Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is a molecule that exists naturally in all living things. It’s a ribonucleotide at the molecular level. The molecule comprises three groups: ribose, nicotinamide, and phosphate. Because it is a direct precursor of the crucial chemical nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), NMN is essential for boosting NAD+ levels in cells.
Despite NMN being naturally synthesized by the body, you can get it from stores and online shops. However, you have to be careful about the authenticity. You can read customer reviews and ask for third-party certificate lab reports to help with proving this. Significantly, one form in which you can obtain NMN is powder form; you can buy NMN powder from trusted vendors by sourcing from the internet.
What is Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+)?
NAD+ is a coenzyme that is crucial for life and cellular processes. Enzymes operate as catalysts, allowing biological reactions, while coenzymes are ‘assistant’ molecules required for enzyme function.
The most abundant molecule in the body is NAD+, aside from water, and without it, an organism would perish. NAD+ is used by many proteins in the body, including the sirtuins that repair damaged DNA. It’s also essential for mitochondria, which are the cell’s powerhouses and provide the chemical energy that our bodies need.
Additionally, NAD+ boosts the body’s primary energy currency (ATP), helps to regulate the circadian rhythm, and powers hundreds of enzymatic activities, many of which help slow down the aging process.
Potential Benefits of NMN: Aging
Sirtuins get their energy from NAD+, which helps them maintain genomic integrity and speed up DNA repair. NAD+ is required for sirtuin activation, much as a car cannot run without gas. According to animal studies, increasing the body’s NAD+ level activates sirtuins and extends the lifetime of yeast, worms, and mice. Although animal research has generated promising anti-aging results, scientists are still looking into how you might apply these findings to humans.
Metabolic Disorders
NAD+ is one of the most critical components in maintaining healthy mitochondria and consistent energy output. With age and a high-fat diet, the amount of NAD+ in the body declines. In research, NAD+ boosters have been shown to minimize diet-related and age-related weight gain in mice and improve their exercise capacity, even in senior animals.
Heart Function
The heart’s function is protected and improved by increasing NAD+ levels. High blood pressure can cause blocked arteries leading to strokes. In mice, NAD+ boosters restored NAD+ levels in the heart and prevented cardiac damage caused by a lack of blood flow. NAD+ supplementation has also been shown to protect mice from abnormal heart hypertrophy.
Neurodegeneration
In Alzheimer’s mice, increasing NAD+ levels improve cognitive performance by lowering protein accumulation in the brain, which hinders cell communication. Increased NAD+ levels prevent brain cells from dying when there is a lack of blood flow to the brain. Many animal studies have revealed new prospects for helping the brain age healthily, reduce neurodegeneration, and improve memory.
Immune System
People’s immune systems degrade as they age, making them more prone to illness and making a recovery from illnesses more difficult. According to a study, NAD+ levels are expected to play a critical role in modulating inflammation and cell survival during the immune response and aging.
How is NMN Synthesized in the Body?
B vitamins are used to make NMN in the body. The enzyme Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase is responsible for NMN production in the human body (NAMPT). NAMPT is a sugar-phosphate that binds nicotinamide (vitamin B3) to PRPP (5′-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate). You can also make NMN by adding a phosphate group to ‘nicotinamide riboside’ (NR).
The enzyme ‘NAMPT’ is the rate-limiting enzyme in the production of NAD+. Lower NAMPT levels cause NMN production to drop, resulting in lower NAD+ levels. However, adding precursor molecules like NMN can also help speed up NAD+ production.
NAD Supplement as NMN
As normal cellular processes deplete NAD+ sources with time, intracellular concentrations of NAD+ decline with age. Supplementing with NAD+ precursors is expected to restore healthy NAD+ levels. Precursors such as NMN and nicotinamide riboside (NR) are thought to supplement NAD+ biosynthesis, raising NAD+ concentrations.
How are NMN Supplements Absorbed and Distributed Throughout the Body?
A molecular transporter anchored in the cell surface appears responsible for NMN absorption. However, because the NMN molecule is more minor than NAD+, it’s taken more efficiently into cells. Significantly, because of the barrier posed by the cell membrane, NAD+ cannot quickly enter the body.
A waterless gap in the membrane prohibits ions, polar molecules, and big molecules from passing through without using transporters. In addition, NMN injections boost NAD+ levels in various body organs, including the pancreas, adipose tissue, the heart, skeletal muscle, kidneys, testes, eyes, and blood vessels.
NMN Side Effects and Safety
NMN is safe in animals, and the results have been promising enough to warrant human clinical trials. Even at high concentrations in mice and a human investigation, this chemical is thought to be harmless and non-toxic. Long-term oral dosing (one year) has no harmful effects in mice. Significantly, the first human clinical trial has been completed, and the evidence suggests that single dosages are not toxic.
Bottomline
Although NMN is still being researched, it appears to hold a lot of promise in delaying, if not reversing, the signs of aging. NMN is a safe and efficient way to naturally boost NAD+ levels in your body’s cells and get all of the benefits that come with it.