NAD+ Helps Restore Age-Related Muscle Deterioration

Raising your NAD+ level and keeping it high has many important health benefits By YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock

If you don’t engage this inner bulldog, you can expect to drop about 15% of your muscle mass between your 30s and 80s, leading to a debilitating condition called sarcopenia.

• Several studies have proposed that mitochondrial dysfunction in your motor neurons drive the development of sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss)
• Scientists recently discovered that Alzheimer’s-like protein aggregates (amyloid beta) underlie the muscle deterioration commonly seen in aging, and that nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is essential for combating this condition
• When the NAD+ salvage pathways in muscle are impaired, mitochondrial dysfunction and decreased muscle mass ensue
• NAD+ boosting molecules such as nicotinamide riboside (NR), nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), nicotinamide (a form of vitamin B3 or niacin) and nicotinic acid (niacin) have been shown to protect against age-related muscle disease
• NMN appears to be the best, as it activates the NAD+ salvage pathway and is a direct precursor to NAD+. Lifestyle strategies such as exercise, sauna bathing, fasting, recalibrating your circadian rhythm and avoiding excessive EMFs and alcohol will also address low NAD+

The tendency is to lose muscle as you age, a condition known as sarcopenia. If you don’t do anything to stop it you can expect to lose about 15% of your muscle mass between your 30s and your 80s.(1)An estimated 10% to 25% of seniors under the age of 70 have sarcopenia and as many as half those over the age of 80 are impaired with it.(2)