Why Your NAD Levels Matter–No, Not Those NADs

From pills and creams to meditations and workouts, it seems there are a plethora of ways to try to keep looking young. Whenever we talk about anything relating to aging, we're talking about cellular degeneration. Many indications of aging are failing cellular system or mitochondrial damage. And what do cells require for peak health? NAD is essential for our cells in various ways. NAD or Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide is involved in fundamental biological processes. Studies have shown that a reduced NAT in the body can lead to age-related diseases.

You're about to discover why and how to avoid it.

The Signs Of Aging

How do you know you're aging? When you stop squinting, the lines around your eyes remain put, and gray hair shows up when you look in the mirror. The physical indications of aging become noticeable early on, but you might not be seeing the less obvious signs from within that lead to decreased health as you grow older.

You might have already seen or are on the lookout for any of the following easy-to-notice physical indications of aging:

Hair Loss/Thinning– More hairs end up down the drain than typical when you shower, or you find more hairs in your brush and on your clothing.

Graying Hair—The transition of hair color to either gray or white, depending on your genes.

Receding Hairline– Male-pattern baldness or thinning at the temples.

Turkey Neck/Sagging Skin– Loose skin you can gather between your fingers, or the eye flap sagging down your eyelid.

Drooping Breasts– Your bosoms aren't as perky like they once were. 

Sun Damage– Spots on your hands, face, and shoulders, or dryness and "tough" skin.

Lines and Wrinkles– Some are less "fine" than others and the grooves only get deeper as the years pass.

Bunions—These come from years of using the wrong shoes or walking crooked during an injury, and their occurence  tend to increase with age.

Yellowing Teeth– Even if you lay off the coffee and red wine, enamel diminishes with age, and your teeth reveal the signs of a weakened state.

Reduced Testosterone & Growth Hormones—These bring reduced drive, sexual dysfunction, hot flashes, mood swings, and a host of other adverse effects.

Sleeping Disorders and Bad Sleep– Your body clock gets thrown out of loop when producing less melatonin.

Forgetfulness and Memory Loss– Not to be confused with Alzheimer's, dementia, or any significant mental disorder, but reduced cognitive power can lead to making errors from less mental capacity. 

Weight Gain– Usually this comes from loss of energy, a lowered metabolic process, and a bad diet, but finding it difficult to lose or maintain weight is likewise part of aging.

General Fatigue—This is one of the most annoying symptoms of aging. It includes loss of energy that leads to less strength and motivation for workouts, social interaction, and work, making us feel we are less capable.

Everything mentioned above are external symptoms of what's happening inside our bodies at a cellular level. As you age, your cells are less able to withstand tension and damage, resulting in a steady loss of cellular function that leads to the symptoms above. But if you can prevent cellular aging, you can avoid these signs in general.

A molecule called NAD can support cellular health. Even if it can't solve every issue associated with aging, it's worth knowing.

What Is NAD?

NAD helps a cell turn nutrients into helpful energy. It is essential for your metabolism and plays a large part in the entire assembly line of operations within a cell. Think of NAD as one of the most significant factory workers in your body’s cells because it helps your organs function and keep going.

The second role this vitamin plays is improving activity of sirtuins (proteins used by cells.) When sirtuins are activated and doing their jobs, they support cellular upkeep and repair. Sirtuins affect a wide array of cellular procedures like aging, transcription, apoptosis (programmed cell death), swelling, stress resistance, energy efficiency, and alertness during low-calorie scenarios. Sirtuins can likewise control circadian clocks and mitochondrial biogenesis.

Your cells require NAD and your body is capable of developing it, but as you age, your cells take on a lot of stress. NAD is rapidly consumed as the cells cope. Metabolic stresses such as overeating and consuming alcohol can contribute even more to its deficiency. Worse still, NAD decreases as we age. A 60-year-old is likely to have half the NAD they did at 40.

So now you're probably wondering how to get more NAD, right? There are options such as IVs and other invasive treatment options, but they’re costly, uncomfortable and time consuming.

Preclinical research studies show that exercising and calorie restriction help with NAD levels - two methods that just make sense as part of a holistic health routine. Nevertheless, among the most convenient ways to naturally increase NAD without an IV is using supplements like B3 vitamins, though not all B3s are equal when it comes to producing NAD. We'll get to that in a moment.

