Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / NAD The Molecule of Life — and the Hype

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NAD The Molecule of Life — and the Hype · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: Hey, welcome back to 4Q. Today we are launching a
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  new series about longevity and health span. Now,
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  longevity is easy to measure because there's a
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  date on every tombstone. But health span is
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  different. Healthspan we define as the time when
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  you're healthy, mobile, curious, and capable
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  before disease or aging slows you down. That's the
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  part we want to stretch out, because living longer
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  isn't the same as living well. Now, the moment you
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  step into the world of longevity, you meet a
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  parade of gurus, pouters, and podcasts. There's
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  some serious scientists in the field, like the
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  founder of the whole field, Leonard Hayflick, who
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  recently died at age 93. He was the one who
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  defined cellular aging in the first place. Or Dr.
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  Eric Topol, who actually advance his medicine. But
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  then there are those who have turned longevity
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  into a luxury brand. Take Peter Attia. In his many
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  iterations of himself, he finally settled on
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  building an empire where he can charge $150,000 or
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  more for a patient to become a patient of his. And
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  what do you get for that? You get a handful of
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  basic lab tests. You get a VO2 max run. You get to
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  hike with him with a rucksack, a weighted
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  backpack. You learn a few yoga poses, and you get
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  some lectures about how you should sleep better.
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  Some of this you can get from your local primary
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  care doctor and a local gym for about 30 bucks a
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  month and copay. So remember, this is a man who
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  never finished a surgical residency, but
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  billionaires pay him because they can. He
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  positioned himself exceedingly well. The man who
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  has gone from being all pro keto to let's do all
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  the exercise we can. By the way, he's also an
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  investor in something called AG1, that bright
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  green drink sold as nutrition in a scoop. And of
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  course, there's Andrew Huberman. He is another AG1
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  investor. He podcasts between studio lights that
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  are bright enough to give you a tan, and he seems
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  to always wear black. Now, both of these guys are
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  smart, they are accomplished, but let's be honest,
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  they live where marketing meets medicine. And
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  sometimes the marketing wins. There's the other
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  longevity star. You've probably heard of Dr. David
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  Sinclair. He's a Harvard professor, and he turns
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  something called nad, which is a supplement
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  almost, into a religion. And the precursor
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  molecules, these are initials you're going to
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  hear. Nmn, M and nr. They sound like secret
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  passwords to eternal health. You know David
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  Sinclair's early work on aging and sirtuins? It
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  was brilliant. But somewhere between Harvard and
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  Hollywood, the science and the sales pitch,
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  started to share a toothbrush. He even formed a
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  company. And he tried to patent NMN as a drug.
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  Now, when you try and patent a supplement as a
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  drug, the FDA does what they would always do. They
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  pulled it from the supplement market. Now this
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  sparked all of these rhettic panics and these
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  headlines that the government was hiding. The
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  fountain of youth. You can buy NMN now. But that
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  fiasco showed just how thin the line is between
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  research and retail and, and how desperate people
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  are for that fountain of youth. Now, no longevity
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  carnival would be complete without the shirtless
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  salesmen of supplements and scams, the ones who
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  promise eternal youth. Everything from protein
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  powder and ancestral vibes. Take Paul Saladino.
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  Hasn't seen a patient in years, discovered that
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  fruit is good for you, even after declaring steak
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  with salvation. Or the liver King, his erstwhile
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  partner, who discovered that, well, his secret
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  wasn't liver, but it was ever he was injecting.
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  Then, of course, no claim would be complete
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  without mentioning Gary Breca, the guy who says
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  he's a human biologist, whatever that is, and can
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  predict the date of your death. Of course, all you
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  have to do is buy some of his fancy amino acids,
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  his hydrogen water bottles, and all of his scams
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  in between. Those people aren't scientists.
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  They're basically services in human forms. Now
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  here at 4Q, we're not selling miracle molecules or
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  $150,000 wellness plans. We're bringing you the
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  real science. What we know, what we don't, and how
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  to tell the difference. Because understanding
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  longevity shouldn't require six figure copay or a
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  discount code. And as you will learn, you do not
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  have to be a billionaire to learn about it and to
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  implement it.
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  But today, we're going to start with nad, which
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  stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. This
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  is the so called molecule of life. Now, does it
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  actually work in humans? We're going to find out.
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  I'm Dr. Terry Simpson, your chief medical
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  explanationist, and this is Fork U Fork
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  University, where we bust myths, make sense of the
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  madness, and teach you a little bit about food and
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  medicine. NAD is something that every freshman
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  medical student learns in basic biochemistry about
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  how the body works. It responsible for fueling
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  energy production. It's in the Krebs cycle. It's
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  responsible for DNA repair. And as we age, NAD
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  levels drop, metabolism slows, inflammation rises,
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  cells get sloppy, and blood, like Leonard Hayflick
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  pointed out in the 1960s, senescent. So scientists
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  ask the most obvious of all, can we top it up?
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  Meaning can we Give external NAD or one of its
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  precursors and kind of turn these cells back into
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  powerhouses again, make those mitochondria shine.
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  Well, it turns out in mice, the answer is yes.
