ll have 25%, and at 60 years of age, you’ll have 12.5%, and so on and so forth. And as we age and our production of NAD+ goes down, unfortunately, our need for it goes up because as our cells age, they experience more DNA damage, and therefore need more efforts of DNA repair.

NAD+ helps with anti-aging because it acts to activate molecules that are called sirtuins. Sirtuins, in turn, activate anti-oxidant pathways, as well as regulating metabolism and the circadian clock to help regulate sleep, and deter premature aging and chronic illnesses.