Through its vital role in cellular energy production, NAD contributes, in early cellular stages, to almost every bodily function we observe or don't observe. Here is a look at how we use NAD every day:

Exercise Performance and Recovery– When we work out, cells in our muscles go to work generating considerable amounts of cellular energy. NAD is crucial to this process. After an exercise, NAD likewise helps restore and build muscles. Our capability to recuperate from exercises (which seems to get harder as we age) is reliant on NAD to do its job. And exercising is vital to preventing muscle mass reduction, another common component of aging.

Processing Alcohol– NAD is needed for chemical responses that detoxify alcohol in the liver. The more you drink, the more NAD resources you consume from your liver processing the alcohol. 

Skin and Sun Exposure– Skin is the largest organ of our bodies and hence requires a massive quantity of cells and cellular regrowth to maintain. NAD activates certain proteins in skin cells to signal when and where sun-related damage occurs.

Circadian Rhythms – NAD helps cells keep day-to-day circadian rhythms. When we face time zone modification or are in the dark too long, our cells work overtime keeping up those rhythms. As long as our cells keep up, everything can stay on schedule.

Breathing & Oxidative Stress—We can give our overworked cells a break. You can quit drinking alcohol or get more sleep to renew yourself, but one thing you can't stop doing is breathing oxygen. As cells ingest oxygen, complimentary radicals are produced that cause oxidative tension. And the air also has pollutants, chemicals, cigarette smoke and other toxins that cells must contend with. Thankfully, NAD and its molecular cousin NADP can arm your cells to neutralize these stressors and mop up the free radicals. 

About B3

To figure out how to get more NAD into your cells, you need to know how B3 adds to NAD.

There are actually eight different vitamins that comprise the B vitamin complex, one of which is B3. The B3 vitamins are precursors to NAD, meaning they are basically active ingredients that your body uses to create more NAD through cellular chemical processes.

There are three kinds of B3, and the newest one to be discovered, nicotinamide riboside (NR), is the one researchers are looking at deeply.

The B3 many people are familiar with is niacin (nicotinic acid). Niacin is available as a supplement and is present in eggs, yeast, fish, meat, milk, green vegetables, and cereal grains. Since the early 1900s, people have utilized niacin for pellagra, which is a B3 deficiency triggered by an absence of a diet plan. However, niacin has the extremely frustrating side effect of skin flushing and can create a red face, a warm face and body, and tingly fingers.

The second of the B3s is nicotinamide. Some call it niacinamide. This one's just like niacin. You won't have to deal with the skin flushing, though it sacrifices helpful cholesterol-lowering abilities. Although it's an NAD precursor, it shuts down sirtuins - those extremely helpful longevity genes mentioned before.

Then there's nicotinamide riboside (NR), the most recently discovered B3 and unique in producing NAD. NR acts as an NAD precursor and also activates sirtuins to leap in and do their task. Plus, it doesn't cause flushing. Trace amounts of NR are found in milk; however, you'd have to drink a heck of a lot to get the advantages of NR, and the calories and high quantities of dairy proteins aren't worth it.

Summary 

Your cells require NAD, and your body is capable of producing it, but as you age, your cells take on a lot of stress and NAD is quickly consumed as the cells cope. Even worse, NAD reduces as we get older. Remember, a 60-year-old has half the amount of NAD that they did at 40.

One of the easiest ways to naturally increase NAD without an IV is via B3 supplements.  NAD aids cells in maintaining their daily rhythms by helping to control circadian clocks at the cellular level. B3 vitamins are precursors to NAD, meaning they are essentially components that your body utilizes to produce more NAD through cellular chemical processes.

NutraV Grass-Fed Seabuck Protein is the perfect supplement to aid in NAD production. It comes from 100% pure whey protein isolate that delivers essential nutrients for cell growth and repair. The whey protein concentrate comes from unpasteurized raw milk from grass-fed cows making the formula ultra rich in amino acids, which NAD can be synthesized from. It also contains glutathione, an antioxidant that helps prevent cellular damage. This supplement paired with a healthy diet and daily exercises can keep your NAD levels elevated for a younger you, both inside and out.