Celebrities claim to have found the fountain of youth.
NAD, a molecule produced naturally in the body, is sold in pill, liquid and intravenous forms, and everyone from athletes to actors and models have come out in support of the supplements.
Users including Joe Rogan, Hailey Bieber and Kourtney Kardashian say the product helps them feel more energized, younger and healthier.
And unlike other celebrity fads, they may have a point.
Research in mice suggests that increasing NAD levels in the body can increase life expectancy by eight percent.
Joe Rogan, former UFC fighter and host of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, has shared that he gets NAD infusions in his office.
Hailey Bieber, model and wife of singer Justin Bieber, received an intravenous infusion of NAD with her friend and fellow model Kendall Jenner
Reality TV star and entrepreneur Kourtney Kardashian shared on Instagram that she takes a liquid form of NAD supplements.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a molecule produced by our bodies that helps create and protect DNA, generate energy, and form new cells. In short, it is a fundamental support for almost everything our body does.
When we are young, our bodies produce NAD efficiently. As we age, production slowly declines, which studies suggest could be one reason why we tend to feel worse as we age.
But scientists warn that many of the products currently available to add NAD to our bodies aren’t as helpful as they claim. We have yet to design an NAD product that our bodies can use in the same way it uses the NAD we produce naturally.
Despite skepticism, NAD supplements are being endorsed by A-list celebrities.
“I’m going to use NAD for the rest of my life and never age,” model Hailey Bieber joked as she received an intravenous dose of the product alongside Kendall Jenner.
“I have more energy, I feel really vibrant. I feel great,” former UFC fighter and popular podcaster Joe Rogan said in a 2020 episode of his podcast.
“It has so many benefits and I love it,” Kourtney Kardashian Barker shared on Instagram in 2023, calling NAD the “genetic key to longevity.”
These treatments come at a price and come in a wide variety, depending on how you choose to take the product and which company you choose to purchase it from.
Kourtney Kardashian’s favorite brand, Quicksilver Scientific’s NAD+ Platinum, offers 100 milliliters of its liquid product for $84.
Other brands, such as Maripolio’s, offer a 120-pack of softgels for $39. Wellness LabsRx offers a 90-pack of softgels for $24.
If you are looking for an intravenous form of the medication, treatments tend to cost between $500 and $2000.
All of these treatments claim to work by adding more NAD to the body. In theory, this works, as NAD is important for everything our bodies do.
“They (NAD molecules) are the basis for converting everything we eat into everything we do and everything we are,” said Professor Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope research hospital in California who studies anti-aging. Business Insider.
Scientists began investigating whether adding more NAD to our bodies could slow down aging. Early research was promising.
Taking NAD precursors for more than a year increased the life expectancy of mice by 8.5 percent. a 2023 study from the Institute of Systems Biology found.
Increasing the amounts of NAD in the body could prevent aging and its associated problems. A review of 2015 That’s according to Eric Verdin, an aging researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.
But according to Dr. Verdin’s research, we still don’t know how NAD supplementation will work in the body.
NAD supplements, such as WellnessLabRx, offer tablets of the molecule that underpins all of our cellular functions. It’s popular among celebrities and wellness communities, but scientists caution that the products still need research.
In the eight years since then, science has made little progress in designing products that the body can actually use.
Although NAD itself is helpful, taking it in pill form or intravenously does not always work.
This is because the molecule is so large that when you take it in these forms, it can be difficult for it to enter your cells.
Instead, it passes without producing any change and is eliminated through urine.
This makes NAD supplements, IVs, and drinks as they stand now “pretty much useless,” Dr. Sabine Donnai, a physician who is researching the drug for a longevity clinic in London, told Business Insider.
Instead of NAD supplements, scientists suggest that you should take supplements that your body can use from the raw ingredients to create NAD from within.
This includes products like niacin, nicotinamide riboside, nicotinic acid and more.
Studies that have been done to generate more NAD in humans have used these supplements instead of NAD, according to a Northumbria 2024 Document University.
Others suggest that the best way to get more NAD is not through supplements at all: it is through maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine.
Foods such as broccoli, meat, fish, nuts and fortified cereals and breads are particularly well suited to generating NAD, Dr. Donnai said.
She suggested that probably only certain people with particular health problems or age-related issues could really benefit from NAD supplements.
“Personally, I would never recommend anyone take anything until they have assessed whether they really need it,” he said.