Tier 3 — preclinical

Improvement of tissue-specific distribution and biotransformation potential of nicotinamide mononucleotide in combination with ginsenosides or resveratrol

Long-Bo Bai, Lee-Fong Yau, Tian-Tian Tong, Wai-Him Chan, Wei Zhang, Zhi-Hong Jiang
Pharmacology Research & Perspectives 2022 10(4):e00986

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 35844164
PubMed Central
PMC9289528
DOI
10.1002/prp2.986
Funding
Supported by the Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR and the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines at Macau University of Science and Technology.
Competing interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Study snapshot

DesignControlled preclinical mouse study using oral NMN alone or in combination with resveratrol or ginsenosides, with LC-MRM quantification of NMN-related metabolites and tissue NAD+.
ModelMice receiving oral NMN, NMN plus resveratrol, or NMN plus ginsenoside Rh2/Rg3.
SampleMultiple mouse treatment groups; no human participants.
InterventionNMN 500 mg/kg orally, alone or combined with resveratrol 50 mg/kg or ginsenoside Rh2/Rg3 50 mg/kg.
DurationAcute tissue-distribution and biotransformation experiments.
EndpointsTissue NAD+; NMN distribution; Biotransformation; Heart NAD+; Skeletal-muscle NAD+; Lung NAD+

What the study showed, in plain terms

This mouse study tested whether combining NMN with resveratrol or selected ginsenosides changes where NMN-related metabolites and NAD+ appear in tissues.

Compared with NMN alone, the NMN-plus-resveratrol condition produced higher NAD+ levels in heart and skeletal muscle, while the ginsenoside combination produced a stronger lung NAD+ signal.

This is the main experimental paper commonly cited to justify an NMN-plus-resveratrol stack, but it is preclinical. It does not show that taking both supplements together improves human health, longevity, exercise performance or NAD+ more than NMN alone.

Key findings

  • NMN plus resveratrol increased heart NAD+ to roughly 1.6 times the level observed with NMN alone under the study conditions.
  • NMN plus resveratrol increased skeletal-muscle NAD+ to roughly 1.7 times the level observed with NMN alone.
  • NMN plus ginsenoside Rh2/Rg3 increased lung NAD+ to roughly 2.0 times the level observed with NMN alone.
  • The effects were tissue-specific rather than a universal increase across every organ.
  • No human clinical outcomes were studied.

What this study can and cannot tell us

The study used mice and very high weight-based doses. Those doses cannot be converted directly into a personal supplement protocol.

The work measured tissue distribution and NAD+ biology rather than disease outcomes, physical function, aging rate or lifespan.

There is no corresponding randomized human trial showing that resveratrol makes NMN clinically more effective.

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Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology