NMN research results in the first half of 2023

 

As a key substance in the anti-aging field, NMN has gradually increased related research in recent years, and its efficacy and safety have been continuously verified. Halfway through 2023, NMN has produced many academic research results, including many human clinical trials!

1. NMN can reduce body weight, cholesterol and blood pressure of overweight people (human trials)

Researchers at Harvard Medical School published a study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showing that NMN can lower total cholesterol, including LDL cholesterol, while lowering blood pressure. The researchers administered 1000mg NMN twice a day to middle-aged and elderly overweight and obese adults for 28 days. It was found that participants who took NMN lost at least 6 pounds compared to those who did not take NMN. Also checking blood cholesterol levels found that NMN lowered total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels and improved heart function.

Figure: NMN lowers cholesterol

2. NMN can improve the sleep quality of middle-aged and elderly people (human experiment)

There are different sleep states such as light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep (REM), but the quality of sleep will decline with age, which will lead to a variety of aging-related diseases.

The research team of Southern University of Science and Technology in China published an article in the American Journal of Translational Medicine and found that NMN can cope with the decline in sleep quality and improve insomnia. The research team conducted a 12-week PSQI test on the sleep status of 29 middle-aged and elderly people aged 45 to 75. It was found that compared with subjects who did not take NMN, subjects taking NMN showed significantly higher scores in the assessment. And the time to fall asleep (sleep latency) also improved in the NMN group. At the same time, the sleep status detected by the smart bracelet (Huawei Band 6) was analyzed, and the deep sleep period and rapid eye movement sleep time of the NMN group increased significantly at night.

Figure: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) total score was significantly lower in the NMN group compared to the control group

3. Fingertip blood test shows NAD+ differences in gender and age (human experiment)

Human NAD+ levels show great heterogeneity, especially for those who do not respond well to traditional NAD+ supplementation therapy, and the lack of rapid and low-cost testing methods greatly limits the establishment of NAD+ baseline and personalized supplementation.

The research team developed an automated NAD+ analyzer to rapidly measure NAD+ levels in 5 μL of fingertip blood using a recombinant bioluminescent sensor protein and an automated optical reader. The technique's minimally invasive analysis allows frequent and discrete mapping of real-world NAD+ dynamics. Further revealing the long-term stability of human NAD+ baseline over 100 days, identifying major real-world behaviors affecting NAD+ levels.

Figure: Experimental process and results

4. NMN can increase serum insulin levels (human trials)

Researchers from Osaka University in Japan published a study in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN that NMN can improve metabolism, cardiovascular disease, nerve health, and muscle insulin sensitivity in women with early diabetes. At the same time, it increases the level of NAD+ in the blood and enhances physical function. The researchers used NMN on 11 healthy adults, taking 250mg NMN per day for three months, and the results showed that the serum insulin level increased by five times, and the level of NMN in the plasma also increased significantly.

Figure: Insulin levels increased fivefold after taking NMN for two months

5. NMN can relieve adipose tissue inflammation

Liu and colleagues from Central South University published an article in Frontiers in Endocrinology showing that injection of NMN can counteract hypoxia-induced scarring (fibrosis) of adipose tissue. At the same time, NMN decreased the levels of inflammatory proteins and increased the abundance of insulin-sensitizing and anti-inflammatory proteins adiponectin. NMN holds promise against obesity, tissue adipose tissue inflammation and fibrosis, and inhibits the accumulation of dysfunctional adipose tissue.

Figure: NMN attenuates adipose tissue fibrosis under hypoxic conditions

6. NMN can prevent nervous system damage

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of disability in adults with high prevalence worldwide. As the most common and serious secondary injury after TBI, nervous system injury determines the prognosis of TBI patients. Secondary injury results from complex pathological responses, including neuronal cell death and inflammation, which cause irreversible brain damage.

The research team of Wuhan University published an article in the International Journal of Medical Sciences that NMN significantly reduced the histological damage, neuronal death, and improved neurological and cognitive deficits in TBI rats. In addition, NMN can significantly inhibit the expression of inflammatory factors.

