Researchers have established that nicotinamide riboside (NR), a nutritional supplement, can reach the brain. This discovery supports the theory that when it reaches the brain it could alter metabolic pathways related to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Consumption of NR is readily converted to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). NAD+ is essential for cell repair as well as DNA repairs that have been damaged, providing essential benefits for both.
As we age and suffer chronic diseases, NAD+ levels decrease steadily over time. Loss of NAD+ has also been associated with obesity as well as other harmful lifestyle habits like smoking. When dealing with negative behaviors like this one, more NAD+ will likely be required for their counteraction resulting in further depletion.
Researchers found in an earlier preliminary study that consumption of NR can elevate NAD+ blood levels; however, its effect was unknown on other body tissues.
Initial evidence suggested the effectiveness of natural remedies (NR), including reduced blood pressure in individuals who started off with high blood pressure. But until now, no definitive proof was available that NR reached organs such as the brain to have any significant benefits.
Ascertaining NAD+ levels in human brains is difficult. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides some promise, its costs and difficulties make it challenging and only provide an indirect measure. Instead, researchers measured NAD+ in tiny particles known as extracellular vesicles from neurons within blood samples as an indirect measurement and also provide advanced biomarkers of brain disorders as well as functioning like liquid biopsies to reveal what’s inside these nerve cells.
Each vesicle possesses its own molecular fingerprint, with proteins providing clues as to its source. Researchers selected vesicles carrying neuron characteristic markers and therefore are confident that NAD+ measured in them accurately represents what occurs within neuron cells and, by extension, in the brain.
On using samples from the initial preliminary study, it was initially established that levels of NAD+ increased over 6 weeks in these vesicles.
NAD+ increases in neurodegenerative disease biomarkers when present in these vesicles, especially among individuals who experienced increases. Individuals experiencing these increases also experienced changes to biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s such as tau and amyloid beta – two associated with Alzheimer’s.
Researchers also identified an association between NAD+ changes and neurodegenerative biomarkers.
Increases in NAD+ seem to lead to greater changes in biomarkers of disease, suggesting it has more of an effect than simply entering the brain – potentially altering metabolism or impacting various interrelated pathways.
