ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

02.11.2016

This is the safe dose of nicotinamide riboside

The guaranteed safe dose of nicotinamide riboside is 3 mg per kg bodyweight per day, according to researchers who work for Chromadex, the company that markets nicotinamide riboside as Niagen. They wrote about it in Human and Experimental Toxicology.

Nicotinamide riboside
Nicotinamide riboside may become as big a supplement for the longevity movement as creatine is for strength athletes. Nicotinamide riboside seems to work particularly well for older athletes. The supplement speeds up their muscle recovery.

People in their forties and fifties who use nicotinamide riboside notice that they can once more train as hard as they did when they were fifteen years young. Athletes mostly use doses of 200-400 mg per day, which is more than the 100 or 125 mg that supplements makers advise. But are these safe doses?

Study
The researchers gave rats 300, 1000 or 3000 mg nicotinamide riboside every day for 90 days. The human equivalent of the lowest dose, based on someone weighing 80 kg, is just over 3 g a day.

Results
The researchers started to see side effects at a dose of 1000 mg per kg bodyweight per day, especially among the male animals. The rats' liver, kidneys, thymus and brain became a little heavier.

And the researchers also noticed an increase in the concentration of white blood cells in the male rats at the 1000 mg dose. [Table] That can be a sign of tissue damage.

The researchers regard the 1000 mg dose as the lowest observed adverse effect level, or LOAEL: the intake at which a substance, as far as is known, starts to show side effects. The 300-mg dose is the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL), the highest intake at which a substance is safe, as far as is known.

All the doses tested inhibited the increase in weight in the male lab animals. The researchers regard that as a desired effect of nicotinamide riboside rather than a side effect. After all, nicotinamide riboside supplementation improves the energy metabolism of muscle cells.

The researchers also went through other in-vitro and animal studies to see if they could find evidence that nicotinamide-riboside damages the genetic material. This was not the case.

Conclusion
"There were no treatment-related adverse effects noted at 300 mg/kg/day, although there was a slight decrease (eight percent) in overall body weight (day 90) at 300 mg/kg/day, which was considered adaptive", the researchers wrote. "The lowest observed adverse effect level and no observed adverse effect level for nicotinamide riboside were determined to 300 and 1000 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively."

"A tolerable upper intake level for human exposure to nicotinamide riboside is derived by application of a 100-fold safety factor to the no observed adverse effect level determined from this 90-day study; the tolerable upper intake level for nicotinamide riboside is 3 mg/kg/day or 180 mg/day, assuming a body weight of 60 kg."

Source:
Hum Exp Toxicol. 2016 Jan 20. pii: 0960327115626254. [Epub ahead of print].

More:
Anti-aging vitamin nicotinamide riboside keeps diabetics healthy 04.10.2016
Nicotinamide riboside extends life expectancy and rejuvenates muscles 09.09.2016
Nicotinamide riboside transforms muscle cells into super muscle cells 27.07.2016

Archives:
Vitamin B
Vitamins
NAD+