Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide is known as NAD. It is a co-enzyme that is produced by our bodies naturally and plays a crucial part in every cell in the body’s metabolism and energy generation. Our bodies create the structure of this unique molecule by mixing derivatives of vitamin B-3 with the amino acid tryptophan. Without NAD, our bodies and cells cannot survive.
You can move, breathe, pump blood, digest food, think, and generally live your life thanks to a molecule called NAD that interacts with oxygen in the mitochondria of every cell in your body to produce cellular energy (ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, the body’s fundamental energy molecule). It performs over 100 metabolic tasks in the human body, therefore it’s not surprising that it has a direct role in diseases that influence cellular ageing, physical and mental health, and other problems.
It is now understood that the absence of this vital cellular fuel is a major contributing factor in chronic fatigue, apathy, depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug addiction, weakened immune function (infections and cancer), muscle pain and weakness, headaches, memory impairment, sleep issues, focus and concentration issues, and other chronic diseases.
Some of the functions of NAD in the body include:
- Increases brain cell energy
- Improves mood by stimulating the synthesis of dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline
- Increases cardiac cell energy
- Reduces DNA abnormalities that cause diseases including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, immune weakness, and atherosclerosis by protecting and repairing DNA
- According to Dr. Richard Passwater in his book NADH-The Energising Coenzyme, NADH is the body’s “most potent antioxidant.”
- Lowers cholesterol
- Lowers blood pressure
- Strengthens the immune system
- Stimulates the synthesis of nitric oxide, which improves blood flow in the body