Did you know that you can enhance levels of NAD with IV therapy from Toronto, as well as oral supplements? 

If you’re a patient at the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre (TFMC), you’ve likely heard us raving about nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) for different health goals. This is a coenzyme that assists with cell vitality and energy production, and for preventing DNA damage in the human body. It’s also touted as an anti-aging coenzyme because it helps delay age-related diseases. Bottom line: think of NAD as a “helper molecule”!

Unfortunately, as people age, NAD innately declines in the human body – this is something we can’t control. This can cause unwanted effects, such as changes to biological processes and brain function (i.e. lack of mental clarity, poor mental performance/cognitive function), skin wrinkles due to oxidative damage, the formation of oxidative stress, cellular damage, and more. 

But it’s possible to take ownership of our health through education and lifestyle reforms – and this can be applied to our personal maintenance of NAD. In fact, if your daily challenges include issues with memory loss, metabolic processes, muscle development or chronic fatigue, you might be a candidate for NAD supplements.

This supplementation could foster beneficial effects and healthy ageing, especially for long-term mental health, tissue repair, and mitochondrial function. So, for this blog post, we highlight some NAD-enhancing supplements and how to sustain these levels with NAD+ IV drip therapy. 

NAD-boosting supplements to try

Oral precursors could increase your NAD levels, encouraging the repair of cells and acting as a cellular energy source. This is because they convert into the coenzyme when you absorb them. We highlight some supplements below: 

What it is	About the Supplement
Nicotinamide riboside (NR)	NR is a type of vitamin B3 that can help prevent mitochondrial dysfunction. “Accumulating evidence on NRs’ health benefits has validated its efficiency…for the treatment of a number of cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and metabolic disorders,” confirms a Nutrients paper.
Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN)	Nucleotides help make DNA, and NMN is a type of nucleotide. In a 12-week study, it was shown that oral NMN can be safely given to healthy individuals, and that it heightens NAD levels in the blood.
Niacinamide (Nicotinamide)	Like NR, niacinamide is part of the vitamin B3 family, with antioxidant properties. A clinical human trial showed that 500mg of nicotinamide heightened NAD levels in the blood 12 hours after it was orally consumed.
Resveratrol	This is a polyphenol used in some weight loss products, and it’s usually found in red grapes. Resveratrol may be suitable for maintaining cellular health: “Treatment with resveratrol can affect multiple signaling pathway effectors involved in cell survival, programmed cell death and synaptic plasticity,” confirms a review from the Archives of Medical Science.
Apigenin	As a flavonoid, apigenin is known for promoting sedation and for containing anti-inflammatory properties and neuroprotective properties. Cells treated with apigenin may increase intracellular NAD+ levels.

If you’re interested in these oral supplements, please speak to your healthcare provider to see if they’re proper for you. You may be recommended other supplements or therapies not listed above. If you want to continue sustaining NAD levels, you may be interested in our IV Lounge for vitamin drip treatments. This is an elective treatment used as additional support with other treatment modalities and a healthy lifestyle. 

Maintaining ample levels of NAD with IV drip therapy

To upkeep these coenzyme levels, a visit to our IV Lounge can work. IV vitamin infusions, especially those with NAD, come with unique health gains: 

• They don’t require the digestive process: An IV tube is inserted into your vein, and a nutritional formula flows into your bloodstream. This instant administration of nutrients provides a complete absorption rate, as your body doesn’t require filtration from the digestive tract. 
• Suitable for those struggling with malabsorption: Because digestion isn’t required, IV drips lower your chance of getting unwanted side effects (i.e. nausea). These effects can happen when you swallow supplements, especially for those with digestive concerns. With that, IV NAD+ is suitable for patients with malabsorption issues.  

Nutritional support for your health condition can happen through NAD+ IV therapy. Sublingual treatments with NAD are also available – please speak to our IV Lounge for further details. If you are interested, you can also check our previous post on how we manage low levels of NAD with IV therapy.   

