Celebrity podcaster Joe Rogan swears by its energy- and brain-boosting powers. Actress Jennifer Aniston calls it “the future of health.”

It’s showing up in the locker rooms of professional athletes... Silicon Valley board meetings...

And even deep inside the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, which oversees our elite forces like the Green Berets and Navy SEALS.

I’m talking about a single, natural molecule called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD for short.

But NAD isn’t just about energy. It’s also the master switch for cell repair, brain function, and healthy aging.

My patients at the Sears Institute for Anti- Aging Medicine will tell you that I’ve been recommending NAD for more than a decade — back when almost no one knew what it was or what it did.

There’s no question, if you could identify “youth” in a molecule, NAD would be it. But here’s the problem...

Now that NAD is popular, everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon — and the market has been flooded with supplements that don’t work.

In fact, I estimate 98% of NAD products today are a waste of your time and money.

Even the “cutting-edge” NAD IV infusions — like those recommended by Joe Rogan that cost $1,000 or more per session — can be surprisingly inefficient.

Most NAD products and protocols ignore your body’s own NAD depletion. And that means whatever NAD-boosting supplements you take, they’re probably a waste of time and money.

You see, NAD is real. But the hype is a trap.

Today, you’ll learn that if you don’t solve your body’s NAD depletion problem, you’ll never get the full benefits of this super molecule, no matter how many celebrities hype it.

In this Confidential Cures article, I’m going to show you how to protect and rebuild your own NAD levels naturally, and how to tap into this amazing fountain of youth.

Let Me Help You Cut Through the Hype

NAD is a natural molecule found in every one of your cells. Without it, your cells can’t produce energy. Without NAD, your mitochondria — the tiny power plants inside each of your cells — will shut down.

Simply put, NAD helps transfer the energy from the foods you eat to your mitochondria. It’s vital for every process in the human body, impacting dozens of functions including metabolism, hormone regulation, and immune system function.¹

Its impact on the human body is simply amazing. With it, your body can repair, restore, and renew itself. Here’s what the research shows NAD can do:2,3,4,5,6,7,8

· Supercharge cellular energy

· Repair damaged DNA, protecting you from disease, autoimmune disorders, and premature aging

· Increase cognitive function and protect your brain against neurodegeneration

· Enhance metabolism for better fat burning and blood sugar control

· Improve physical performance and endurance, whether you’re an elite athlete or not

· Slow inflammation, the driver of nearly every chronic disease

· Protect your skin from wrinkles and age spots

· Extend your health span — the number of years you feel physically energized and ready to take on the world — by activating the same longevity genes switched on by calorie restriction

The power of NAD to reinvigorate your body and extend your health span far into your golden years is truly remarkable. Studies from at least 23 medical schools, research centers, and hospitals have all found that NAD supports anti-aging on multiple levels.

Here’s an overview of this research:

DNA Repair: Your cells are constantly bombarded by oxidative stress, toxins, radiation, and even normal metabolism. Every time your DNA breaks, special “emergency response” enzymes called PARPs (poly-ADP-ribose polymerases) rush to the site of damage.

But PARPs can’t work without NAD. NAD supplies the cellular fuel that stitches broken DNA strands back together, keeping your cells young and resilient.^9,10

Brain Function: Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Nationals Institutes of Health have found that NAD supports the healthy creation of brain stem cells, new neurons, restores neural connections, and eliminates age-related brain inflammation — all key causes of cognitive decline.¹¹

Autoimmune Diseases. Harvard researchers tested NAD in mice with an autoimmune condition similar to MS. The treated mice had a huge shift in their autoimmune response. Their immune cells stopped attacking their nerves.

NAD also repaired and healed nerves damaged by the disease. That’s unheard of in autoimmune conditions.¹²

Healthy Heart: Scientists at Ohio State University discovered that NAD boosts heart health by improving endothelial and blood vessel function.

Longer Telomeres: NAD activates the production of SIRT1, a protein-coding gene that protects your telomeres. Longer telomeres mean better health. Shorter telomeres signal premature aging and disease.

Research shows that most people with short, dysfunctional telomeres also have low NAD.¹³

Better Hearing: When researchers at Cornell and the University of California, San Francisco, boosted NAD levels they found it restored the function of cochlear cells after exposure to unexpected loud noises.¹⁴

The Pentagon Is Studying NAD To Enhance Peak Performance

The U.S. military isn’t known for chasing wellness fads. But when Navy SEALs and Special Forces operatives are using something, I pay attention.

