NAD+ is the molecule the longevity supplement industry was built on. Here is every guide we have written on it, and what the human trials actually measured.
NAD+ is a coenzyme every cell needs to make energy and repair DNA, and its levels fall as people get older. That single observation created an entire supplement category: if the molecule drops, the pitch goes, top it back up. The precursors sold for that purpose are NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) and NR (nicotinamide riboside), and they are among the few longevity compounds with real randomised, placebo-controlled human data behind them.
What those trials show is narrower than the marketing. Taking NMN or NR does reliably raise NAD+ in human blood, and in at least one trial in skeletal muscle tissue. That part is reproducible. What happens downstream is where the picture gets honest: a handful of studies report small gains in walking distance, insulin sensitivity or blood pressure, several well-run trials found nothing measurable, and no human trial has shown that either compound slows aging or extends lifespan.
The guides below work through that evidence piece by piece - the underlying biology, the difference between NMN and NAD+, what the largest dose-ranging trial measured, how to read a supplement label, and the two related molecules most often sold alongside them, resveratrol and urolithin A. Every claim is cited to peer-reviewed research, and each guide follows our editorial and fact-checking policy. None of it is medical advice.
Related topics: Longevity supplements · Longevity science, basics and biological age
NMN or NR, how much they raise NAD+, side effects and how to pick a brand - what human trials actually measured, not the mouse hype.
Resveratrol was sold as the lifespan molecule in red wine. Here's the honest story of the sirtuin hypothesis and what human trials actually found.
Urolithin A is a gut-made pomegranate metabolite that triggers mitophagy. Here's what the human trials actually show — and why only ~40% of us make it.
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