There’s a lot of excitement surrounding NMN. Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN to keep it simple) is a fascinating little molecule found in almost all living creatures. As daunting as the name may seem, you don’t need to be a microbiologist to understand the importance of this nucleotide and its role in optimizing your health, particularly as you age.
Let’s learn more about what exactly NMN is and why it’s important.
What Is NMN?
Some researchers believe that NMN may be critical in the growing field of anti-aging medicine.
Nicotine nucleotide is essentially a facilitator for producing NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is a key compound in combating signs of aging and protecting against the DNA damage associated with aging.
Describing the phenomenon of aging as having symptoms might seem odd. But as medical science evolves, so too has its perspective on aging. Within the past few years, the World Health Organization has classified “aging” as a disease.
While the prospect of “curing aging” itself seems straight out of science fiction, believe it or not, there is promising research being done in the field of reducing the symptoms of aging and its accompanying health issues. And there is a growing body of research on healthspan-promoting supplements like NMN that show great promise.
Can NMN Help “Cure” Aging?
As we approach midlife, sometimes as early as age 30, our body simply stops performing at the same level that it did when we were younger. We might get thicker in the middle as our metabolism slows down, and maybe our energy levels just aren’t what they used to be — both common symptoms that accompany this stage in life.
Our declining NAD+ as we age has directed science to consider the role of NMN (an NAD+ precursor) in the overall degeneration of the body over time and how that process can be addressed.
There are a lot of promising studies at the cutting-edge in science that indicate NMN could be a pathway to a steadier, healthier aging process.
How Does NMN Promote Healthy Aging?
Let’s get into how NMN works.
It’s a precursor to NAD+, that aforementioned dinucleotide that has a significant role in metabolism, and whose loss with age and in certain medical conditions, has led scientists to determine it has an active role in aging and age-related diseases.
The initial research on NMN on mice provided an enlightening path for what it can do.
One study had researchers give mice an orally administered NMN supplement through their food over the course of 12 months. Their aim was to see how the supplement affected their ability to produce the NAD+ that helps the body combat aging.
In turn, they could see via metrics like body weight and metabolism how NMN supplements can affect aging by keeping these metrics at a level similar to pre aging mice.
And there was no indication that the supplemental NMN had side effects or drawbacks with all these encouraging results.
NMN Supplements and Mice Physiology
Another study on mice corroborated these prior NMN findings, it’s ability to maintain pre-aging metrics of the body’s metabolism, as well suppression of age-related weight gain. This study focused on how NMN interacted with the microbiome to support the bacteria that live in the gut.
Later in life, as our body weakens, the activity in our microbiome can negatively affect our health as our microbiome loses its vitality. The introduction of NMN in this study highlighted the presence of beneficial microbes in the gut of these mice, which helps to maintain a balance of good and bad bacteria.
How About Humans?
As encouraging as these results appear, you might be asking yourself at this point: how does NMN affect humans?
Well, the same study that analyzed NMN and its effects on the microbiome included a section devoted to the study of telomere length, the compound at the end of chromosomes that can be used as an indicator for the onset of aging. This portion of the study focused on mice as well as human participants.
Researchers examined mice and humans in pre-aging stages, in this case, people under age 60 and mice under 18 months (the corresponding age threshold in the mouse world if you’re curious).
A shorter telomere length indicates the effects of aging. This study concluded that the NMN supplement helped maintain healthy telomere length of both the men and the mice involved.
Long-term Vitality Treatments Like NMN Are Growing in Validity
While the field of longevity and healthspan is still relatively young, research into NMN and other treatments like it are increasingly entering the mainstream.
Leading scientists in the field have backed the benefits of NMN as a supplement for supporting cell survival, glucose metabolism, synthesis of proteins, and DNA repair. The studies thus far have been very encouraging, painted an optimistic picture about the potential of NMN.
Where to Find NMN
People looking to incorporate NMN into their diet can always look at their food intake for a boost. Foods like avocado, broccoli, cabbage, edamame, and cucumbers contain NMN naturally. Vitamin B3 can help you produce both NAD+ and NMN.
You can also consider supplementation‚ including Lifeforce’s clinician-grade Peak NMN™ nutraceutical, so you can get a meaningful concentration of NMN to promote NAD+ production and help combat aging.
Lifeforce Peak NMN™ was formulated with the most stable, long-lasting form of NMN designed to effectively boost and maintain your NAD+ levels. Not only does that help maintain healthy DNA and epigenetic function, it also improves your body’s inflammation response to everyday physical stress.
Wrapping It Up
If you’re curious about NMN and its longevity-promoting properties, we encourage you to ask your physician about how this compound might benefit your health. As with any supplement or diet change, you should always consult a medical professional before getting started.
At Lifeforce, our mission is to provide you with the information, tools, and expert support to make midlife your peak life. Head to MyLifeforce.com for more resources on how you can support your health and performance with the nutrients you need most.
Sources:
NAD+ Metabolism in Cardiac Health, Aging, and Disease | AHA Journals
