For the first time, a researcher at the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences in collaboration with a team at the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, has determined that the naturally occurring dietary supplement known as Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) can enter the brain.
The researchers determined that NAD+ levels went up in the brain after six weeks.
Oral (NR) supplementation (500 mg, 2x /day, 6 weeks).
They measured NAD+ directly in tiny particles called extracellular vesicles that originated from neurons and ended up in the blood. These extracellular vesicles can provide cutting-edge blood-based biomarkers for brain disorders and serve as a "liquid biopsy" of neurons, giving researchers a rare look at what's inside them.
They state that now they can start to determine whether NAD+ increases in other tissues as well, and that's likely where the more important signal will be in terms of resolving diseases like, Alzheimer's, Dementia, and Parkinson's.