NMN

Consistent with those findings, mice genetically predisposed toward pancreatic cancer developed more precancerous and cancerous growths when they consumed the NAD+ precursor NMN.

Indeed, Zhang’s study is one of the first to directly show that providing supplemental NAD+, via the precursor NMN, was associated with increased cancerous growths in mice.

Together these findings do not necessarily point to ready answers for consumers interested in NR or NMN supplements, so much as they highlight questions for scientists to address in the coming years.

In elderly mice, the team showed that administering a compound called nicotinamide mononucleotide, or NMN, improved blood flow, increased endurance and reversed signs of aging.

When they gave normal aging mice infusions of NMN, they made more of that energy-fueling compound and some of the biological problems associated with aging went away.