I discovered that Pentagon researchers have been studying NAD — which they call a “human performance molecule” — for its ability to:

Speed muscle recovery
Improve resilience under extreme stress
Protect the brain from oxygen
Deprivation
Extend operational endurance

Kidney Power: Researchers at MIT found that aging kidneys had low levels of NAD. But using a compound that boosts NAD, they made the kidneys more robust and resistant to toxic stress.¹⁵

Improved Sleep: Scientists at Northwest University and Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered that NAD is the central regulator of the circadian clock, timing your body’s metabolism for a deeper, uninterrupted sleep.¹⁶

The power of NAD is now undisputed. But there’s a problem...

The NAD Crisis No One Talks About

Your levels don’t stay high forever. Your body produces plenty of it when you’re young, but starting in your 20s, levels begin to drop. By the time you hit 50, your NAD may be down as much as 40%-50%.

And by age 80, levels can plummet to just 1%.¹⁷ This can cause a serious slowdown in mitochondrial function. In turn, this will also likely see the start of physical aging signs.

Multiple studies have linked decreases in NAD levels to:

Brain degeneration
Inflammation of blood vessels
Fatty liver disease

Increased belly fat
Insulin resistance
Fatigue and loss of muscle strength

All of that is bad enough. But researchers recently found something even worse — a NAD “vampire gene” that actively devours the NAD that’s left in your body.

The gene is called CD38. And as you age, it becomes more active. It breaks down NAD faster than your body could ever replace it.

A recent groundbreaking research paper revealed: “When CD38 is inactive, NAD blood levels are three times higher.”¹⁸

And that’s the key. In other words, if you could turn down CD38, you could triple your NAD naturally.

But that’s exactly what the mainstream NAD hype completely ignores. It hypes all kinds of NAD-boosting supplements without factoring in your body’s own NAD sabotage.

You see, without controlling CD38, your NAD will always be minimal.

The supplement industry is treating NAD like the next gold rush. They slap “NAD booster” on a label and charge a premium — but most of them fail to address CD38 at all.

You can swallow NAD precursor supplements all day long... But if CD38 is chewing through them, you might as well pour water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

But on top of that, CD38 isn’t the only problem. Most NAD supplements don’t survive digestion, which means they’ll never reach your cells.

· Low Absorption: Many forms of NAD and its precursors (like plain nicotinamide) are destroyed in the gut or liver before they can be used.

· Wrong Forms: Not all precursors are equal. Some require multiple conversion steps, and your efficiency drops as you age.

Then there’s the IV hype. While NAD drips bypass digestion, studies show the body rapidly breaks it down, and much of it never reaches your mitochondria.

I tell my patients that if you’re not tackling NAD loss from multiple angles — boosting production AND blocking breakdown — you’ll never get the results you want.

My Protocol to Protect and Rebuild NAD

At the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging, I’ve developed a four-part protocol that delivers far better results than taking NAD supplements or getting IV drips — regardless of the promises made by podcasters and Hollywood celebrities about endless energy and sharper memory.

Here’s what I recommend...

Step 1: Block the NAD Vampire

Remember that CD38 activity skyrockets as you age — especially in inflammatory states. That’s why I include powerful anti-inflammatory plant compounds in my protocol that can significantly slow NAD breakdown.

Natural CD38 inhibitors include:

Apigenin. Studies reveal that apigenin, which is abundant in parsley, celery, and chamomile, directly suppresses CD38 activity and raises intracellular NAD levels. Apigenin is also available in supplement form. It can cause drowsiness, so I recommend taking 100 mg before bedtime.¹⁹
Quercetin. This special plant antioxidant exhibits powerful inflammation-blocking properties. You’ll find quercetin in a variety of foods, including onions, capers, apples, broccoli, cherries, and raspberries. Or you can supplement with 500 mg twice a day.²⁰
Luteolin. This yellow plant antioxidant — known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, neuroprotective, and detoxification effects — also acts as a potent inhibitor of CD38. You’ll find luteolin in celery, thyme, and green peppers. Another unique source of luteolin is propolis. That's the resin bees use to make their honeycombs. You can find it in most health food stores. Or you can supplement. I recommend 100 mg daily.

Step 2: Exercise The Right Way

Not all workouts are created equally — especially when it comes to boosting NAD.

