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The effects of pyrroloquinoline quinone and nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation on interoception following acute exhaustive exercise: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Chenxi Zhao, Bolong Wu, Hongtao Sui, Garry Kuan, Gaoxia Wei, Yi Yan
Scientific Reports 2026 16:5408

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 41651893
PubMed Central
PMC12886864
DOI
10.1038/s41598-025-34191-0
Funding
Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2024YDYY002 and 2024YJSY001).
Competing interests
The authors declared no competing interests.

Study snapshot

DesignRandomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled four-arm acute supplementation trial.
Model60 male physical-education students, mean age 19.0 ± 0.7 years, regularly exercising.
Sample60 total; 15 participants per placebo, PQQ, NMN and PQQ+NMN group.
InterventionPlacebo; PQQ 20 mg; NMN 300 mg; or PQQ 20 mg + NMN 300 mg, taken 60 minutes before an exhaustive Bruce treadmill test.
DurationSingle acute dose with outcomes measured around one exhaustive exercise session.
EndpointsBody Perception Questionnaire; Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness; Time to exhaustion; VO2max; Anaerobic-threshold measures; Respiratory efficiency; RPE

What the study showed, in plain terms

Sixty young male exercisers were randomized to placebo, PQQ, 300 mg NMN or PQQ plus NMN one hour before an exhaustive treadmill test.

NMN did not significantly improve exercise-capacity measures versus the other groups, and the NMN-only group did not show a significant improvement in the one interoception domain with a significant group-by-time effect.

The notable interoception improvement belonged to PQQ. This trial is therefore useful negative evidence against assuming that a single 300 mg NMN dose works like an acute pre-workout.

Key findings

  • No significant differences were observed between groups in exercise-capacity indicators.
  • Body Listening was the only interoception domain with a significant group-by-time interaction.
  • The PQQ group improved Body Listening significantly; the NMN-only group did not (p=0.102 within group).
  • NMN was tested as a single 300 mg dose 60 minutes before exercise, so the study does not answer chronic supplementation questions.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Participants were young male physical-education students, limiting generalizability to women, older adults and clinical populations.

This was a single-dose acute experiment; it does not test whether weeks of NMN supplementation alter training adaptation or endurance.

Interoception endpoints were based on self-report questionnaires, and the study was not powered as a definitive NMN efficacy trial.

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