Does NAD+ cause weight gain?
Research into NAD+ supplements such as NMN and NR shows that they do not cause weight gain. In people with overweight or obesity, there are early indications of a small weight loss.
No, NAD+ supplements do not cause weight gain. Many studies combined, covering fifteen trials, show no clear effect of NMN on body weight or BMI compared with a dummy pill.
In people with overweight or obesity aged 45 and older, one small study (30 participants) actually found a weight loss of an average of 1.9 kg more than the dummy pill group after 28 days taking 1,000 mg NMN per day. That is early-stage evidence from a single study, partly run by employees of the manufacturer, so do not draw firm conclusions from it. Another small study in postmenopausal women with prediabetes reported no weight change at all with 250 mg NMN per day.
NR supplementation at 1,000 mg per day for six weeks led, in a small study, to a modest increase in lean mass (muscle mass) of 1.34 percentage points, while body fat fell by a corresponding amount. That represents a small shift in body composition, not weight gain. The overall number on the scales did not change in any meaningful way.
In mice, NR protected against weight gain caused by a high-fat diet. This kind of animal research does not always translate to people, and direct human confirmation of this finding is lacking so far.
If you want to try this for weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol in the context of overweight or obesity, participants in research took 1,000 mg NMN per day (two doses of 500 mg) for a minimum of 28 days. The evidence for this specific purpose is very thin, and the study is too small to draw firm conclusions. Discuss this with your doctor.
This answer is based primarily on a review of fifteen trials, supplemented by three smaller individual studies in people and animal research. The researchers rate the evidence for broad metabolic effects in people as unclear due to small sample sizes. Commercial interests play a role in several individual studies: the largest NMN study (MIB-626) was co-authored by employees of the manufacturer, which makes interpretation more difficult.
What is NAD+ and why does it decline as you age?
NAD+ measurably declines with ageing, and supplements raise levels demonstrably in people. Whether that also makes you healthier has not yet been proven, and the safety of taking them for many years deserves attention.
What is the relation between NAD+ and vitamin B3?
Vitamin B3 is the only dietary building block for NAD+ in your body; that relationship is causal and well supported. Whether NAD+ supplements such as NMN or NR genuinely deliver health benefits has yet to be proven.
What does chronic stress do to your weight in the long run?
Research shows that chronic stress increases the likelihood of weight gain over the long term, particularly belly fat, through hormonal changes and behaviours such as moving less and sleeping poorly. That link is well documented.
I am overweight. What will losing weight do for me?
Losing weight produces measurable health gains, particularly for your waist size, blood sugar, and blood fat levels. How you go about it matters less than whether you can keep it up.
What is NAD+ and what does it do in your body?
NAD+ is an indispensable molecule for energy, DNA repair and cell maintenance, and its levels measurably decline with age. Whether that decline can be corrected with supplements, and what benefit that would bring, is a separate question.
Which foods or habits effectively raise NAD+ levels?
Exercise and NAD+ supplements (NR or NMN) demonstrably raise NAD+ levels, but whether higher levels also confer health benefits in humans has not yet been proven. Regular physical activity is the only approach for which broader health benefits have also been demonstrated.