Most doctors recommend cardio-type exercises to their patients. But the latest research reveals that cardio just doesn’t cut it. When it comes to NAD, intensity matters.

That’s why I recommend my PACE exercise program.

PACE stands for Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion, and the concept is simple... It involves short, progressively accelerated bursts of intense exercise followed by rest.

Studies show that PACE-style training significantly boosts NAD levels by telling your cells to make more mitochondria.²¹

And the beauty of it is that you only need to exercise for 12 minutes a day.

If you want to learn some good PACE exercises, go to my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/AlSearsMD/videos.

I have more than 30 different exercises and a complete workout to help you get started.

Step 3: Make Lifestyle Changes to Keep Nad Levels High

You can train your body to conserve and recycle NAD naturally. Here are the strategies I recommend to my patients:

Eat Fat First. Making fat the focus of your meals boosts NAD levels and mitochondrial efficiency. Just as with intermittent fasting, when your body switches to burning fat and ketones, it requires more NAD to be produced by your body.
Practice Intermittent Fasting. Caloric restriction is a highly efficient way to boost your NAD levels. That’s because this metabolic shift raises NAD availability inside your mitochondria.

I recommend my patients start with a safe, simple regimen that calls for an 8-hour eating window each day, followed by a 16-hour fast. Here’s how it works:

Choose An 8-Hour Eating Window. For example, eat between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m., or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You will fast for the remaining 16 hours each day, including overnight.
Avoid Eating Any Calories. You can drink water, black coffee, tea, or other calorie-free beverages to stay hydrated and curb hunger.
Start Gradually If Needed. If 16 hours feels too long initially, start with 12-hour fasts and increase the fasting window over several days or weeks.
Maintain Hydration. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrate during fasting.

Reduce Chronic Stress. Stress is a NAD killer. When you’re stressed, your body pumps out cortisol and adrenaline. That’s because the “fight or flight” mode requires huge amounts of cellular energy, which will deplete NAD reserves. It’s one reason why stress ages you. Start destressing with yoga and mindfulness meditation.

Step 4: Feed Your Body’s NAD Factory

Your body needs raw materials to make NAD. These are the best ways to get your body to produce more:

Nicotinamide Riboside (NR). This special kind of B3 vitamin is still ignored by mainstream medicine, but it’s hands down the most efficient and direct pathway for your body to produce NAD. I’ve been recommending NR to all my patients for years as part of their anti-aging and cellular energy- boosting strategy.

Although niacin, the regular form of vitamin B3, can also be converted to NAD, it involves an inefficient metabolic pathway — and taking large doses of niacin can cause uncomfortable side effects.
Trace amounts of NR can be found in a few foods, such as whole cow’s milk and yeast. Minute amounts are also found in beer — but no food provides high enough levels of NR to produce the amount of NAD you need.

The only commercially available form of NR supplements is called Niagin. The FDA has given it GRAS status - generally recognized as safe — and all patents on the production of NR supplements are standardized by a company called Cromadex.

I recommend starting with 500 mg and working up to 1,000 mg per day before breakfast over a few weeks. No side effects have been reported in any of the NR trials — even at high doses.
Niacinamide. This is one of the two major forms of vitamin B (the other is niacin), and an essential NAD precursor and a regulator of NAD-dependent enzymes — especially those involved in DNA repair, longevity and stress resistance.²²
In one study from Boston University School of Medicine, just 16 hours of increased niacinamide boosted NAD levels by 30%.

You won’t find huge amounts of pure niacinamide in foods, because your body makes most of it from nicotinic acid or from the precursor amino acid tryptophan, which is present in some foods. You can get 10 mg-12 mg of niacinamide per 100 g of chicken breast. Eggs have a smaller amount, but they provide tryptophan, which is converted to niacinamide in your body.

Niacinamide supplements are also available online or from most health food stores. I recommend 500 mg daily.
Take The Best Mitochondrial Nutrients. Increasing CoQ10 and PQQ will improve your NAD “return on investment.”

Every cell in your body uses CoQ10 to get energy from your mitochondria. It sparks them to make extra energy. At the same time, PQQ also protects your mitochondria by neutralizing free radicals that damage and kill them.²³

The best food sources of CoQ10 come from the organs of free-range cattle and wild game. Sadly, we don’t eat these foods much anymore.

Your next best sources are wild-caught fish and beef. But be sure your beef comes from grass- fed meat, which has much more CoQ10 than grain-fed, feedlot meat.

Good food choices to get more PQQ include parsley, natto, green peppers, kiwi, and of course, grass-fed organ meat.

But it’s hard to get enough from food alone.

I recommend 200 mg of CoQ10 a day to boost mitochondrial and NAD efficiency. And make sure it’s the ubiquinol form of CoQ10, which is the most potent.

Then add 20 mg of PQQ every day.

To Your Good Health,

References:

Gariani K, et al. “Eliciting the mitochondrial unfolded protein response via NAD repletion reverses fatty liver disease.” Hepatology. 2016;63(4):1190-204.

Tullius SG, et al. “NAD⁺ protects against EAE by regulating CD4⁺ T-cell differentiation.” Nat Comm. 2014;5:5101.

Zhao Y, et al. “NAD+ improves cognitive function and reduces neuroinflammation by ameliorating mitochondrial damage and decreasing ROS production in chronic cerebral hypoperfusion models through Sirt1/PGC-1α pathway.” J Neuroinflammation. 2021;18(1):1—16.

Zhong O, et al. “Effects of NAD+ precursor supplementation on glucose and lipid metabolism in humans: a meta-analysis.” Nutr Metab (Lond) 19, 20. 2022.

Campelj D, Philp A. “NAD⁺ therapeutics and skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise in humans.” Sports Med. 2022 dec;52(suppl 1):91-99.

Kang S, et al. “Novel approach to skin anti-aging: Boosting pharmacological effects of exogenous nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) by synergistic inhibition of CD38 expression.” Cells. 2024 Oct 30;13(21):1799.

Van Gool F, et al. “Intracellular NAD levels regulate tumor necrosis factor protein synthesis in a sirtuin-dependent manner.” Nat Med. 2009 Feb;15(2):206-10.

Yaku K, et al. “NAD metabolism: Implications in aging and longevity.” Ageing Res Rev. 2018 Nov;47:1-17.

NIH Research Matters. “Researchers find clue to repair of aging DNA.” National Institutes of Health. April 4, 2017.

Li J, et al. “A conserved NAD binding pocket that regulates protein-protein interactions during aging.” Science. 2017;355(6331):1312-1317.

Schöndorf DC, et al. “The NAD+ precursor nicotinamide riboside rescues mitochondrial defects and neuronal loss in iPSC and fly models of Parkinson’s disease.” Cell Rep. 2018;23(10):2976-2988.

Tullius SG, et al. NAD protects against EAE by regulating CD4 T-cell differentiation. Nat Comm. 2014;5:5101.

Stock A, Lui Y. “NAD-linked metabolism and intervention in short telomere syndromes and murine models of telomere dysfunction.” Front Aging. 2021 Oct 27:2:785171.

Brown KD, et al. “Activation of SIRT3 by the NAD precursor nicotinamide riboside protects from noise-induced hearing loss.” Cell Metab. 2014;20(6):1059-1068.

Poyan Mehr A, et al. “De novo NAD+ biosynthetic impairment in acute kidney injury in humans.” Nat Med. 2018;24(9):1351-1359.

Peek CB, et al. “Circadian clock NAD+ cycle drives mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in mice.” Science. 2013;342(6158)

Chenchen P, et al. “NAD+...Sirt1 Signaling.” Aging. 2019 Jun 7;11(11):3505-3522.

Shi B, et al. “Targeting CD38-dependent NAD⁺metabolism to mitigate multiple organ fibrosis.” iScience. 2020 Dec 7;24(1):101902.

Escande C, et al “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.

Shen P, et al. “Potential implications of quercetin in autoimmune diseases.” Front Immunol. 2021;Vol 12.

White AT, Schenk S. “NAD(+)/NADH and skeletal muscle mitochondrial adaptations to exercise.” Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Aug 1;303(3):E308-21.

Boo YC. “Mechanistic basis and clinical evidence for the applications of nicotinamide (niacinamide) to control skin aging and pigmentation.” Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Aug 21;10(8):1315.

Wu JZ, et al. “Pyrroloquinoline quinone enhances the resistance to oxidative stress and extends lifespan upon DAF-16 and SKN-1 activities in C. elegans.” Exp Gerontol. 2016 Jul;80:43-50.

The NAD Crisis No One Talks About Explains Why 98% Of Supplements Won’t Work...