NAD+ IV Therapy in Toronto and Oakville, Ontario

NAD+ stands for ‘Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide’, a powerfully transformed product of vitamin B3 (niacin) that is present in every cell in your body. NAD+ is a coenzyme– what’s a coenzyme? It’s the partner-in-crime of enzymes. Enzymes are responsible for creating and using resources in your body. Every single function of the body, from growing hair to digesting, requires an enzyme to take place.

After reading the long list of ways in which NAD+ could benefit your health, you may be thinking– how on earth does one little molecule accomplish so much?

NAD+ fuels metabolic reactions and drives your cells to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids. NAD+ is the most important molecule for oxidation/reduction reactions (ie. redox reactions). As our understanding of the body has progressed, NAD+ has been recognized as one of the most vital compounds in the body whose role extends to metabolic regulation, gene regulation, cellular health and immune health [1,3,4].

NAD+ is effectively the oil that runs every engine in the body and it creates our fuel sources. The more miles we get, the lower the oil levels become.

The uncertainties of life that give our journey substance, depth and knowledge impact our NAD+ levels as we age. Our stores of NAD+ naturally decrease due to age, stress (free radicals!), cellular dysfunction, chronic inflammation and immune activation [1].

NAD+ IV Therapy is like an oil change for your body. 

NAD+ is both responsible for the consumption and creation of resources in the body. It uses and creates ATP, the ENERGY resource of the cell. Our bodies naturally reuse and recycle our NAD+ (we’re 100% sustainable, but not 100% efficient!). Through higher levels of output than we can stand, our NAD+ levels deplete. NAD+ plays a key role in maintaining balance within the body [1,3,4].

Keeping oil levels up and healthy is crucial to your health and wellness!

It’s important to note that nutrient deficiencies can cause NAD+ deficiencies. A severe case of NAD+/ Niacin deficiency is called Pellagra, which results in delusions or mental confusion, diarrhea, weakness, loss of appetite, pain in the abdomen and scaly skin sores [1].

Similar to Scurvy, Pellagra is a disease of the past that we were able to cure by supplementing Vitamin B3 (Niacin) rich foods into our diets. However, it does highlight the importance of nutritional therapy as an adjuvant therapy when administering NAD+.

NAD+ and Aging

The Bionics of Aging

As we age, our cells naturally deplete in NAD+ stores. Our cells require adequate amounts of NAD+ to function efficiently, much like oil levels in a car. Our bodies can intelligently restore NAD+ levels from the foods that we eat, but sometimes, it isn’t enough. Understanding what depletes our NAD+ levels can serve as a tool to help us understand how to treat our bodies as we age.

Chronic stress causes free radical formation, increasing toxic load. The body uses NAD+ to help clear itself of this toxic load by helping to recycle Glutathione [1,3,4]. Glutathione is the most important antioxidant in the body (antioxidants clear free radicals). NAD+ is also used by multiple pathways that regulate chronic immune activation, inflammation and free radical production [1].

Senescence is an important aspect of the aging process: it describes a cell that hasn’t died, but stops working, which plays a role in the development of wrinkles and dark under-eye circles. NAD+ decreases senescence in cells by optimizing cell functioning and protecting cells from damage1. This protection also keeps a few things under control– like PARP [1]. PARP is a protein that is released under conditions of excessive DNA damage, UV light, stress, inflammation and chronic immune activation.

How can IV NAD+ Therapy affect the aging process?

• Cleans up free radicals and recycles antioxidants
• Increasing cellular health and longevity via Sirtuin proteins. Sirtuins are a family of epigenetic gene regulators that use NAD+ to function. Sirtuins have shown to promote cellular longevity and may hold the key to slowing the development and signs of aging. There are several different types of sirtuins in the cell that have different responsibilities: some regulate gene expression to either slow or stop cellular aging, others optimize the mitochondria, while another prevents cancer formation by telling your cells when it’s time to protect (antioxidants) or eject (apoptosis) [1].
• NAD+ both increases energy (ATP production) and the health, longevity and abundance of your mitochondria. The mitochondria is known as the ‘powerhouse’ of the cell where ATP is created. As we age, our mitochondria becomes less efficient and we produce less ATP.
• Increases the strength of your vascular system, thus allowing your tissues to get better blood supply, oxygen, nutrients and growth factors required for healthy cellular functioning [1,4,5].
• Increases detoxification, allowing your cells to function optimally by reducing toxins and debris that cause cellular stress1.

