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gulch  2yr ago (text post)   2617 thread views

Does NMN sound to good to be true?

So I recently heard about this supplement called Nicotinamide Mononucleotide. It's heralded as this great medicine that reduces aging, and gets rid of many issues.

And I really want to believe it, but there's something snakeoil salesmany about it.

  • It's heralded as a magical cure with no downside

  • It resolves so many issues and problems with your body it's unreal

  • From brain to liver, to ankles and skin, it's all covered

It all sounds too good to be true to me. I don't think it has negative effects and it's actually malicious, but I think it's just a fad that's being pushed. I don't think it can do really bad harm, but I don't think there's any better effects than a tummy ache.

What do you think? Do you have experience with this supplement?

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I wouldn’t hold my breath. Substances like that are periodically touted, but they never pan out, despite the mother of all incentives. If it works, I would expect everyone to know very soon. 99,9 % sure it won’t, but I’d be ecstatic to be proven wrong.

It sounds too good to be true but the theory behind it also sounds simple and intuitively correct in a way that certainly explains almost all the observed facts.

And if the theory is true, then based on the understanding of NAD+'s function in cells, and NMN being a known precursor, it shouldn't take a huge amount of faith to believe that it lives up to the hype:

Aging is likely the result of the accumulation of DNA damage in the body's cells over time.

Aging impacts all the body's systems at once.

Human cells have DNA repair mechanisms to slow down or, possibly, reverse the accumulation of DNA damage.

As DNA damage accumulates, these repair mechanisms become less effective too.

NAD+ is a useful enzyme for many, many cellular processes, including DNA repair.

NAD+ levels also decreases with age, which also inhibits the DNA repair.

Increasing NAD+ levels should make cellular processes work better. Including better DNA repair.

Better DNA repair will slow (probably not reverse) DNA damage accumulation.

If DNA damage is slowed, the signs of aging will be slower to emerge everywhere in the body.

Which means people will feel, look, and otherwise be healthier over a longer period.

ASSUMING ALL THE ABOVE IS TRUE (and I know its a completely non-technical analysis)

The real only question that would need to be answered is whether NMN consumption does in fact increase NAD+ levels, and doesn't have some unforeseen effect like 'tricking' the body into reducing it's natural production of NAD+ or something.

It helps all the body's organs because it helps all cells function better, and it helps maintain youthful health because it prevents the basic root cause of age-based health degradation.

The main part that I find difficult to believe is that there would be one substance that was of such universal utility, but at the cellular level it is less surprising.

Look into Rapamycin if you want the real "sounds to good to be true". I take both Rapamycin and NAD+ boosters.

Benefiting with respect to a wide variety of ailments is a prediction of its proposed mechanism, so not evidence as such. However, it could be grounds for a prior against NMN's efficacy, on the basis that wonder drugs are rare.

IMO it's hasn't yet risen above "placebo effect".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinamide_mononucleotide

Note how few human studies there are compared to the claims.

I tried it for a few months. It gave me more energy but also insomnia, to the extent that I had to stop using it.

I had this issue as well, which mostly resolved by reducing the dose.

Well if it did reduce aging it would indeed be beneficial for the treatment of nearly all ailments.

Personal anecdote. I have taken it for about 2 years and have noticed absolutely no effect, negative or positive.

That's pretty odd. E.g. fisetin, which had some effects in mouse studies gives people flu-like symptoms (it kills senescent cells, supposedly so that makes sense) but later they feel more energetic.

This is the part where the wikipedia editors add [by whom?].

Seriously, who is uncritically heralding this new age of supplement? If there is research rather than mere testimonials, if there is an actual discussion about it, then you might want to bother looking into it further. Otherwise, your default should be that it is snake oil, no such thing as a free lunch, etc.

It's being very heavily advertised in Hong Kong. It's literally the most advertised product that I see.

Only half-relevant, but is there any update on fisetin being the fountain of youth? It was shilled around here quite a bit a while back.

Some clinical trials on it are about to end soonish, so hopefully we'll know if it werks.

There's this one with end date specified as December 1st this year:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04210986?cond=fisetin&draw=2&rank=10

And the Mayo Clinic one, that's supposed to finish half a year from now:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03675724?cond=fisetin&draw=2&rank=4

I wonder how long it will take from the scheduled study completion time to actual publication of results.

fisetin

NMN is shilled harder.

Both of them have the adverse effects of 'slight tummy ache', although NMN is shown to actually restore vitality.

although NMN is shown to actually restore vitality.

Didn't fisetin do something like increase mouse lifespan by 20% when they started giving it at mouse middle age?

So in your opinion fisetin doesn't do much?

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