NMN Supplements | The Top 5 Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Benefits

NAD+ is a unique compound, continuously made in our body and used by many key enzymes to help promote ideal cellular function. However, since NAD+ is used up in the process of fueling these enzyme systems, we start entering NAD+ deficits at various points in our lives, with increasing frequency as we age. Since these NAD+ powered enzymes play an important role in maintaining cellular energy, and promoting cellular health, a decline in NAD+ can be majorly detrimental to our overall health.

Due to this, a lot of research has been initiated into promoting NAD+ levels in the body. The theory behind promoting NAD+ levels is that it will have a highly supportive effect for many critical bodily functions, and thereby can help promote longevity. Most importantly however, enhanced levels of NAD+, should not only promote longevity, it may also help promote a better quality of life as we age!

So how do we elevate NAD+ levels? This seems to be quite tricky. However, recent research has uncovered a unique compound called Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN), which the body can use as a very efficient precursor to NAD+. In theory, this means NMN may promote a long and healthy life!

However, NMN is not only a fantastic longevity promoting supplement. In fact, NMN is a fantastic supplement for both young and old people, as it has a vitalizing effect no matter your age. Young and old people both need high NAD+ levels for their bodies and minds to run at peak performance. The higher your NAD+ levels, the more cellular energy you will have available, and the better your body and mind will be able to function in highly demanding situations. Let’s be honest, who couldn’t use a little bit of an edge in this fast paced and demanding world? So, if you want to charge up your cells, and are curious what your body and mind can achieve with some extra NAD+ kicking around, then we would encourage you to keep reading through this highly comprehensive blog that is designed to help you get the most out of NMN supplementation!

Before we get into the nitty gritty, we wanted to get one important thing out of the way first: why choose Nootropics Depot's NMN supplement? There are many NMN supplements around these days, and it’s hard to find the absolute best NMN supplement. This is why it took us a while to get around to bringing out our NMN supplement line.

At first, we were under the impression that NMN was very unstable. This is why we initially only came out with an enteric coated tablet. However, over time, and with different synthesis methods, we have discovered that NMN is a lot more stable than we once thought. Due to this, we have now come out with a powder and capsule version of NMN!

Most importantly, we go to great lengths to accurately test our NMN powder and finished tablets/capsules to ensure purity and stability at every step of the process. The same unfortunately cannot be said for a lot of NMN supplements out there. Now, let's find out what real, pure and stable NMN may do for you!

So what exactly can an NMN supplement do for you? Well in short, A LOT! There is no way around this, if you really want to know all of the ins--and-outs of what an NMN supplement can do for you, it’s going to be quite a read. However, we have made this a little easier, as we’ll split this blog up into five sections, each highlighting one of the top NMN benefits. If you’ve got some time to spare, we would recommend reading through every section, but if, for example, you'd just like to learn about how an NMN supplement can help promote energy levels, then just skip to section 2.

Below is a list of all of the benefits we’ll be talking about. We invite you to read them all, or just use the below list, to help guide you to the section you’re interested in!

- May help promote cardiovascular function
- May help promote energy levels
- May help promote sleep quality
- May help promote longevity
- May help promote a positive mood

One of the most evident effects of NMN in research studies are it’s effects on our cardiovascular system and blood flow in general. Within the cardiovascular system, NMN can quickly turn into NAD+, which is a very important molecule for cardiovascular support. NAD+ helps fuel the function of SIRT1, a highly important enzyme which requires NAD+ to function. When SIRT1 gets powered up by NAD+, it puts into motion a large signalling cascade in the cardiovascular system. One of the main results of this signalling cascade is an upregulation in the activity of catalase, which helps neutralize free radicals in the cardiovascular system. Furthermore, the main function of SIRT1 is to remove acetyl groups from various enzymes and protein complexes. This comes in handy in our cardiovascular system as a protein complex in our cardiovascular system called nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (Nf-kB) may produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) when it's p65 domain is acetylated. These ROS can then go on to produce oxidative stress throughout the cardiovascular system. SIRT1 has the ability to remove the acetyl group from the p65 domain of Nf-kB, thereby supporting balanced levels of oxidation in our cardiovascular system by minimizing ROS production.

Via its actions on SIRT1 an NMN supplement may also help promote mitochondrial function in our cardiovascular system. Mitochondria are parts of our cells that help produce energy in the form of ATP. Every cell in our body requires ATP, and so do many enzymes. So, it is very important to maintain peak mitochondrial function. What better way to increase mitochondrial function than by promoting the formation of NEW mitochondria? This is exactly what NMN may pull off! By promoting SIRT1 activity, NMN can remove acetyl groups from an enzyme called Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1a) . When PGC-1a loses an acetyl group, it becomes active and promotes mitochondrial biogenesis. In other words, the birth of new mitochondria!

Furthermore, NMN may also help promote cardiovascular function through different mechanisms than SIRT1. An NMN supplement has the ability to promote glycolysis which can make more ATP available to our cardiovascular system when it is needed.

In terms of blood flow, we have to look towards SIRT1 again. Through promoting SIRT1 function, NMN may be able to promote endothelial function by supporting nitric oxide levels. Nitric oxide helps promote blood flow by inducing vasodilation. SIRT1 helps promote nitric oxide function by supporting lower levels of mitochondrial ROS formation. Mitochondrial ROS formation may have detrimental effect upon nitric oxide function, thus, by supporting lower levels of mitochondrial ROS formation, NMN may be able to help promote blood flow!

