NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is an endogenous coenzyme, central to energy metabolism and a substrate for enzymes such as the sirtuins. Most human research concerns its precursors taken by mouth — nicotinamide riboside and nicotinamide mononucleotide — which raise NAD+ metabolism; NAD+ itself has been given intravenously only in small pilot studies. This page presents it as a coenzyme studied largely through its precursors, not as a medicine for any disease.
By Tessaro Pty Ltd, the maker of Pepti · Last reviewed
This page is a reference, not a protocol. It sets out what the published research reports, draws the line between evidence about NAD+ itself and evidence about its precursors, explains what the absence of a published human half-life means for a record, and describes what a clean log holds. It contains no dose figures and no schedule; a section below explains why.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Class / type | Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; an endogenous coenzyme central to energy metabolism and a substrate for enzymes such as the sirtuins (Covarrubias et al., 2021) |
| Mechanism / role | Carries electrons in redox reactions; cellular and tissue levels decline with age in model organisms (Covarrubias et al., 2021) |
| Evidence base | Mostly oral precursors — nicotinamide riboside (Martens et al., 2018) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (Yoshino et al., 2021), both human randomised controlled trials. NAD+ itself: one small intravenous human pilot study (Grant et al., 2019). Direct human evidence on the molecule is limited |
| Half-life | No reliable human half-life has been published. |
| Regulatory status | An endogenous coenzyme; human use is as oral precursor supplements (nicotinamide riboside, nicotinamide mononucleotide) and, in small pilot studies, intravenous NAD+ (Martens et al., 2018; Yoshino et al., 2021; Grant et al., 2019) |
NAD+ — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — is not a drug; it is a coenzyme every cell already makes. It carries electrons in the reduction-oxidation reactions at the centre of energy metabolism and is a substrate for enzymes including the sirtuins (Covarrubias et al., Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2021). Interest in it is driven by the finding that cellular and tissue NAD+ levels decline with age, a pattern documented largely in model organisms rather than humans.
Because of that, most human research is not about NAD+ itself but about its precursors — smaller molecules the body converts toward NAD+. In a randomised, placebo-controlled crossover trial, the precursor nicotinamide riboside stimulated NAD+ metabolism in healthy middle-aged and older adults (Martens et al., Nature Communications, 2018). In a separate randomised, placebo-controlled trial, the precursor nicotinamide mononucleotide increased muscle insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women with prediabetes (Yoshino et al., Science, 2021). Both test a precursor, not NAD+ itself.
NAD+ given directly has been examined far less. In a small human pilot study, NAD+ was infused intravenously and its metabolites followed; plasma NAD+ did not rise until about two hours in, which the authors read as rapid uptake or metabolism early on (Grant et al., Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2019). That is a metabolome and feasibility study in a handful of people, not a trial of any clinical outcome.
No reliable human half-life has been published. The one human study that infused NAD+ directly reported no defined pharmacokinetic half-life; plasma NAD+ did not rise until roughly two hours into a six-hour infusion, consistent with the molecule being taken up or broken down quickly rather than lingering at a decaying level (Grant et al., 2019). The precursor trials track NAD+ metabolism over weeks — a different quantity from the clearance half-life of a dose.
For a record, there is no decay curve to anchor timing to, so the dated history is the useful structure: what was taken, in what form, when, and what was noticed. Pepti's half-life decay calculator charts only a half-life you type in; with no published human value for NAD+ to enter, it has nothing to plot here.
NAD+ is chemically delicate: its poor thermal stability is recognised as a practical problem in laboratory and industrial settings, where the molecule degrades under heat (McDonough et al., ACS Synthetic Biology, 2025). The precursors have their own sensitivities to heat and moisture.
The handling that follows is not specific to any figure: keep material as its supplier directs, cool, dry and out of light, and — for a powder reconstituted for injection — treat the solution as having a limited usable life. Record the state the material was in and how it was kept, so a later entry is legible.
NAD+ reaches people as an oral precursor, an intravenous infusion, or injectable powder; Pepti's job is the same in each: arithmetic on figures you already have, never advice about what they should be.
Reconstitution, as variables. If your material is a powder to be dissolved, the concentration is the total amount on the vial divided by the volume of diluent you add, and the volume you draw is the figure you already have divided by that concentration. Pepti's reconstitution calculator does this from your inputs and supplies no amount of its own.
Site rotation. Where material is injected, move through your injection sites in a fixed, numbered sequence so no site is reused before it recovers; the injection site rotation guide sets out the method, and Pepti tracks a 12-site sequence. Pepti remembers the last site and points to the next.
Half-life, from a value you enter. The half-life decay calculator plots how an amount falls over successive half-lives from a half-life you type in. It has no built-in values, and with no reliable human half-life published for NAD+, there is nothing to enter.
NAD+ is an endogenous coenzyme, and the human evidence around it is a mix of precursor-supplement trials and small intravenous pilot studies rather than registration trials of NAD+ as a treatment for a disease (Martens et al., 2018; Yoshino et al., 2021; Grant et al., 2019). So there is no approved-medicine dosing for NAD+ to restate here, and the precursors are taken as supplements, where the figure is a matter between you and whoever directs your use.
Pepti does not supply that figure. It converts a figure you already have into a draw volume and syringe units where material is injected, tracks what is left in a vial, and keeps the site sequence. Printing a “typical” amount for NAD+ or its precursors would be folklore with the typography of evidence; the figure belongs to you and whoever directs your use, and the arithmetic is what we are for.
NAD+ records go wrong by being vague about what was taken. A record worth keeping holds the following.
NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, is a coenzyme your cells already make and use. It is central to energy metabolism, where it carries electrons in reduction-oxidation reactions, and it is also a substrate for enzymes such as the sirtuins. Measured cellular and tissue levels tend to decline with age in model organisms.
No. NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) and NR (nicotinamide riboside) are precursors: smaller molecules the body converts toward NAD+. Most human trials test these oral precursors rather than NAD+ itself, and they report raising NAD+ metabolism. NAD+ given directly, by intravenous infusion, has only been examined in small pilot studies. A record should name exactly which of these it describes, because they are different molecules.
NAD+ itself is an endogenous coenzyme, not a compound this page presents as an approved medicine for any disease. In humans it is studied mainly through its oral precursors, which are taken as supplements, and through small intravenous pilot studies. This page makes no treatment claim and provides no dosing of any kind.
No reliable human half-life has been published. The one human study that infused NAD+ directly did not report a defined pharmacokinetic half-life; it found that plasma NAD+ did not rise until about two hours into a six-hour infusion, consistent with NAD+ being taken up or metabolised rapidly. So there is no human half-life figure to cite, and any single number presented as one is not from a published human study.
No. Pepti supplies no dose figures for NAD+, its precursors, or anything else. It records the figure you already have from whoever directs your use, converts it into a draw volume and syringe units where material is injected, tracks what is left in a vial, and keeps the site sequence. The arithmetic is ours; the figure is not.
This page is a reference on published evidence and record-keeping. It does not recommend NAD+, its precursors, or any other substance, and it provides no dose figure, no titration amount, and no schedule. NAD+ is an endogenous coenzyme, and most human evidence concerns its precursors rather than NAD+ itself.
The Pepti peptide tracker for iPhone keeps the log, the site sequence, the vial count and your own observations in one place.
Not medical advice. Pepti is a record-keeping and measurement tool, not a medical device.
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