NMN and NR: How These NAD+ Precursors Measure Up
NR (Nicotinamide Riboside) is often thought of as a highly efficient precursor to NAD+, but its cousin molecule NMN (Nicotinamide MonoNucleotide), is raising eyebrows as the new kid on the block in the longevity pill space.
Moving into a new home is never easy. Just because a large bed can fit inside a bedroom doesn’t mean it’ll fit through the door of the room. So it’s typical for beds to come in parts that need to be disassembled to make it through a door and then reassembled once inside.
The same can be said for nicotinamide mononucleotide, a molecule called NMN for short. NMN is a precursor to NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, meaning it becomes NAD+ through a series of chemical transformations. NAD+ is a critical found in every cell of your body, but levels of NAD+ naturally fall with age, making it — and NMN, as a result — crucial.
However, NMN is like a large bed that movers are trying to get through a door: It doesn’t enter the cell easily. One way for NMN to enter the cell is for it to chemically transform into another molecule (called nicotinamide riboside, or NR) before it can enter the cell. NR has earned a name for itself as a highly efficient precursor to NAD+ and can enter the cell as is. NMN, meanwhile, sometimes becomes NR before entering the cell, where it chemically transforms back to NMN and then ultimately becomes NAD+.
We've learned that NR leads to NAD+ and that it also has its own pathway that bypasses various steps other NAD+ precursors have to take. In early 2019, though, new research revealed NMN might only have to become NR for certain cell types, as NMN can enter cells in the small intestine of mice. It’s unclear whether or how this will translate to humans, if at all, but it’s teed up NMN as the newer kid on the block, making many wonder: How does it stack up against NR?
NR vs NMN Molecule
Pitting NR and NMN against each other is, for now, somewhat of a moot point because the two molecules have never been studied side by side in humans. The biggest, and most obvious, difference between NMN and NR is size. NMN is simply larger than NR, meaning it often needs to be broken down to fit into the cell. NR, when compared to other NAD+ precursors (like nicotinic acid or nicotinamide) reigns supreme in efficiency.
But give NMN a new door, one it can fit through, and it’s a whole new game. This is where cellular transporters come into play. Transporters are proteins that are doors on the cell; they allow molecules to enter the cell without needing to chemically transform.
The latest research from Shin-ichiro Imai, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of developmental biology at Washington University in St. Louis, identified a transporter that allows NMN to get into the cell without converting to NR. The catch? The transporter is only on cells located in the gut of mice and only works in the presence of sodium ions. NR, however, has been shown to enter cells in the liver, muscle, and brain tissue of mouse models. (To date there is not yet evidence that these mouse studies can be extrapolated to humans) But again, the two have never been matched up against each other in a way that can truly identify one as superior to the other.
Moving into a new home is never easy. Just because a large bed can fit inside a bedroom doesn’t mean it’ll fit through the door of the room. So it’s typical for beds to come in parts that need to be disassembled to make it through a door and then reassembled once inside.
The same can be said for nicotinamide mononucleotide, a molecule called NMN for short. NMN is a precursor to NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, meaning it becomes NAD+ through a series of chemical transformations. NAD+ is a critical found in every cell of your body, but levels of NAD+ naturally fall with age, making it — and NMN, as a result — crucial.
However, NMN is like a large bed that movers are trying to get through a door: It doesn’t enter the cell easily. One way for NMN to enter the cell is for it to chemically transform into another molecule (called nicotinamide riboside, or NR) before it can enter the cell. NR has earned a name for itself as a highly efficient precursor to NAD+ and can enter the cell as is. NMN, meanwhile, sometimes becomes NR before entering the cell, where it chemically transforms back to NMN and then ultimately becomes NAD+.
We've learned that NR leads to NAD+ and that it also has its own pathway that bypasses various steps other NAD+ precursors have to take. In early 2019, though, new research revealed NMN might only have to become NR for certain cell types, as NMN can enter cells in the small intestine of mice. It’s unclear whether or how this will translate to humans, if at all, but it’s teed up NMN as the newer kid on the block, making many wonder: How does it stack up against NR?
NR vs NMN Molecule
Pitting NR and NMN against each other is, for now, somewhat of a moot point because the two molecules have never been studied side by side in humans. The biggest, and most obvious, difference between NMN and NR is size. NMN is simply larger than NR, meaning it often needs to be broken down to fit into the cell. NR, when compared to other NAD+ precursors (like nicotinic acid or nicotinamide) reigns supreme in efficiency.
But give NMN a new door, one it can fit through, and it’s a whole new game. This is where cellular transporters come into play. Transporters are proteins that are doors on the cell; they allow molecules to enter the cell without needing to chemically transform.
The latest research from Shin-ichiro Imai, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of developmental biology at Washington University in St. Louis, identified a transporter that allows NMN to get into the cell without converting to NR. The catch? The transporter is only on cells located in the gut of mice and only works in the presence of sodium ions. NR, however, has been shown to enter cells in the liver, muscle, and brain tissue of mouse models. (To date there is not yet evidence that these mouse studies can be extrapolated to humans) But again, the two have never been matched up against each other in a way that can truly identify one as superior to the other.
NMN and COVID-19
A case series (published in September 2020) of 9 elderly COVID-19 patients treated with a combination of NMN, zinc, betaine and sodium chloride resulted in rapid improvement.
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