The Roots of NAD+ Research

Have you ever noticed how powerful the roots of a tree can be? They can tether a palm tree to withstand a hurricane, split concrete pavement, and burrow deep in the earth to gather groundwater during a punishing drought. 

The roots are the lifeline. But they grow unnoticed, hidden beneath the surface. 

Likewise, your cells are the roots of your health. They work hard to ensure the proper function of your body, unnoticed and unappreciated.  

Luckily, modern science has allowed for discoveries that nourish these strong roots—namely Tru Niagen®, a scientific breakthrough in cell nutrition.  

Tru Niagen® looks after your cell health by supporting NAD+ levels, a vital resource for cellular energy and repair. 

Let’s explore the trailblazers that helped pave the way behind the science of NAD+.

The Mid-1800s 

Louis Pasteur collaborated with French brewers to study the microscopic forces at work during the brewing process. He identified microbes that could cause the beer to spoil and the critical role that yeast played in alcoholic fermentation.  

Pasteur’s discovery was quickly adopted by the wine and beer industries, applying a simple procedure of heating wine to kill these microbes. This later became known as “pasteurization.”  

Although he did not know it at the time, Pasteur’s research on yeast became the basis of NAD+ science today. 

1906 

Arthur Harden and William John Young expanded Louis Pasteur’s discovery of fermentation by cracking open yeast cells and separating the cellular components into two mixtures. One mixture contained the enzymes needed for fermentation, and the other contained several small molecules.  

Without their knowledge, the second small molecule mixture contained NAD+.  

1916 

A vitamin deficiency called pellagra disrupted the nation in the early 1900s. Known as “the black tongue,” pellagra caused symptoms such as dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia in people of all ages.   

Joseph Goldberger, a physician and epidemiologist, had identified pellagra as a nutritional deficiency. Unbeknownst to him, Goldberger’s discovery would pave future in-roads for the first NAD+ booster. 

1929 

A former art student, Hans von Euler-Chelpin, continued Harden and Young’s work. Euler-Chelpin studied the details of the reactions that happened during yeast fermentation.  

Euler-Chelpin was able to essentially “purify” NAD+, credited with uncovering the first insights about NAD+’s chemical shape and properties. 

1936 

A physicist, Otto Heinrich Warburg, had uncovered that NAD+ was an essential part of yet another crucial chemical reaction: hydride transfer.  

Hydride transfers happen any time there’s an exchange of a hydrogen atom and its accompanying electrons.  

Warburg’s research showed that NAD+ accepts a hydrogen atom and its electrons to become NADH. 

1938 

Conrad Elvehjem, an American biochemist, continued Joseph Goldberger’s work on pellagra. Elvehjem found that nicotinic acid, a form of vitamin B3, cured pellagra. 

Nicotinic acid, also known as niacin, would eventually be used as a vitamin supplement to cure pellagra nationwide. Elvehjem’s discovery would help discover the pathway to boost NAD+ using vitamins.  

1948 

Arthur Kornberg, an American biochemist, combined Euler-Chelpin’s and Elvehjem’s work to understand how your body creates NAD+. He separated NAD+ and recombined it with other isolated components, replicating the creation of NAD+.  

Kornberg discovered the first enzyme that builds NAD+ in the body.  

1958 

Jack Preiss and Philip Handler, scientists that delved deeper into Kornberg's work, published a paper illustrating how niacin (nicotinic acid) is converted into NAD+ in three steps and identified the proteins and enzymes responsible for them.  

These steps have been aptly named the Preiss-Handler Pathway.  

1963 

Paul Mandel of the University of Strasbourg’s Institute of Biochemistry identified a reaction that broke NAD+ into two separate parts: nicotinamide and ADP-ribose.  

Mandel's findings helped biochemists understand how essential NAD+ is to fuel cellular energy metabolism. 

2004 

Dr. Charles Brenner, continuing his predecessors’ work on yeast, discovered another pathway to create NAD+.   

Brenner discovered nicotinamide riboside, the active ingredient in Tru Niagen®, as a new form of vitamin B3 and precursor to NAD+. Later studies demonstrated it’s far more efficient at supporting NAD+ levels than other forms of vitamin B3.  

Tru Niagen® has strong roots. 

The path to Tru Niagen® began in a distillery in the 1800s and continues today through groundbreaking research across the globe. ChromaDex External Research Program, the R&D program behind Tru Niagen®, partners with hundreds of the world’s leading academic institutions. These pioneers built the necessary framework to make Tru Niagen® one of the most extraordinary supernutrients in modern science.   

While their science may seem futuristic, the ethos of our scientists remains the same. By preserving the same trailblazing spirit as their predecessors, our scientists hope to unlock the full potential of NAD+ and push the boundaries of aging.   

Learn more about our science. 

6 Lifestyle Habits That Affect Your NAD+ Levels 

Life can be stressful. We’ve all had those tough days where little rewards are necessary. But every time you drink a glass of wine or eat a greasy cheeseburger, your wallet isn’t the only thing forking the bill. Unfortunately, your cells endure a lot of trouble as well.  

These kinds of lifestyle habits can deplete your NAD+, an essential coenzyme your body needs to generate ample energy in your cells.  

NAD+ is a precious molecule, part of a symphony of functions in charge of generating 90% of your body’s energy. And supporting NAD+ levels can help your cells bounce back from life’s indulgences.  

1. Drinking Alcohol 

Processing alcohol in your body is an energy-expensive project, requiring NAD+, especially in your critical liver cells. 

As alcohol enters the body, your body works hard to metabolize and detox. On a cellular level, this requires your mitochondria (microscopic engines in each of your cells) to kick into overdrive.   