Access our functional medicine services today

Did you know that functional medicine therapies address the origin of your health issues? We integrate treatment modalities to foster this notion. Our patients can pool together different modalities to support their optimal health – all within one clinical setting. Currently, the TFMC offers intravenous therapy, naturopathic medicine, Western medicine, acupuncture, bioidentical hormone therapy, Chinese medicine, herbal remedies, and more. 

Inside our IV Lounge, we compound key components and essential vitamins for IV drip therapy treatments. Because we adhere to functional medicine, NAD+ IV and our other therapy drips are crafted with this model in mind – this is how we provide a customized approach to health care. 

Our IV vitamin therapy menu includes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a combination of amino acids (protein building blocks), folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin E, glutamic acid (L-glutamic acid), vitamin C, N- Acetylcysteine, the powerful antioxidant glutathione, and other essential nutrients. Sessions are supervised by a naturopathic doctor, medical doctor or nurse practitioner. 

Intravenous infusion therapy can upgrade wellness and potentially offer an improvement in energy levels when combined with a healthy diet, exercise and other therapies. As adjunct support, these treatments may be considered for a range of health concerns, such as those linked to hair health, excessive fatigue, immune function, brain fog, nutritional deficiencies (mineral deficiencies), chronic stress/cognitive performance, metabolic disease, substance withdrawal symptoms, wound healing, muscle function, physical performance, heart disease, degenerative disease, and other issues. 

NAD IV therapy from Toronto could instill positive effects when merged with a nutritious lifestyle. Become a TFMC patient today and join a functional medicine program –  request a session with our team. 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. Consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on this website.

References

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Cicero A F, Ruscica M, Banach M. Resveratrol and cognitive decline: a clinician perspective. Archives of Medical Science. 2019;15(4):936-943. doi:10.5114/aoms.2019.85463.

Escande C, Nin V, Price NL, Capellini V, Gomes AP, Barbosa MT, O’Neil L, White TA, Sinclair DA, Chini EN. Flavonoid apigenin is an inhibitor of the NAD+ ase CD38: implications for cellular NAD+ metabolism, protein acetylation, and treatment of metabolic syndrome. Diabetes. 2013 Apr;62(4):1084-93. doi: 10.2337/db12-1139. Epub 2012 Nov 19. PMID: 23172919; PMCID: PMC3609577.

Keisuke Okabe, et al. Implications of altered NAD metabolism in metabolic disorders. Journal of Biomedical Science 2019;26:34.

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Mehmel M, Jovanović N, Spitz U. Nicotinamide Riboside-The Current State of Research and Therapeutic Uses. Nutrients. 2020 May 31;12(6):1616. doi: 10.3390/nu12061616. PMID: 32486488; PMCID: PMC7352172.

“Nicotinamide Riboside – Uses, Side Effects, and More” from WebMD, viewed on June 9, 2023.

Okabe, K., Yaku, K., Uchida, Y., Fukamizu, Y., Sato, T., Sakurai, T., Tobe, K., & Nakagawa, T. (2022). Oral Administration of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Is Safe and Efficiently Increases Blood Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Levels in Healthy Subjects. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9, 868640. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.868640

Poljsak B. NAMPT-Mediated NAD biosynthesis as the internal timing mechanism: in NAD+ World, time Is running in its own way. Rejuvenation Res. 2018. June;21(3):210-224

Salehi B, Venditti A, Sharifi-Rad M, Kręgiel D, Sharifi-Rad J, Durazzo A, Lucarini M, Santini A, Souto EB, Novellino E, Antolak H, Azzini E, Setzer WN, Martins N. The Therapeutic Potential of Apigenin. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Mar 15;20(6):1305. doi: 10.3390/ijms20061305. PMID: 30875872; PMCID: PMC6472148.

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Vreones M, Mustapic M, Moaddel R, Pucha KA, Lovett J, Seals DR, Kapogiannis D, Martens CR. Oral nicotinamide riboside raises NAD+ and lowers biomarkers of neurodegenerative pathology in plasma extracellular vesicles enriched for neuronal origin. Aging Cell. 2023 Jan;22(1):e13754. doi: 10.1111/acel.13754. Epub 2022 Dec 14. PMID: 36515353; PMCID: PMC9835564.