The research team performed a series of controlled skull impact behaviors on rats to induce traumatic brain injury (TBI), and injected the rats with a single dose of 43.75mg/kg NMN one hour later. Then, the Morris water maze was used to test the time required for the rats to find the escape platform in the water tank. The results showed that NMN-treated TBI rats took much less time to find the escape platform than non-NMN-treated rats, suggesting that NMN-treated TBI rats preserved spatial learning and memory abilities.

These results suggest that taking NMN may be a way to alleviate cognitive dysfunction and neurological damage caused by traumatic brain injury.

Figure: NMN improves spatial learning and memory after TBI

7. NMN can inhibit brain inflammation and restore cognitive ability

An overactive or dysregulated immune system can attack our organs, causing serious damage and, in severe cases of brain inflammation, even cognitive impairment. Publishing in Redox Biology, a research team at the Naval Medical University found that NMN can combat this brain inflammation and restore cognitive performance.

The researchers established a verification model by inducing septic shock in mice and found that there were less NAD+ and SIRT1 in the hippocampus of the mice. After injecting NMN, the contents of NAD+ and SIRT1 both increased, indicating that NMN can enter the brain to increase NAD+ levels and activate SIRT1. Through the Morris water maze test, compared with normal mice, the infected mice took longer to find the escape platform and made more mistakes, while the infected mice after taking NMN took a shorter time, which shows that NMN improves the cognitive ability of mice. And they also found that NMN can combat cognitive impairment caused by inflammation by activating SIRT1.

Figure: NMN combats cognitive impairment caused by inflammation by activating SIRT1

8. The excellent ability of NMN to protect bones in spaceflight

After spaceflight, astronauts' bones are often weak and more prone to fractures, a condition called osteoporosis. In a new study published in Cell Stress & Chaperones, a research team at Xi'an Jiaotong University found that NMN could restore bone mineral density, an indicator of improved bone strength, in a microgravity rat model of spaceflight. Although skeletal NAD+ levels decreased in the microgravity rat model, skeletal NAD+ levels increased in this animal model after administration of NMN. NMN also reduced bone levels of malondialdehyde, a marker of oxidative stress. These findings suggest that NMN restores bone density and NAD+ levels while attenuating destructive bone oxidative stress.

Figure: NMN restores bone mineral density in a microgravity rat model

9. NMN limits the growth and spread of breast cancer

A paper published on Oncogene by a research team from Tsinghua University showed that NMN can limit the growth of TNBC tumors. The researchers injected human TNBC cells into immunodeficient mice and measured tumor volumes. Simultaneously, mice were administered NMN at a dose of 500 mg/kg/day. At 48 days after injection of tumor cells, mice given NMN had tumor volumes reduced by more than 10 percent compared to tumor-bearing mice not given NMN. In addition, NMN inhibited tumor growth and spread in lung tissue. And after injecting cancer cells, NMN extended the median remaining lifespan by about 15%. These results suggest that by preventing the spread of cancer, NMN may extend lifespan after the onset of TNBC.

Figure: NMN can inhibit more than 10% of tumor growth and reduce the spread to the lungs by about half

10. NMN prevents mitochondrial defects caused by chemotherapy

"Chemo brain" is a common side effect of chemotherapy. It refers to cognitive impairment caused by chemotherapy, which is impairment of memory, attention, and information processing. Up to 60% of chemotherapy patients experience chemobrain after treatment.

Mayo Clinic researchers present evidence in Brain Plasticity that NMN can restore mitochondrial function and prevent cognitive impairment. In human neurons, the researchers showed that NMN attenuated cisplatin-induced cellular defects, such as DNA damage. Furthermore, NMN prevents cisplatin-induced disruption of mitochondrial function and structure. These findings elucidate the cellular basis of previous findings showing that NMN attenuates chemotherapy-induced memory loss.

Figure: NMN reduces DNA damage and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS)

 

With the increasing research on NMN, the potential role of NMN is constantly being discovered. How many unknown roles does NMN have as a key substance in the anti-aging field?

*Special note - This article is for informational purposes only and cannot replace a doctor's treatment diagnosis and advice. It should not be regarded as a recommendation or proof of efficacy of the medical products involved. If it involves disease diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, please be sure to go to a professional medical institution to seek professional advice.