NAD+ and Neurodegenerative Conditions

NAD+ has been found to serve essential functions in the brain. Harnessing the therapeutic potential of NAD+ could play a major role in the prevention and treatment of many Neurodegenerative conditions [1,3,4,6]

Depletion of NAD+ in the brain has been linked to several types of Neurodegenerative Conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, among others– and studies supplementing NAD+ as a therapy have shown positive results [1,3,4,6].

NAD+ has also been found to have neuroprotective properties, meaning that it protects brain cells from death due to toxicity. A study showed that NAD+ decreases the activity of certain proteins in the brain that are responsible for chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation in the brain leads to brain cell death and ultimately damage to the brain [4].

The brain is also damaged by reduced oxygen availability– when oxygen is restricted to the brain, the cells die in response to the stress. The pathway in which NAD+ is involved has been found to protect the brain from low levels of oxygen and even help the brain recover [1]. Stroke is an event in which the brain has limited oxygen supply and the results can be permanently damaging. In fact, stroke is the world-leading cause of disability in adulthood4. A study showed that NAD+ therapy in mice recovering from stroke significantly increased their recovery and reduced permanent brain damage [4].

NAD+ and Cancer Research 

Research in the area of NAD+ therapy and Cancer is currently evolving rapidly. The evidence currently suggests that in most cases, NAD+ may promote progression of tumor growth in active cancers1. Alternatively, NAD+ has been shown to prevent cancer by reducing cancer-promoting proteins, meanwhile increasing the bodies’ ability to fight off cancer and disease [1].

How could NAD+ increase tumor growth? Through inactivating a tumour suppressor gene and causing DNA instability in cancer cells1. NAD+ decreases the activity of PARP. PARP increases the activity of a tumour suppressor gene, p53. In a study involving hamsters, it was found that cells deficient in PARP failed to activate the p53 gene (failure to activate tumor suppressor gene).  In this case, it was found that inhibition of PARP resulted in DNA instability, increasing the risk of cancer formation1.

There is some evidence to suggest that NAD+ could help sensitize tumours to chemotherapy and radiotherapy [1]. However, there were some large limitations to this study. The study did not use IV NAD+ therapy. Instead, they used an oral dose of 3-6g of NAM. NAM is similar to NAD+ and when ingested, some of it converts to NAD+. Another limitation of this study was that it would be impossible to reach the concentration of NAM in the blood of a human in order to achieve the same results.

There is evidence that NAD+ could be effective in the prevention of cancer. 

Several studies have shed light on the fact that NAD+ plays a role in preventing cancer.

NAD+ can help prevent damage to your cells. When DNA is damaged by cellular stress, a replication mistake, or UV light, a DNA strand break may occur. If this isn’t properly repaired, cancerous cells could begin to form. Adequate levels of NAD+ in the cell can help the DNA repair process and protect your cells [1,3,4,6].

NAD+ can help your body find and destroy cancerous cells. Our immune systems are equipped to eliminate cancerous cells, so long as our immune systems are strong enough to do so. Immune system strength waines the less energy it has to function– adequate levels of NAD+ help to increase our immune system’s ability to find cancer cells [1,3,4,6,8].

NAD+ can reduce inflammation. Several studies have shown that chronic inflammation plays a central role in the development of cancer [1,3,4,6,8]. There are several reasons why chronic inflammation can lead to cancer. Two primary reasons are that inflammation can cause direct injury to the cell and/or scramble how cells communicate with each other. It has been shown that adequate levels of NAD+ in the cell can reduce most inflammatory pathways [1,3,4,6,8].

NAD+ plays a role in healing. A surefire way to prevent cancer is to keep your cells healthy, which means giving them the tools they need to repair when they’ve been damaged or under stress. It has been shown that adequate levels of NAD+ can help cells repair themselves and even reverse some signs of aging [1,3,4,6].