Wisdom Wednesdays: Should the 'longevity molecules' NMN and NR be on your supplement list?

they are both precursors to what's called NAD plus nicotinamide adenanine dye nucleotide, which is a bit of a mouthful, but NAD plus is basically a molecule that is critical for cellular energy and lots of different bodily function. Now, research suggests that some that these two supplements can be very beneficial in animal models for a range of age

related diseases. And the reason that's purported is that our NAD levels kind of fall off a cliff in midlife, and some researchers and particularly social media influencers and think that taking na D and n R or sorry, NMN and NR are ways to offset that decline and to improve our quality of life. Now, NM and supplementation has been shown to improve metabolic function, increase endurance, and protect against cognitive decline in animal models and potentially could and

contribute to increase lifespan and health span. And some studies again animal studies suggest that NMN can improve muscle strength and exercise capacity. NR has also shown some promise in animal models, with studies demonstrated and its ability to improve mitochondrial function, reduce inflammation, and protect against age related diseases. And it's also been shown NR and again in animal

models to improve blood pressure and benefit skeletal muscle. And there's been a couple of small studies in humans sing that NR may improve blood pressure. But I wanted to focus in today on the idea of muscle strength and function because a lot of these influencers are saying that NMN and NR can actually preserve your muscle strength and your function and can offset syclopenia, which I've talked about numerous times. That's that loss of bone and muscle that

happens when we age. But what does the research say in humans? This is critical. Now, there is established research in animal models, but there has recently been released a systematic review and meta analysis of ten randomized control trials. Right, so picking the well designed studies and they look at supplementation with NMN and NR and looking at muscle strength and physical function in older adults. Right, So, little bit of background, and we talked about cyclopedia that loss of

muscle as you age has a multitude of negative consequences both for lifespan, how long you live, and particularly for your health span your quality of life. And we know that low muscle mass and strength, known as scyclopenia, worsens mobility, worsens quality of life, and increases the risk of our

whole host of chronic diseases. And we know that that low muscle mass and strength as well as increasing a risk of falls, which are the fifth and sixth biggest killer of people in their sixties and seventies, and they also contribute to things like cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. So there obviously is a lot of interest in identifying any factors that can mitigate or offset

aging associated muscle loss. And as I said, some researchers have proposed that muscle loss during aging can is partly due to a result of decline in the levels of NMN or sorry, NAD plus, and that replenishing NAD plus through NMN and n R because you can't take and if you take NAD plus, it's just a dried by

your gut. So the theory is NMN and NR are precursors, they're converted into NAD plus and they do survive your gut, and so taking these things might help to mitigate and the muscle loss. So what did the study find. What they did is they looked, as I said, at a number of randomized control trials. Three of these trials looked at skeletal muscle mass index. Three of them looked at hand grip strength, which is a proxy for your overall strength and there's actually a very strong predictor of how

long you're going to live. Four of them looked at gate speed walking speed. That again is a strong predictor in older adults of how long they're going to live. They also two of the studies looked at and they sit to stand at five times performance tests that's a test of leg strength and older adults. They also one of the studies looked at thirty seconds sit the stand performance how often you can do that in thirty seconds? Another study measured knee extension strength. Another study and did

a short physical performance battery. Another study looks at chess press one r M, and another one looked at leg press, and then another study looked at thigh muscle mass. Right, So this is between the ten studies that obviously quite a few of them did a number of these different things and what they found in this systematic review in NETA analysis, no effect zero had no impact on any

of those different variables that we talked about. And then there were looking at side that was the studies looking at NMN and then for n R supplementation looking at the randomized control studies. Of those, two of them looked at six minute walking distance. That's a measure of euer aerobic capacity. Again when you're an older adult, a significant

predictor of how long you're going to live. Two of the studies had a short physical performance battery, two of them looked at hand grip strength, and two of them looked at the five times sit to stand test, and basically there were very little effects. One of them showed improved performance in the six minute walking distance. But I've actually looked at that study that was in an industry sponsored study, so you always have to be worry of

these things. The other study showed no effect. And this is what we have to see is consistency across studies and particularly of positive effects. If you're thinking that things are going to be beneficial. In the short physical performance battery, there was no effect in one study and performance actually worsened in another study. The hand grip strength no impact. And then the five time sit to stand tests for NR less improvement than the placebo in one study and

no effect in another study. So basically what this systematic review and meta analysis of randomized control trials. And that's critical because there are other bits of research out there that are typically sponsored by industry that are showing beneficial effects of NMN and NAR on physical function in adults, but they're very small studies and they're industry sponsored, and they're not randomized control trials, so not quality evidence. So

what does this tell us? Well, look for me, I think it's pretty clear right here that the current evidence does not support a positive effect of either NMN or NR supplementation on muscle health or physical function in older adults.

And now having said that, and there is a possibility that the doses may not have been enough in these studies, So it can't rule list off out completely, especially because they've been seen in animal studies, but and not all animal studies translate over to humans, and there could be that there are other effects of NMN and NR on

metabolic function and things like that. And however, and for me, the evidence just is not there at the minute, and it's certainly not there at the level that you will see all of these influencers tighting about how brilliant NMN is in NR is and how it's transformed their lives, and we just do not have the evidence of that yet. My take on this, I am keeping an eye on it because I think this is an interesting space. There's

good theoretical stuff behind both of these supplements. I know that na D plus when that drops off, does have significant effects, and we do see benefits in animal studies. But for me, the research is just not there. And if you're going to spend your dollars on supplementation, I would definitely be prioritizing vitamin D supplementation and AMIGA three fatty acids. And if you want more detail on that, just listen to the podcast that I did last Saturday.

So the podcast before this with Amelia Phillips were we dive into the research around those two supplements of randomized control trials and it is pretty astounding. So for me,

let's get the basics right. Let's get the fundamentals right of doing your exercise, eating well, sleeping well, then adding in things that could evidence be of stuff such as vitamin D and Amiga three fatty acids, and then just hold the rest of your money in your pocket, particularly when it comes to NMN and n R until you see better advice, because it just might be that you're spending your money on expensive piss one