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  Boosting NAD in mice by using precursors such as
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  NR or NMN extends the lifespan of the mice by 5 to
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  15%. That translates to just a few months for a
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  mouse. But if you're thinking about a human mouse,
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  years in humans might work out to a couple of
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  years. But in mice, we found that the mice moved
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  better, they burned energy better, and as far as
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  we could tell, they aged a little slower. But, uh,
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  here's the catch. Human beings, we're not just
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  mice with mortgages. Here's the thing. You cannot
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  eat nad, but you can eat its precursors,
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  tryptophan and niacin, which is vitamin B3. These
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  are found in fish, poultry, beans, milk, and whole
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  grains. Does this sound familiar? Yeah, we call
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  that the Mediterranean diet. So before you drop 90
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  to 100 bucks on a bottle of NMN or NR, maybe stop
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  at the grocery store instead. The big supplement
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  players, NR and NMN, can raise NAD levels and are
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  generally safe up to about 2 grams a day. There's
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  no major side effects beyond the occasional flush,
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  but they don't reverse aging, and they don't
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  replace real medicine. Now, a meta analysis shows
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  that Some of these NAD precursors, especially
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  niacin, can lower LDL cholesterol by about 8 to
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  12%. That's a nice lab number, but let's compare
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  that to, let's say, Crestor, which is
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  rosuvastatin, which is the LDL lowering
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  cholesterol agent. I use 5 milligrams, lowers
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  cholesterol by about LDL cholesterol by 45%. 10
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  milligrams, 52%, 20 milligrams. What? I take 55%,
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  40 milligrams, same. So that's not a blip. That's
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  the miracle of modern medicine. And no NAD
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  supplement has ever been shown to prevent heart
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  attacks or strokes. Statins have again and again
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  shown that they can do that. Now, that's the
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  difference between some interesting biochemistry
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  and some actual medicine. But if we're looking at
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  this, who might actually benefit from taking some
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  form of nad? Well, maybe older adults with
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  metabolic syndrome or prediabetes. The. Those
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  small improvements in lipids or inflammation may
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  be helpful. But imagine this. My bottle of Crestor
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  cost me about 75 cents for a month. That bottle of
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  NAD is going to be out 100 bucks a month, and the
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  Crestor is going to do a little bit more for me.
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  Now, there has been a hint of potential in
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  patients with early Alzheimer's or Parkinson's
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  disease, but that data is tiny and for all intents
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  and purposes is statistically meaningless. Now, if
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  you're young and healthy, the only thing NAD will
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  reliably do is reduce your bank account. Safety
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  wise, there have been no major interactions that
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  have been found, although there are theoretical
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  issues with certain anti cancer or DNA repair
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  drugs. And even if your gut microbiome helps
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  process NAD precursors, another reason to feed it
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  well instead of flood it with pills, it may not
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  actually help you that much. So what actually
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  works NAD does drop. As we age, our cells enter
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  into their cellular retirement. Or as Hayflick
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  described it years ago, senescence. And whether
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  topping NAD keeps them working longer is still
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  really unknown. But what we do know is how to
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  support your body's own NAD production on a plate,
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  not in a capsule. The Mediterranean diet, which is
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  rich in fish, legumes, olive oil, whole grains,
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  naturally fuels the NAD pathway in your body and
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  protects your heart in a dozen other ways. You
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  don't need a subscription. You don't need a magic
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  powder. You don't need this bougie price tag. You
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  just need to eat better. Now, uh, here's the
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  thing. If you want to learn a lot more about
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  longevity the right way, we are going to actually
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  work on, we're working on it now. A longevity
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  cruise in the Mediterranean in the summer of 2026,
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  next summer, maybe the second week of August. Our
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  plan is to have world class physician, scientist,
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  a food network chef with real conversations about
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  living longer and better, all while sailing in the
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  Mediterranean with shore excursions that will drop
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  your socks off. You're not going to be fitted with
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  a weighted rucksack. You're not going to have to
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  pay a six figure fee. Um, unlike Peter Attia's
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  program, this one includes shore excursions, wine
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  and actual fun. And for the record, Yeah, I drink
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  AG1, but. But not because I have an affiliate
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  code. I don't get a kickback, I don't get stock on
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  it. I just like how gentle it is on my stomach,
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  which is why I take it. But I'm always looking for
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  a less pricey, less bougie way to get in my
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  vitamins. So come on. If you're interested, serve
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  that time and consider about thinking about
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  healthspan under the Tuscan sun, where we found 70
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  years ago, people lived longer and lived better by
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  eating simpler and developing immunity. This has
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  been fork you, fork University researched and
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  written by me, Dr. Terry Simpson, your chief
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  medical explanationist. All things audio and
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  editing were done by my friends at Simpler Media
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  and the pod God himself who spent X amounts of
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  time with me today and my new fancy equipment. For
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  references and show notes, visit4q.com or
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  YourDoctorsOrders.com or go to my
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  substack@drsimpson.com now remember, I'm a board
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  certified physician, but I am not your physician.
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  If you have medical concerns, please see a real
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  board certified doctor, not a chiropractor, not a
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  wellness influencer. And please, you don't need to
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  spend $150,000. This podcast is for education and
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  entertainment, not personal medical advice. And
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  until next time, stay curious, stay skeptical, and
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  keep your diet Mediterranean. Have a great week,
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  everyone.
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  All right, Evo, we're getting old enough that our
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  nad levels are dropping. I'm thinking that we
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  should replace them. I just don't know how. More
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  sunshine. An ocean. Happy? Uh, to hear your ideas.
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  >> Speaker B: Well, I may be getting older, but I'm still
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  perpetually 8 years old in my brain thinking about
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  how my nads are dropping as I get older.