Many camps here! This is getting fun 🙂
Two different supplements: nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). Both backed by good science & scientists (one camp is shilling a supplement while the other camp is selling books, which I don’t really care about) (the social media war is, however, hilarious).
Both precursors appear equally effective in the rodent studies and I expect this to cross over when NMN finally has human studies.
BIG difference that nobody is really talking about is TISSUE SPECIFICITY.
1st problem: commentators were talking about NR/NMN as if it passed from your gullet directly to the liver. NR would be absorbed directly; NMN would be dephosphorylated to NR, absorbed, get re-phosphorylated back to NMN then converted to NAD+.
[insert Slc12a8 image here]
Since NMN and NR cost the same, this doesn’t really matter. Right?
Supp manufacturers just thought that since NMN was one step closer to NAD+, it might make a better precursor. But if it’s converted to NR prior to absorption, who cares?
And if the liver just releases niacinamide (NAM) to the rest of the body, WHO CARES?
THE PLOT THICKENS
This becomes relevant with all the different preparations on the market — intranasal, sublingual, regular oral (NR/NMN), NAD+ directly, and why can’t I just save a ton of money and use NAM instead! Relevant, yes. And interesting. I’ll summarize…
Have you tried any of these? Let us know in the comments 🙂
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