132: How to Safely Take Nicotinamide Riboside for Anti-Aging

Introduction

Nicotinamide riboside (NR) is the best form of niacin to take for anti-aging benefits.

BUT… it could sap your creatine supply, making you weaker, hurting your digestion, or causing you to get depressed.

AND it could mess with your dopamine, giving you “sticky brain” syndrome, causing negative thoughts and emotions to get stuck in your mind.

How do we protect against this? It all comes down to dose, frequency, timing it with meals, and making sure you have enough methyl donors.

Tune in for the details.

Here’s a massive 2-part podcast series I did on niacin with Alex Leaf, which has 52 scientific references:

Niacin Part 1: What It Is and Why You Need It

Niacin Part 2: Blood Tests, Foods, and Supplements

I don’t have an affiliate relationship with Niagen, but I have one with Amazon, and if you would like to purchase the recommended product in a way that offers me a small commission to support the free work I put out at no extra cost to you, you can use this link:

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/amazon/niagen 

Here’s a Twitter exchange I had with Charles Brenner, who patented and distributes that product, in which he ignored all my points about creatine: 

Chris Masterjohn @ChrisMasterjohn

Charles, your own studies — the ones you conducted on your own product — show MASSIVE excretion of methylated niacin metabolites after taking nicotinamide riboside. academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-a… ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27721…

Charles Brenner, PhD @CharlesMBrenner

@chance__abbott @ChrisMasterjohn it was a perfectly good question for @ChrisMasterjohn to ask but the human body's methyl system is very well buffered against #nicotinamideriboside

 

Charles Brenner, PhD @CharlesMBrenner

@ChrisMasterjohn we've done the experiment with 8 weeks of daily 1 g NR. Had NR disturbed 1-carbon metabolism, we would have seen it. SAM is the methyl donor for creatine formation in the liver

 

The studies Brenner conducted showing NR causes massive excretion of methyl groups: 

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/108/2/343/5051210 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27721479/ 

My original video, Why You Should Be Careful With Niacin and Nicotinamide Riboside:

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/07/26/careful-niacin-nicotinamide-riboside/ 

Start Here for MTHFR and Methylation: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/methylation 

Listen to the Audio

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