ResearchSafe

NAD+ blood levels don’t drop with age – a blow to the supplement hype

Posted by greg208 in Longevity & Anti-Aging - 1 points, 3 comments.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-026-01540-w

A recent Nature Metabolism paper shows that whole‑blood NAD+ concentrations stay pretty flat across the adult lifespan and aren’t nudged by lifestyle hacks like fasting, exercise or supplementing with NMN/NR. The researchers measured thousands of samples and found no age‑related dip, challenging the idea that we need to boost NAD+ to fight ageing.

Not gonna lie, this feels like a reality check on the whole NMN/NR craze. I’ve been on a low‑dose NR protocol for a few months, hoping it’d smooth out my sleep and give a slight edge on recovery. My blood work didn’t show any jump in NAD+ and I haven’t noticed a clear difference beyond the usual placebo buzz. If blood levels aren’t moving, maybe the real action is in tissue‑specific pools or downstream pathways, but that’s still speculation. It also makes me wonder if we’ve been over‑selling a simple blood‑test marker as the holy grail of ageing.

Do you think we should ditch NAD+ precursors altogether, or is there still a case for targeting other parts of the pathway, like sirtuin activation or NAD‑consuming enzymes?

Comments

  • ryan_z: I’ve been on 250 mg of NR for about six weeks and saw the same thing – my lab report barely moved, and my sleep stayed the same. I did notice a slight bump in how fast I recovered from back‑to‑back leg days, but that could be normal variation. For me the only thing that felt different was a mild mood lift on the days I took it, kind of like a placebo but real enough to notice. I’m not convinced the blood number tells the whole story; I’m looking into a low‑dose pterostilbene to hit sirtuins dir
  • amber464: I tried swapping my 250 mg NR for 50 mg pterostilbene for a month after the same flat NAD+ result. My sleep and recovery felt unchanged, but I did notice a tiny boost in morning focus that lasted a few hours. Could be sirtuin‑related, could be just habit, but worth a look if you’re chasing that mood edge.
  • amber464: I swapped NR for a 50 mg pterostilbene combo last month. My NAD+ labs still flat, but I’ve felt a modest bump in post‑workout soreness recovery and a slightly brighter mood on training days. Hard to say if it’s the sirtuin push or just habit change, but I’ll keep logging HRV and sleep to see if anything sticks.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.