The “Golden Key”, NMN Pushes Open the Door to Anti-Aging
In 2014, Professor David Sinclair, director of Harvard Medical School, Centre of Biology of Ageing Research, first discovered that NMN can significantly reverse aging and extend lifespan (1/3 of overall lifespan in animal experiments). Sinclair was then named the “Top 100 most influential people in the world” by Times magazine.
Since then, almost 1000 research papers in world’s top journals such as “Cell” and “Nature” have revealed important breakthroughs in the field of aging for NMN, a NAD+ precursor.
1. What is NMN?
NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) is a precursor of NAD+, a cofactor to longevity proteins. NMN’s function is mainly reflected through NAD+, who is an indispensable coenzyme responsible of hundreds of enzymes pathways in the human body, including longevity proteins, and leading hundreds of life activities and pathways.
2. Can NMN Really Reverse Aging?
Professor David Sinclair published several papers confirming the efficacy of NMN in reversing aging, one of the most significant finding include: physiological indicators of 22 months old mice (equivalent to 60 years old in humans), returned to levels of 6 months old mice (equivalent to 20 years old in humans), after NMN injection.
Since the discovery of anti-aging properties in NMN, scientific research institutions such as University of Washington, Harvard Medical School, Keio University and Hiroshima University have invested in NMN research. A large number of scientific research and animal experiments have found that NMN can be quickly converted into NAD+, where it contributes to a series of anti-aging effects, specifically: anti-aging of the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, and other organs, improve female ovarian aging, spermatogenesis, anti-aging of the brain, nervous system, improve intestinal flora, alleviate high blood sugar, cardiovascular problems, weight management, reproductive health, and so on.
Exploring the path of scientific anti-aging, we seem to have found the entrance, but is this “golden key” that opens the door to anti-aging safe?
3. Does NMN supplementation have any side effects?
A paper published in journal “Endocrine” in February 2020 show the results of a clinical study conducted in Japan, on the safety of NMN in humans – a single oral administration of 100, 200 and 500mg of NMN daily by Japanese male are safely and effectively metabolised in the body without harmful effects.
In April 2021, the authoritative academic journal “Science” published the first official clinical trial of NMN – overweight or obese females aged 55-75 years old took 250mg of NMN per day for 10 weeks, results showed an increased insulin sensitivity, with no adverse reactions or side effects.
At present, there are more than a dozen clinical research results on NMN published, participants being men and women, healthy and with underlying diseases (such as prediabetes), aged ranging approximately 20-70, NMN dosage from 100mg-2000mg daily – no toxicity or side effects have been found.
4. Will a dependence develop from NMN supplementation？
NMN is an endogenous substance, inherent to the human body and thus will not have adverse effects.
Research by Professor Imai Shinichiro of the University of Washington was published in the academic journal “Cell Metabolism” in 2016 showed that many natural foods also contain NMN. However, NMN in food sources are in trace amounts, and the dosage of NMN supplements are much larger.
5. What is the Optimal Dosage, the More the Merrier?
The demand for NMN various between individual, the adaptability to supplement is also different. It is recommended to start with a small amount and then gradually increase to a dosage suitable for your own body.
From clinical study data, even 1000-2000mg daily intake of NMN is safe, but from the perspective of effect and cost performance, it is recommended to take 200-600mg per day.
On the other hand, many clinical studies are designed with the daily dosage of around 200mg, which has shown to have many positive effects. Moreover, a 2021 clinical study on exercise capacity in healthy people found that 600mg NMN supplementation daily resulted in better outcome than 1200mg
Not only has NMN been prominent in the field of anti-aging, it has also reached a higher threshold for R&D and production in industrialisation.
6. Identifying “Effective” NMN
NMN is divided into β-NMN and α-NMN. Although they may look very similar, their biological activity is different: β-NMN is bioactive, α-NMN is not; essentially, β-NMN is one that actually works.
Regardless of the production process, each batch of NMN raw material will produce both β-NMN and α-NMN. Therefore, simply a high purity of NMN does not mean that it is effective, a proven high β-NMN content is necessary.
7. Is NMN labelled 99.9% purity realistic？
Many NMN available in the market claims to have a NMN purity of up to 99.9%, but not all NMN with such claims is really high in purity.
In the production of NMN, substances with high similar molecular structures such as NR (nicotinamide ribose), NA (niacinic acid), NAM (nicotinamide) are also produced. Without effective screening of these substances, all of these molecules will display as NMN during normal profile detection, giving a “false” high purity level, but not high NMN content. With present understanding, biological enzyme synthesis is the most advanced and effective method of production in the market.
8. Don’t blindly follow the crowd when it comes to NMN
NMN products in the market varies from over HKD20000 to as cheap as HKD500, one must choose rationally. The use of cutting-edge biological enzyme technology in production can ensure purity, while reducing cost.
The NMN product market is currently blooming, but with the popularisation and increased sales of the market, could lead to potential consumer health hazards and other problems. Standing at the cusp of the nutritional health industry, we hope to brew a wholesome future for “anti-aging” products with rigorous scientific research results.