Overall, NMN would be a fantastic supplement to take if you are looking to support your cardiovascular function!

One of the things NMN is most widely known for, is its ability to help promote energy levels in both young and older individuals. NMN achieves this via a few different mechanisms and NMN’s energy promoting effects appear to be one of the most consistent and noticeable effects NMN can produce, as it is mentioned in almost every anecdotal report of NMN supplementation.

The science behind NMN’s energy promoting effects is quite fascinating! The first mechanism is actually incredibly simple. The body uses ATP for nearly every process that takes place in the body and NAD+ synthesis is no exception. In fact, the synthesis of NAD+ requires quite a lot of ATP but an NMN supplement can significantly decrease ATP expenditure during NAD+ synthesis. Due to this, NMN may promote levels of available ATP, thereby helping to promote overall energy levels. However, this process only plays a minor role in NMN’s energy promoting effects, and the next effect we will talk about is far more important for NMN’s energy promoting effects!

Studies have shown that an NMN supplement can increase food intake in mice without increasing body weight. Interestingly enough, the mice that were being administered NMN showed higher food intake than the control group, while also having lower body weight than the control group! This is pretty fascinating as these mice were eating more than normal, but also losing weight! The reason this occurs after NMN supplementation is that NMN appears to promote energy metabolism. Basically, the food that these mice were eating was being turned into available energy and this was confirmed by the researchers, as the overall physical activity of the mice being given NMN went up substantially. Furthermore, the mice were also consuming more oxygen, yet their respiratory quotient (volume of carbon dioxide released/volume of oxygen absorbed) decreased. This indicates that the mice were switching over their main energy source from glucose to fatty acids. Overall, this shows that an NMN supplement will allow us to derive more energy from the food we eat. This should lead to higher levels of physical activity and may even help promote weight loss!

This effect on how NMN influences energy metabolism seems to be especially important for healthy aging. It appears that as we get older, we get less efficient at turning food into energy. This may lead to weight gain, and overall low energy levels. Taking an NMN supplement, in theory, would help you more efficiently turn food into energy. This should help promote overall vitality and may even help support weight loss!

Now this is a bit of a strange one, right? Why would an energy promoting supplement also help promote sleep? Well, this is not entirely uncommon. For example we have found that Uridine may help promote energy levels, but it may also help promote sleep quality. This is why we formulated our sleep support formula with Uridine. With NMN however, it is somewhat unclear as to how it is helping promote sleep quality but we do have some solid leads. Fair warning, this is about to get a little bit complex, but this may also be the first time this topic has been discussed in much detail besides loose anecdotal reports.

As we have talked about in some of the other sections, NMN turns into NAD+, and NAD+ is used as a fuel source by Sirtuin signalling proteins. Now it seems that the Sirtuins are highly involved in our circadian rhythm, and likewise NAD+ is also highly involved in our circadian rhythm. In fact, NAD+ levels appear to go up and down in a rhythmic fashion and it appears that this rhythm is being generated by various circadian clock genes. This is where it starts getting interesting, as another circadian rhythm regulator, melatonin, also appears to interact with sirtuins. Melatonin, however, does the exact opposite of NAD+ and instead of activating sirtuins appears to inhibit sirtuins. This appears to be very important for our circadian rhythm as sirtuins control certain aspects of wakefulness, especially SIRT1.

SIRT1 appears to enhance the function of various wakefulness promoting neurons, such as catecholaminergic and orexigenic neurons. With this in mind, it is thought that activation of SIRT1 could lead to wakefulness, with the opposite occurring during inhibition. This is why it is important to note that melatonin appears to be a SIRT1 inhibitor. However, this is where it gets confusing because we are taking NMN to promote NAD+ formation, and NAD+ is a SIRT1 activator. This likely explains to a certain degree the sense of energy and wakefulness you can experience after taking an NMN supplement. However, it does not explain the reports of increased sleep quality that are associated with NMN supplementation. That being said, in almost all anecdotal reports of NMN, there is mention of better sleep quality. So we decided to dig a little bit deeper and found some fascinating information…

When we take NMN, it is quickly transformed into NAD+, which is then used up by sirtuins. In the process of NAD+ getting used up, it forms various metabolites such as nicotinamide. Nicotinamide in particular is important here, as it is an inhibitor of SIRT1, yet it also gets turned back into NMN via the salvage pathway. This regenerated NMN then turns into NAD+ which activates SIRT1. Now this is where circadian control comes into play. During the day, when we supplement with NMN, we will see an elevation in NAD+ levels and SIRT1 activity. We will also see more activity in the salvage pathway that turns nicotinamide back into NAD+, due to there being more available nicotinamide. In the salvage pathway, nicotinamide is turned into NMN by a rate limiting enzyme called nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase (NAMPT). It appears that NAMPT is under strict circadian control, with levels being highest during waking and lowest during sleep. This means that by taking an NMN supplement during the day, we may have higher nicotinamide levels floating around at night when NAMPT activity goes down, which ultimately means less SIRT1 activity due to decreased synthesis of NMN and NAD+. As we talked about earlier, less SIRT1 activity, may also correlate to decreased wakefulness and would go hand in hand with the effects of melatonin. Overall, this is just a theory, however it logically appears to make sense and explains why anecdotal reports all appear to suggest sleep promoting effects after NMN supplementation.