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.
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It's heralded as a magical cure with no downside
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It resolves so many issues and problems with your body it's unreal
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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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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.
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