However, putting your mitochondria into this state can come with consequences. Like an old coal power plant, this greater need for energy means producing more harmful byproducts. For coal, it’s CO2. But for your body, it’s free radicals. And free radicals can damage your DNA. 

2. Poor Diet 

The adage, “you are what you eat,” rings truer than you think. A healthy, balanced diet can affect how you address damage on a cellular level. Colorful fruits, vegetables, and other foods containing high levels of vitamin E, vitamin C, and other antioxidants can help combat those pesky free radicals. This can also help your NAD+ levels. 

But what you eat isn’t the only thing to worry about. You also need to be careful how you eat.   

Overeating is like adding more coals to the furnace, consuming more fuel that creates more harmful byproducts. And every time you burn more energy, you’re burning through your NAD+ supply.  

3. Excess Sun Exposure  

Harmful UV rays from the sun can change your DNA, causing distortions in its fragile double-helix form. Luckily, your body comes prepared when such disasters strike, deploying DNA repair enzymes to take care of the damage. 

But the only problem is that these repair enzymes are gas-guzzling machines, depleting your NAD+ every time they are sent out on the job.  

4. Over-Training Your Muscles 

After you’re done with your workout, you may feel like the hard work is over. Exercise alone requires a lot of energy, utilizing NAD+ to help fuel your muscles’ ability to contract and expand. But your cells are also tasked with repairing the cellular damage caused by your hard-earned workout.  

Every time your body needs to send out your repair enzymes, it costs you NAD+. And if you’re an athlete, you’re putting your cells through this stress more frequently than most.  

5. Sedentary Habits 

Your mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, and they are adaptable machines. Unfortunately, if they notice you’re not moving around much, they’ll start to reduce their numbers.  

It costs too much cellular energy to have dormant, unused power factories just sitting around, so your mitochondria get rid of the bloat. Fewer mitochondria mean less NAD+.  

6. Sleep Disruption 

Sleep is the most restorative activity you can do for your body. Your cells go through a crucial repair phase every time your head hits the pillow. Repair enzymes work all night to clean up the damage from the day. 

But on those nights you have trouble counting sheep, this all-important repair mechanism is disrupted. And these repair enzymes have to work overtime to make up the difference.  

Unfortunately, when your repair enzymes work during your waking hours, it’s like trying to do road construction during rush hour. The work is done inefficiently, consuming more NAD+ with little payoff. 

NAD+ supporting supplements give a helping hand. 

Taking an NAD+ boosting supplement is like sending in the calvary for your cells. They provide much-welcomed assistance in combating the cellular stress caused by alcohol consumption, poor diet, excess sun exposure, over-training, sedentary living, and sleep disruption.  

By taking daily Tru Niagen®, you can help protect your cells against these habits every day you take it. Let your supercharged cells worry about the small things so that you can focus on the big things in life. 

How Is Cellular Energy Different from Caffeine?

Caffeine is the most popular stimulant in the world, and its positive effects are undeniable. The immense focus and energy are immediate. You feel it boosting your every action and move with intention and determination. It’s what drives Americans to drink about 400 million cups of coffee every day.  

But caffeine isn’t a rose without its thorns. Caffeine may help you with your daily grind (pun intended), but it provides only temporary respite from the onslaught of fatigue that you’re tempering.  

Yes, it gives you energy. But it’s like you're making a deal with the devil, trading the energy you need later to boost the energy you need now. It’s a zero-sum game. The inevitable crash that follows is always looming.  

The energy you get from Tru Niagen®, on the other hand, is, well, different. It’s not an eight-ounce cup of drive and alertness. It provides a boost in cellular energy. Using a patented super-nutrient, Tru Niagen® supports the natural energy in your body created through cell metabolism.  

We’ll explain. 

Caffeine literally blocks sleepiness. 

Chemically, caffeine has a similar structure to adenosine, a naturally occurring molecule in your brain that helps you get sleepy as the day winds down.  

Adenosine’s job is to look for adenosine receptors, their perfect mate. But caffeine molecules block these adenosine receptors by placing themselves in between adenosine and their match made in science.   

Your adenosine receptors don't know the difference between caffeine molecules and adenosine. Once the receptors bind to these frauds (caffeine), it makes you feel more alert and awake. 

But eventually, the caffeine molecules unbind from the adenosine receptors because all molecule relationships inevitably end. You get sleepy again, and you might even experience an inability to concentrate, irritability, or headaches—commonly known as the caffeine crash. 

Energy lies within your cells. 

If you could boil down energy into one molecule, it would be ATP (also known as adenosine triphosphate.)  

You can trace back how ATP is produced in your body to these tiny organic power plants in your cells known as the mitochondria. The mitochondria are responsible for generating over 90% of your body’s energy. 

Scientists learned that mitochondria are the key to finding a more natural solution to creating more energy in your body. Research showed that any inefficiencies in the mitochondria would generate less energy in the cell. These dysfunctions could even contribute to ageing.  

Tru Niagen® boosts your cellular energy. 

Tru Niagen® uses a patented super-nutrient that supports cellular energy production.  

Research shows that our microscopic power plants (the mitochondria) require a vital resource known as NAD+ to maintain their function. Our scientists found a way to boost this resource up to 50% after two weeks.  

NAD+ is like the engine oil to your mitochondria. Without it, these cellular engines could not produce energy smoothly and efficiently.  

Tru Niagen® is about the long haul.  

Tru Niagen® isn’t a stimulant. It’s not about the quick fix that caffeine brings you. Instead, Tru Niagen® builds energy on the foundational level—deep in your cells. It rejuvenates your cells, supporting more youthful cellular function. 

If caffeine is like patching a hole in a tire, Tru Niagen® is replacing the tire completely. Energy is a long-term problem that requires long-term solutions like Tru Niagen®. 

And best of all, there’s no crash.