NAD+ SUPPLEMENTS

Do NAD+ supplements work to promote longevity? Here’s what the experts say.

The latest celebrity wellness trend is concerning some doctors. 

Some clinics offer intravenous NAD+ therapy, touting it as the secret to longevity—but these claims lack scientific evidence.

By Ashwin Rodrigues
September 18, 2025 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

One of the latest trends in the expanding world of social media-recommended quasi-medical advice is supplementing with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Known as NAD+ in its oxidized form, the supplement has been recommended by everyone from podcast hosts to health influencers. Clinics offering intravenous NAD+ therapy claim it’s the key to longevity, responsible for celebrity youth and vitality.

Longevity is a core part of gerontology, the scientific study of aging and combating age-related disease. It’s also a buzzword in the world of wellness—linked to a growing suite of unproven products, procedures, and infusions. In the wellness space, NAD+ is thought to reverse visible signs of aging, boost cellular energy, and promote overall health, based on logical leaps made on preliminary findings.

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“It’s hard to exaggerate the central importance of NAD coenzymes and metabolism,” says Charles Brenner, a doctor at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. He’s a leading expert on NAD metabolism, but he’s not part of the pack promoting the supplement’s potential anti-aging benefits.

While NAD is a vital component of multiple biological processes, the supplements piggybacking on this fact have less scientific evidence behind them. Here’s what the experts are saying.

What is NAD?

NAD is a compound present in all living cells, required to convert food into energy, and is involved with cellular and tissue repair.

In many metabolically stressful conditions—from Type 2 diabetes to heart failure—NAD coenzymes are disturbed, Brenner explains, causing their levels to decline. NAD also decreases with age, but it can be boosted naturally through lifestyle changes like exercise, improved sleep, and a diet rich in foods like fish, nuts, and whole grains.

NAD supplementation is sold in several forms. Precursor compounds like nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), which are converted to NAD+ in the body, are available in oral capsules sold as dietary supplements. NAD+ infusions, which aren’t approved by the Federal Drug Administration, are available at medical spas, while injections can be purchased online by consumers and administered at home.

However, while NAD+ supplements and therapy are often touted to support “longevity,” there is no evidence that it does so.

(Aging isn‘t just about decline. Here’s how health improves as we grow older.)

Lack of evidence around NAD+

In 2004, Brenner discovered in a Dartmouth lab that NR is a precursor to NAD. Today, he’s considered the leading expert on NAD metabolism, and is also the Chief Scientific Advisor at Niagen Bioscience—a company that sells a patented version of NR in various dosages. Professional athletes and trainers use one of the company’s offerings, TruNiagen, for potential recovery benefits, Brenner says. On its website, Niagen Bioscience calls it “the most well-researched, quality-tested, efficient NAD+ precursor available.”

Brenner can readily identify potential for NAD and its precursors, particularly NR, and is currently involved in research involving NAD and its metabolism. But he’s constantly deflating lofty declarations made about the supplement online.

Studies have shown that oral administration of NR may lower inflammation in specific situations where NAD is under attack, like a Covid-19 infection. While NR supplementation has not been proven to make people more resistant to infections, it’s not an unreasonable hypothesis. Even still, he doesn’t believe NR, NMN, or NAD+ are longevity drugs. Those types of drugs don’t exist.

(At 102, he’s the world’s oldest practicing doctor. These are his longevity tips.)

I’m telling you that nicotinamide riboside is not a longevity drug. There are other cases where oral NR can lower inflammation in certain conditions, but it’s far from the anti-aging silver bullet that it’s sometimes made out to be online.

Niagen Bioscience also sells NR in an IV formulation—though there’s no proven use case for that yet. But offering such a formulation will allow it to be tested.

I’d love to see what it does head-to-head with a saline solution, noting people might feel a placebo effect from a NAD+ IV solution compounded by paying hundreds of dollars for a treatment as part of a broader pampering in a luxurious setting.

Brenner has also shown the longevity-boosting promise of NAD in his research. In 2007, he conducted an experiment showing that elevating NAD levels by fasting extended the lifespan—of yeast cells. Still, I don’t claim that yeast is a model for human aging.

Potential risks with NAD+ supplementation

Any product, service, or procedure making claims that primarily center around longevity, is a red flag that people should be more skeptical towards. Some of the least replicable work is done in the aging field.

Randomized controlled trials, where participants receive an NAD+ supplement or a placebo, would be needed to show that the supplement works. Otherwise, any claim can only be assumed to be an association, and they cannot be used to describe an effect.

Additionally, there are always risks with injecting substances into the bloodstream, particularly when those substances haven’t been subjected to pharmaceutical-grade processes where contamination and quality control are monitored.

When a supplement is introduced as an IV instead of a tablet, it bypasses the liver and intestines, where many protective mechanisms exist to keep harmful compounds out of the body. This presents a risk with IV solutions not regulated by the FDA that might contain impurities.

But administering a supplement intravenously is nothing new. IV vitamins are often administered in clinical settings, particularly in patients who can’t absorb pills due to gastrointestinal issues. Outside of the medical community, IV vitamin infusions have been popular as a “wellness” offering at medical spas.

Why doctors are concerned about NAD+ supplementation

NAD+ therapy is a growing concern for doctors including the lack of control of its administration and a lack of a reason to do it in the first place. While some celebrities and influencers note a flushing sensation in the body after taking an NAD+ IV infusion and see that as a type of proof it’s working, Seres doesn’t. These are what we call side effects. Niacin, which is related to NAD, is known to cause this sensation, as well as a drop in blood pressure. This is no sign of anything other than that, and it could possibly be an indication of a negative effect just as much as it could be a positive one. With no evidence of benefit, I would be more concerned about this being problematic.

In general, supplements should not be used unless you have a medically diagnosed deficiency. Introducing dietary supplements to your body has the potential to, at best, be benign, and at worst, cause you to lose money and experience physical harm.

Without the randomized controlled trials, it’s difficult to make valid claims and prove the treatment’s safety. Otherwise, any claim can only be assumed to be an association. While many positive reviews of NAD+ therapy exist online, they should not be considered proof of its efficacy.

Thousands of anecdotes do not create evidence.

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I would like to think of myself as a full time traveler. I have been retired since 2006 and in that time have traveled every winter for four to seven months. The months that I am "home", are often also spent on the road, hiking or kayaking. I hope to present a website that describes my travel along with my hiking and sea kayaking experiences.
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