Skip to content
NAD Prescribed

A broadsheet reading of the NAD+ literature, filed under precursors — the human NMN and NR trials that actually raised blood NAD+, what the numbers were, and where oral 'NAD+' and the IV drip part company from the evidence.

Your questions / Help with benefits and risks

What NAD+ can change, and what remains uncertain

Clinics offer specially made NAD+ shots and drips hoping to help patients. Strong proof of better health hasn’t followed. Pill studies chiefly showed changes in blood.

Read the findings in peopleLook up the studies

What NAD+ pills and shots haven’t proved for you

Pill teams hoped to restore lost NAD+ by giving vitamin-related ingredients, since little swallowed NAD+ can reach your body without the substance first being broken into smaller chemical parts [9]. Drips have little strong proof, and harmful bacterial material led to the recall of one shot mixture [8]. People generally tolerated the vitamin-related pills, though health gains weren’t as clear as blood rises [8][14]. For myself, I’d want proof about the exact pill or shot offered before agreeing to treatment.

What weeks of daily pills showed about safety

NR studies reached 2,000 milligrams daily for 20 weeks without serious side effects [8]. NMN tests followed people for up to 24 weeks. You can take reassurance about those tested pills, but the tests don’t cover years of use. Bottles vary in the amount of the ingredient and unwanted substances they hold [8], so a trial can’t promise your bottle’s safety.

What NMN studies found about weight gain

After NMN, women who had raised blood sugar showed improved muscle response to insulin [1]. This hormone travels through blood and helps muscles draw in sugar. The amount of muscle and fat didn’t change; a 2023 review also found no change across several tests [8]. You don’t have evidence of weight gain from these NAD+-raising pills.

What a NAD injection is and why its mixture needs checking

An NAD injection is a shot of NAD+; a drip delivers NAD+ through a vein. A clinic’s specially made NAD+ mixture needs a licensed clinician’s prescription and has no FDA approval. Excess harmful material from bacteria prompted a recall of one mixture in the FDA’s most serious risk category [8]. Plasma is the fluid that blood cells float in; added NAD+ doesn’t remain there long [14], so your clinic needs to explain safety and evidence of benefit.

What NAD+ studies haven’t settled about shot schedules

Researchers haven’t established a schedule that makes NAD+ shots effective. Strong tests would assign people by chance to NAD+ or a matching treatment without NAD+, then compare health changes. The specially made mixtures lack much evidence from tests of that kind [14]. Ask what supports the timing your clinic offers, because a schedule alone doesn’t prove benefit.

What early fertility findings haven’t proved in people

Early work before human trials prompted claims about NAD+ helping fertility. The cited human studies haven’t proved that NAD+ or related pills help someone conceive. Researchers still need to test that benefit in people. If you’re weighing such a claim, the early findings don’t establish that the treatment helps people conceive.

How the tested pill affects what you can infer about safety

People generally tolerated the vitamin-related pills tested for raising NAD+ [4][8]. Excess harmful bacterial material prompted the recall of a specially made shot mixture [8]. Pill bottles can vary in both the amount of the ingredient and unwanted substances. Ask which product was tested; you can’t rely on one pill’s safety result for a clinic’s different mixture.

What NAD+ changes through the day haven’t told us about timing

Your body’s work of making NAD+ varies through the day [9]. Researchers ask whether those daily changes could affect the results from a pill. Tests haven’t established a best time in the morning or at night. Neither time has been proved better for you.

What’s known about how long drip discomfort lasts

A fast NAD+ drip can briefly cause hot, red skin, nausea, or chest or belly pressure [14]. Reports don’t establish a usual duration in minutes or hours, so ask your clinic what happens if you feel unwell. Pill researchers couldn’t show more side effects from the tested ingredient than from placebo pills made without that ingredient [4][8]. You can’t judge the length of drip discomfort from those pill results.